Predawn walking!

I never thought I'd be able to leave this early anywhere, but this morning we left before dawn!

Last night was a rush for me as I got back at the Alberge after the others had gone to bed. this was because I snuck into the 8pm church service after dinner. Being on a pilgrimage it only seemed the right thing to do on behalf of our team. Sure enough I was not the only one in this massive gold and statue covered church, and I even knew half a dozen people sitting around me on the back seats on first name basis - anyone who knows me knows that for me to just remember names is already remarkable. So in any case, the team was asleep when I finally started my abridged nebulising routine. 

Today the team broke into three. The keen ones, Rebecca, Lynda and Jo had a very early breakfast and headed off to a hotel in Viana at 7am, Karina and I had a slightly later breakfast and left 715am for an Alberge. The third shift was Kath and Carlene who are bussing to Logroño where they'll have a couple of nights to help Carlene's heel heal - she had it medically attended to and received an injection and an unconditional order to give it a rest.

When we left at 715am it was still dark, a full moon beaming down on us and it was nice and fresh. I coughed and coughed up the hill out of town till Jos from Holland, a Reiki Master, put his hand somewhere on my back and i could not only walk up the hill without coughing, but without panting as much as i normally do. I will need to find out more about Reiki!

The first two hours we marched fast and furious and easily caught up to the others. Then I missed a turn and followed a highway for a while before backtracking and finding my way back on track. 

As I walked into Viana, 20kms along, and not much after 11am, the local shepherd crossed my way. Love animals. And then I found the sign to Albergue Izar where I found Karina. Together we went into the old town and had tapas and sangria with the others.

Just while I got your attention, I thought it worthwhile to mention that free wifi is almost everywhere and most albergues have power points around the place, but lights.... It seems the Spanish are very conservative with lights. All lights either work on fast timers or sensors. This means you find yourself on the loo or in the shower in the dark. Also, many places have showers with buttons you push for water. You practically need to keep your spine attached to them to keep the shower going and the water often goes right against the wall. So showering is not always comfortable. Water has always been warm! Sometimes there's not too many toilets/showers, and rarely on the same floor as where we stay. Still, mostly everything is clean and comfy wherever we go and often we know the people we are sharing with which creates a nice atmosphere.