One Can Never Start Walking Too Early?!%$

The alburgue was awash with zippers zipping and plastic bags rustling at 5 a.m. this morning. People were obviously anxious to either make it to the top of the mountain at O Cebreiro, some 30 kilometers away from Villafranca. Still others were planning to make it to the town before the hill.

There is an intensity to the pilgrims that was not evident when we began our walk in mid-May. Everyone is clearly tired, stressed by the heat, and injuries to legs and feet are appearing more commonly. This makes people more intense and cranky. There are fewer alburgues (and therefore fewer beds) to accomodate all those who are on the road. We are fortunate to have the option of private hotels or hostels, so we can escape the almost frenetic push being made daily for the next, best alburgue.

The locals continue to comment about the heat in every town and village we pass through. We are starting to hear Galician which is roughly the same as patois is French. It is still recognizable as Spanish (but just).

We walked 15 kilomters today to position ourselves for the push up the mountain to O Cebreiro tomorrow. This will officially take us into the region of Galicia.