To Rates

Sept 21, 2016 Rates 13km

Not a long walk today, mainly going through country villages. No dirt trails, instead we had mostly cobble stone roads, which was tiring on our feet. Another pleasant hiking day with overcast skies and cool temperatures, and beautiful scenery. Today we met peregrinos from Finland, many from Germany, Czech Republic, England, California, Mexico and Portugal. One man we met had hip replacement a year prior, but was determined to complete 30km today. Very inspirational! We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed a conversation with a young couple from Porto - he Portuguese and she Mexican. He's a flight attendant and a year ago they started a food truck business catering to summer and fall festivals. The specialty being tacos, with wraps and salsas freshly made. We finished our conversation at 3:45pm and they still had plans to complete another 16km. Oh, to be young!

Finding accommodations was was interesting today. Rates is a very small town with one Albergue. Not too delighted about staying in a dorm and went to the local cafe St. Antonio and asked the owner if she knew of any rooms. We found this works better than an online app. The son of the mother who rents her house happened to be there having a coffee. She lives in the basement by herself and has 3 rooms on the top floor. We have our room with a shared bathroom, but we're the only ones staying there so it is very private. No TV or wifi, but better than staying in a dorm.

Leaving Conde

Great views along the route