10.1 miles, 27,033 steps, 8 cats 

Somewhat more eventful day on the Camino. Started with 3 hours walking in the rain. Ugh. It wasn’t cold, though, and not raining too hard, so…I did prepare for this. Put on my rain jacket, covered my backpack with its rain cover, and wore my hiking sandals. The sandals were great because I woke up with a couple of small blisters—darn. But the sandals hit totally different so they gave my feet a bit of a break.

Walked for a bit with a couple from Norway. They made the mistake of following me—right at the point that I missed a turn. Oops. We all backtracked and I said maybe don’t follow me lol. Also we decided we should consult the Camino Ninja app a little more frequently. They were fast walkers so they went up ahead. 

At one point I started following a girl who had a dog with her. I was trying to figure out if the dog was hers, or a stray. I decided he must be her dog, as he was staying with her without a leash, although he did keep running into the road and was just sniffing everything. The girl stopped and when I caught up, learned that he was NOT her dog, he just started walking with her. We tried to chase him off but he just kept walking with us. For over an hour. We were getting worried — he kept running into the road, and there was more and more traffic. He was clearly not street smart. The girl (from Germany) and I talked about different things to do. Call the police? That felt a little extreme. But there were no homeowners or other people outside that we could ask for advice.  

Finally we came to a cafe/bar (same thing in Portugal) and the Norway couple was there. When I tried to talk to the bartender about the cachorro he thought I wanted to order a hot dog lol. The bar’s cat was doing her part to chase the dog away, but he would t budge. Eventually the bartender gave him some scraps and that did it. He forgot all about us. I’m hoping that his owners came along and found him, or maybe the bartender called the police and they scanned him for a chip and returned him. That’s the story I’m going with. 

Made it to Valenca which features a medieval fort, built for protection from Spain, just across the Miño River. (It’s even older than medieval—there’s actually a Roman road inside the fortress!) Walked across the river to Tui, Spain, with a time zone change, and my splurge hotel — the Parador de Tui. Bring on the rest day!

Sad to learn that ALL the massage places in town are closed tomorrow because Sunday. So bummed. No massage for me. At least not in Tui. Maybe I can get to my next stop early enough to book one. 

So tomorrow on my day off, the plan is to do laundry at the self-serve Lavanderia. Walk around town and possibly attend mass at the Santa Maria Cathedral, which is an interesting mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles, constructed beginning in the 12th century. 

For dinner, I walked to a local hangout and proudly ordered and enjoyed tapas at the bar with no English spoken! ¡Que bueno! Spanish tortilla and roasted padron peppers and house white wine, with all the locals watching futbol.