Day 13: Dozón to A Laxe to Sedilla (29KM)

Tom, Ted, Don, and I set out this morning - the first morning all four of us walked together. I started the morning searching for my shirt - I couldn’t find it last night on the clothes line not on the ground around the area. Argh. “Why would someone take my shirt?” I thought. At the same time, two young ladies from Portugal (whom Don, Ted, and Tom had met the night before in Cea) searched for a missing shoe. One of them asked, “Why would someone take just one of my shoes?” I ended up finding my shirt on the ground about 25 meters from the building as we began our walk. The young ladies never found the missing shoe. The anti-inflammatory pill and the compression sock helped a ton. While we started together, soon we found our own paces and walked alone for a while. Then we stopped to take a break and check in. Tom’s back hurt, Ted’s hip hurt, Don’s knee hurt and while I felt great as I walked, a blister had formed on my little toe because I hadn’t flattened out the compression sock enough. We had a chuckle at our aches and pains before we started off again. We thought we would go to A Laxe and see how we felt at that point - maybe stop there for the day and night. We arrived in A Laxe around 1PM, had a bite to eat, and we all thought we could walk another 2½ hours to Sedilla. Along the way we passed over more Roman roads and another ancient bridge (from around 960AD). Through the tree leaves the sun dappled the moss, dirt, and stone with light. I stopped along the wall to rest and enjoy the warm rays on my face. Again, I wondered about all the people who had walked this path before me. We finally arrived in Sedilla - it seems the last few kilometers into a town always seem to take for-ev-er. We had a snack, found a place to stay for the night. Found a grocery store for breakfast items. And Ted and Tom finally found poles. Ted and I went into a little shop that had fishing poles in the window - the proprietor wore a leather apron and talked to us for a bit. He told us about the things he made, including walking sticks from branches he found in the forest. He also told us of a small sports store in town that might have trekking poles. We told Don and Tom the story. Ted went to the sports store to buy the trekking poles. Tom went to the little store to buy the crafted hiking stick. Then Don and I went back to the store and the guy talked to Don for a while and then showed us a video of waterfalls near the town. What a fun experience. The church next to the albergue had an 8PM Mass, so after we returned the poles and grocery items to our albergue we walked into the church. Old stone, simple decor, a mix of statues through the centuries, and a young priest presiding. I tried to follow along, yet the fatigue from the day of hiking had me sitting in this peaceful place and allowing the words to wash over me. We also put on a few KM trying to find a place to eat. Eventually we decided on a little place on a side street. The waiter smiled and had patience with all our questions. Don served as our translator more so than usual. The food looked wonderful and tasted good - we asked the waiter to tell the person cooking how enjoyable our meal was. The lady who had cooked came out with a big smile and started talking to us. While the meal cost a bit more than the standard Perigrino menu (the restaurants in town didn’t have one), we had a good time, and more - we enjoyed helping the cook and the waiter have a good night with our simple gratitude. Tomorrow we will try for Ponte Ulla or Outeira. We’re almost to Santiago. Where did the time go? Until next time, Buen Camino!