Day 9: Laza to Albergueria to Xunqueira de Ambia (33KM)

The climb up the first hill this morning offered a great view of the valley, especially as the sun rose over the opposite hills and splayed light everywhere. Davide left before us, and Edith, George, Rene, and Paul left after us. I started slow and steady - the cream was helping, but not as much as I had hoped. On the way into the village of Albergueria, I saw some hail on the side of the road that had not melted from yesterday’s storm. I asked Don for a ziploc bag and put some hail in it to ice my shin at our next stop. (A fortunate and unexpected help!) A few minutes later we arrived at the cafe we had heard people describe yesterday. The owner of the cafe has peregrinos write their names on shells, and he hangs them up. The ceiling and walls are covered with shells from the past 15 years since he opened the cafe. It helps me place in perspective my journey along this trail. Hopefully I can write more on that in another blog post. Our guides listed no albergues in the next towns before Xunqueira, so i mentally prepared myself for the long day on my shin. It turned out to be a lovely afternoon of walking through changing landscape. Edith, Don, and Iarrived at the albergue to find out the only other peregrino there was Davide, whom we had not expected to see again. A nice reunion. We went into town to find WiFi and get a few groceries for dinner. While preparing dinner another peregrino with whom we had crossed paths a few times arrived. “Ziggy” brought his big smile and big laugh to our group. A fun evening. Tomorrow we’re hoping to make it to Ourense - a city of over 120,000 people. The largest one I’ve been in so far is 2,500 and that felt a bit overwhelming. Not sure what to expect. Until next time, Buen Camino!