An overcast, but completely rain-free! Had to be out by 8. Had desayuno at the same bar. Start post:
Left around 8:40. In Lameiros, we came to the Cross of Lameiros (PRS-79). It has Jesus on one side and related items on the base. The other side is the Virgen de los Dolores. Here are several shots.

In Airexe, aka Eirexe, we found an open bar, had café con leche and bought a bocadilla de jamón y queso (love that Spanish ham and cheese) which we ate later for lunch. Here are the beer taps at the bar.

More nice scenery down into Palas de Rei. Including eucalyptus trees, an invasive imported in the 1800’s for lumber, which wasn’t a good use. With no natural enemies they thrived.

Arrived in Palas de Rai and were in the Albergue San Marco by 3:30 we had showered and were doing laundry. At 7 PM, we went to Mass and then went out to dinner at a great tapas restaurant. I had pulpo Gallego, which is the Galician style octopus.
it was wonderful as was Susan’s raxo, pork with potatoes. Unlike tapa restaurants in the States, they serve huge portions. We had dinner with a mixed group of pilgrims. Lawrence from Arkansas had come from St.Jean in early October, a father from Scotland and his son from Switzerland and others from Spain and elsewhere. Interesting conversation and the Galician wine was great. Back at Albergue now for bed.

Posted from here.

Before leaving town, I took several pictures of the church/fortress. It is quite imposing.

We had come up a ton of steps to get to Portomarín and on the way out we went down a long curving road and over a much less scary bridge to get to our first km post of the day.
As you may have noticed there were a bunch of bicyclists in front of the church. Since it was Sunday, a day off for people, there were hundreds of cyclists going up and down the Camino and getting completely filthy. But they were clearly having fun!

I took a few scenery pictures, including pine forests, during the day as we continued to dodge cow pies

We had a cerveza break in the afternoon and decided that sore feet necessitated a stop for the night. We left the restaurant and missed the Albergue in Hospital de la Cruz and walked another km or so to find that “open all year” in the guidebooks didn’t mean anything so we walked back and found the Xunta de Galicia Albergue. Low bunk beds but not many other people (BTW Xunta is pronounced hunta and means government). The major drawback wa the men’s and women’s showers were sort of like high school boys locker room. Had dinner at same place as previous break and slept until 7.

Posted from here.