Another early start, and sad to leave such a beautiful Albergue, but on we must press!  The day was beautiful as were the sites leaving the city.

We had a lovely walk outside the city through a park that ran along the river for about a km.  Soon after we came to our first town and stopped for breakfast… As we left the town I knew it would be a good day because I saw this!

  

At Fuentes Nueves we passed the 600 km mark… We are now under 200 km to reach Santiago!! Dan does his happy dance!!!

Today  was a day of beautiful birdsong, lush vineyards and stunning mountains ( or with O’Cebreiro coming up… A little bit threatening as well!!!)
  As we walked, an German acquaintance of Lisa’s met  us (Gregor, had done the Camino for his 3rd time).  He told us about a great hostal at La Faba which is 4.8 km from O’Cebreiro and is fantastic… He feels that O’Cebreiro is too crowded with only 1 Albergue and 104 beds… And a little too commercial… He said they have a wonderful wall to sit and drink wine and enjoy the mountain view… Given that we have covered 57 km in the last 2 days, this sounds pretty good!! A shorter day for us tomorrow and we will arrive the next morning in O’Cebreiro for breakfast (before the bus tours!!!) we tried to book a private hostal a little higher up the mountain, but it was full ( very crowded here by all accounts another record year of pilgrims!). We will put a push on in the morning to try and teach the Albergue by noon… That is if my heel blister lets me pour it on tomorrow!
Speaking of blisters, a highly recommended treatment is the use of a special blister bandage called Compeed.  Well, I can wholeheartedly say that I agree with Lisa…. These are shit!!! A bluster that I had been treating on my heel was on its way to getting better, when it was recommended that I try Compeed… Having some in my bag, I tried it…properly covering the affected area and enduring good skin surrounding the blister was covered by the Compeed bandage.  Yesterday, I developed a hot spot on the good skin under the Compeed, and when I tried to remove the bandage, it started to lift the blister with it… I left it for today, and tried to lift it after my shower today… With some tugging (which lifted a little of the injured skin) I managed to get it off… Now I’ll stick with Polysporin, gauze and tape… Hopefully I’ll be able to do the climb tomorrow!!!

Anyway, we had a lovely lunch today in Villafranca de Bierzo… What a darling town!

  

But time to get on the road… Off to Pereje we went!   We followed a lovely river which we kept in mind, as the other side of the path was a road!

Dan got a little concerned about 300 m before the turn off that we had actually walked to far (never a good thing when you are planning a 30 km plus day!!!) but the Brierley book had misrepresented the map… And my calculation based on my watch and walking time told us to go forward… We met a couple of other peregrinos on the road who also felt we should keep moving forward, and shortly we came to our lovely Albergue!

The best part about this is that they DO NOT have any bunk beds!!!

Today is a very special day for Lisa’s Oma… It is her birthday, and we want her to know that we were thinking of her all day!  We wish we could join you for cake and ice cream, but know we are with you in spirit!  Lots of love from Lisa, Pat and Dan on your special day!

 Well, one week from tomorrow, God willing, we will be walking into Santiago!!! Thank you all for your continued support!