We took our time getting up for breakfast and made sure to have our protein drink to power us for the day. We didn’t have it yesterday and I  lagged a bit at the end of the day.

We set off from Fonsagrada with no coffee, which seems to be becoming the norm. Mandy said “it’s only 10k to the first bar for coffee”. Geez… That’s a lot of walking to earn a cup of coffee. We didn’t go far before we spotted Chris sitting outside another albergue. After lots of “holas” we suddenly heard from Stephanie and Tony as they leaned out their 3rd story window to greet us. We waited for them to come down and join us as we missed their company yesterday. So the 5 of us started out, again with more climbs, but fortunately many were in forested areas with banks of blackberry bushes and hedges of large ferns, with heather still poking through. With dappled sun coming through the trees, birds singing us along, bees buzzing in the flowers and butterflies dancing around us it made for the most pleasant of walks. 

Stephanie and I walked together catching up on Camino news – what we missed when not walking together. Yakking away we didn’t hear a pair of mountain bikers come right up behind us, startling us no end. As it was in part of the trail that was pretty darn steep they were struggling along. Mandy found that a challenge and decided she could out-hike their biking to the top of the hill. And she did!

We continued on up until we found a lovely spot on top of the ridge with a couple of picnic tables perfect for snack time.

We finally made it to the bar for coffee and quickly ordered while we took off shoes and socks to air outour tired feet. As it was already almost noon we decided to make it our lunch stop. It was a charming little spot with a delightful family running the place. Their dog and cat kept us company as we sat and their son was kicking around a soccer ball. We were enjoying it so much we decided to splurge in the middle if the day and share a pitcher of sangria. What good thinking! Halfway through the day’s walk and powered up.

Eventually we came upon the ruins of an old hospitales, the de Montouto, founded in 1360 by Pedro 1, “El Cruel”. They even had stone seats like I just had put in on my new patio! I’m a woman of the centuries.

Shoes and packs back on we took off and had a good number of climbs once again. Made for slow going for all except Mandy, who would just power up the hills then wait for the old folks. We passed a huge number of cows with their calfs, most of which were laying down relaxing on the hot day. There have been no end to the number of farms we’ve passed firing this trip – nice except for the amount of core and horse poop we’ve had to dodge as we share their paths. We came upon another bar and it seemed a great idea to rest with a cool drink for a few minutes. Our biggest laugh came after Mandy came out of the bathroom and said we had to go ourselves. She  wouldn’t say why through her laughing. In I went just to find the smallest bathroom with the toilet so oddly situated that you had to either sit crosswise or climb over with one leg and sit straddling it. Hysterical. Course at this point we seem to be amused by little things.

And then it was supposedly just another 7 km or so to the town where we had albergue reservations. After a mile or so we found a spot to get a couple of frozen popcycle-like ices that were perfect to cool us off on such a hot day. The walk to the town of Cadavo seemed longer than I expected as the day wore on. We’re definitely in “hiker stink” status now, with all the hot days, the climbing and little clothes washing with our mere two sets of clothes. Good thing everyone else around us us on the same situation.

We finally made it to town after a long slog. We walked into town and found a shop to buy a bit of food for tomorrow and get checked into the albergue. After much needed showers and trying to catch up on things through limited Wi-Fi, or “wee-free” as they refer to it here it was off to drinks and dinner. As we crept back into our albergue space thinking some may be asleep already we happily found a lively group of hikers we’ve met along the way wanting to know about Mandy’s pack.