June 16 – Well, even when you have your own room, an albergue is still an albergue.  The troops started getting up at 5am, slamming doors, whistling, and generally depriving the rest of us of our forty winks.  Eleven miles planned for today, and it is supposed to get up to ninety degrees, so just as well that we got an early start.  The nice thing about Spanish weather is that the high temperature of the day doesn’t occur until 6pm, by which time we have been indoors for several hours.

Misty morning:

You know how you can edit a photo to remove ‘red eye’?  I would love somebody to invent the feature that gets rid of ‘power line’. Just touch a button and all the power lines would disappear from your scenic shots.  Google!  Apple!  Do you hear me?  Please start working on this right away!

Ha!  Look in the lower left at what this farmer is using for a scarecrow:

We walked along the highway for a while.

Said good morning to St. James in a pretty garden.

Walked in the shady woods and saw a mole (I think!)

Appreciated the mountain views:

Stayed at a hostal with no air con, but the best meal ever.  Our waitress spoke the clearest Spanish we’ve heard in months – so easy to understand!  Turns out she’s from South America.  I’m sure going to miss this Camiño.  33 miles to go.

June 17 – We did a lot of tossing and turning in the night – with the window open, the highway was noisy, and with the window closed, it was just too hot.  Finally gave it up and got dressed at 5:30, and we were on the road by 6am.  Twelve miles today, and it’s supposed to be hotter than yesterday, so it’s good that we got an early start.  Pretty sunrise.

We knew there was a café on the road, but it was too early for it to be open.  Surprise!  The door was ajar, and the Señora made us cafe con leche at 6:30.  Now we can do some walking!  Passed under the highway and into the woods.

Here’s an old bridge over a quiet river.

Another Santiago in a churchyard along the road.

Then back to the woods again.  It’s nice and cool in the shade.

A bit of rock hopping down a stream:

Some pretty flowers:

Then by noon, we were in town.  I laughed to see this sign advertising bacon and eggs for breakfast – we’ve had nothing but toast for months!Found the Dia before it closed to get provisions.  No air con again, but our room is not facing the street, so we should be able to open the windows this evening.  21 miles to go.