Day 31 - Palas de Rei to Ribadiso - 27 km

It was another long day of walking (yes I know I don't have a lot of new material, but that's what I do, I just walk). I'm not sure if I'm getting better at this, or if I'm on the home stretch now and motivated to get to Santiago. I never thought I'd say I'm tired of walking, but I'm saying it now. "I'm tired of walking." I'm really ready to go home now. I miss my bed. I miss not wondering if I'll have soap and toilet paper. I miss not having to wear ear plugs. I miss my washer and dryer. Call me shallow, but I miss assuming that everyone I meet will likely speak English. And of course I miss my family and my dog, Daisy. Ok enough of this boo hooing. I'll be in Santiago in two days! I'm sure the arrival there will be amazing.

I left Palas de Rei at 7:30 a.m. and in the dark of course. Had loads of fun searching for those yellow arrows with the help of a few others. Old men on the streets LOVE it when you ask them where the Camino is. They will give directions for every turn within 5 km and I don't understand a thing, I just need the 1st point to get headed the right way. But there's usually not an old man to be found at 7:30 a.m. The really nice thing about today was the cool autumn-like weather that lasted at least until noon and then the temp shot up to 29 C.

I had been told that one of the towns I passed through today named Melide is famous for its octopus. Sure enough as soon as I turned onto the main street there was this guy, standing in the window of a restaurant, handing out chunks of the eight-legged creature to whomever would take it. It was a great marketing strategy because once you tried it you had to have more! I've had octopus before and always known it to be tough, but this was delicious.

Today we passed several rivers and twice I removed my boots and soaked my feet in the freezing cold water. This is one of best tricks I've found that gives extra, blister-free milage. With all this eating and soaking of the feet, I didn't arrive to Ribadiso until 5:00 p.m. This is a pretty cool looking place as it's a replica of the original refugee for pilgrims 100s of years ago, but with updated facilities of course. NOT so updated that I don't have to go outside to the toilets though! My bed for tonight is the top bunk in the loft. So when nature calls in the middle of the night I'll have to climb down from the bed, put my shoes and sweater on, climb down the stairs from the loft, go outside, walk to the toilets and hope there's still toilet paper. Now do you understand why I miss my bed so much?