Today wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. It took us five and a half hours to walk from Palas de Rei to Melide. That was with a few ups and downs that were a bit challenging, but most of the day was okay. (It was hard to find the right word there…) There were a few places where we walked along the highway but much of it was through forests, fields and back roads.

There were a few churches (chapels) that we passed but only one was open. Everyone lined up to go in and get a stamp of the Church of San Xulian do Camino.

We are unable to carry everything we need in our packs and so we have our bags transported from one place to the next. We’ve seen them arrive in panel vans but today we saw a man wearing a harness transporting two bags. He was on the same trail we were walking.

We came into one village and there was a line of people waiting to have their picture taken with St. James, the Apostle.

Finally we came to our stop for this evening, Melide.

We did make it into Melide with enough time to find a laundromat and do some laundry in a real machine rather than the bathroom sink. But more importantly, we were able to put everything in a dryer! No more taking damp clothes from one location to the next and hoping that they’ll dry there! One other thing we learned too late! Washing machines in laundromats in Spain include the soap automatically…no need to add any more! Oops!