Day 31 (Friday 7 June) 93 kilometres to Santiago. I spent the quietest of afternoons and evenings in Portomarin. When there are a dearth of English or French speakers, I fall back on my e-books. That and a short recce of the town - specifically the outbound track for tomorrow. I do run into Indiana Brian and Cheryl, who I have not seen for weeks. In any case, I'm not feeling particularly grand at supper time, so I finish part of a plate of macaroni with some bread and red wine at a local restaurant and then retreat to a sitting room in the albergue. I'm in bed by 21:00.
I'm away this morning at 06:35, westbound for Palas de Rei, 25 kilometres closer to Santiago. The sky is overcast, wind calm, and the temperature is about 10 degrees. Before I clear the town I can feel a few drops of rain, so I stop to stow my vest and put on my rain jacket, as well as pull up the rain cover for my rucksack. Climbing a hill outside of town, a light rain starts to fall steadily, so I put on my rain pants as well. The track is wide and firm, with no mud. After about 90 minutes the rain stops, and I gradually shed my rain gear, leaving the rucksack cover up as a precaution. I notice a faint rainbow to the west. I think that it terminates at an ATM in Santiago, where I expect to be on Monday.
Just before I stop in Gonzar for coffee and a pastry, I notice a Spanish couple at the side of the trail having a smoke break. Smoking is more prevalent in Europe, of course, but I thought that the Camino might be different - not so. At all the coffee stops there are ash trays on most tables. It's incongruous, but there it is.
Most of the path today is either on or alongside a paved secondary road that undulates gently - my net ascent today will be 450 metres. The province of Galicia has placed concrete distance markers every 500 metres, so judging distance is not a problem. It's overkill, but I'd rather too much navigation information than too little. There are few photo opportunities, save a church graveyard that appears to have many of its burial vaults on the outside wall of the cemetery.
The trail is definitely more crowded; mostly with younger Spaniards, all of whom are chatting volubly. At times it sounds like the statacco hammering of a light machine gun. Some of them have clearly got themselves out of bed at an early hour. Can this be a first for teenagers?
I raise Palas de Rei and locate my albergue at about 12:45 - having spent just over 6 hours on the trail. I'm getting close to my goal now and am starting to think more of home. First, though, I've got to get this done.
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