May 7, 2025, Casanova

I was lucky with my choice of lodging last night, it was very dorm like, but clean. There were probably 6 pilgrims staying there that I have been seeing for the last week. I was able to introduce Garrett and Ryan to a good group of people.

Today we were walking 13.5 miles, we had a hearty breakfast and were out the door by 8:30. The Camino is starting to level out and I find myself lower in the valley. The long vistas are being replaced by green fields and a tree lined path. Staying off the usual towns the people stop in has allowed us not to walk with as many people as a couple days ago

We stopped for rest at a cafe that was close to a larger road, but not the freeway. I got a banana and a soda, we used their stamp for our books and it was very disappointing. We started talking with Michael from Australia, he has walked the Camino several times but not the Meseta because he was told it was boring. I said that I liked it because it did provide plenty of time for thought. Michael said that he has his own stamp if we would like one. It was of his image and after stamping our books he took the time to color it in, it was a definite keeper.

We continued on for miles before talking another stop, this time at more of a cafe/restaurant. We split a piece of brownie cake and the Boyd’s had coffee which they seem to find that the latest is somehow even better than the previous.

Again we set out walking, after a good distance we got to Palas de Rei. As we walked down into the city we lost track of the Camino path. We looked, but even my Camino app was not working correctly. We stopped some

other pilgrims to ask, it was a group of 2 older couples from Dallas, they got us pointed in the right direction. We were thinking of a little food again, we didn’t find a suitable stop. We continued out of town thinking that we would not find anything.

We got to the very small village of San Xulian and found a local bar. I saw melon and Spanish ham and knew that would work for me. After a nice break, I called the hotel to arrange for our pickup in 2km at Casanova.

We crammed into a little car that the driver smoked in on a regular basis and made our way out further in the countryside.

We are a captive audience here with the other guests, we will be having dinner and breakfast here before leaving for Arzua tomorrow, 14.25 miles.