Cats, Cows & Cleo

In NZ we have pub crawls, well today we went on a village crawl. We started the day at Pereje, having got a taxi from Cacabelos and avoided a rather large hill. In an omen of things to come, as we left Cacabelos we were aware of a large group of secondary school students. Apparently Spanish students get credits for doing part of the Camino. They can be very noisey and also take up lots of the accommodation. We stopped for breakfast at Pereje where there was an interesting decanter set. I'd love to know what was in the bottles. I also met Debora from Brazil who, despite the host's best efforts to eject the cat, managed to give the pregnant puss some cuddles. The next village was Trabadelo for more coffe and croissant. The host there was really creepy. There was a young female pilgrim there and the guy couldn't take his eyes of her, he was sleezy. Then as I was putting my pack back on he come over and stood real close to my back, almost so I couldn't move away. He wasn't trying to pass as I was close to a wall. I had no idea what he was up to until further down the road another pilgrim came up and told me my pack was wide open. I quickly checked all was intact and realised what the guy had been up to. There was no reason for him to come and stand so close to my back. It was fortunate I was able to move. The next village where we had lunch, was like a modern day truck stop . We walked through Ambasmestas and Vega del Valacarce. Spot the creepy doll in the upstairs window. These villages are like the ones you see on TV where people buy a house for one Euro and have to do it up. There were some houses being renovated, but an awful lot were

just left to rot. Every village has its own church with places to light a candle or two for family, friends, donors. I had a chuckle as I left one little church because directly opposite the church was a Hindhu deity. In Ruitelan we met Juan from southern Spain and his dog Cleo. They started the camino in Leon. Then it was on to Herrerias where we are staying the night. Saw a few small herds of cows, they look like Jersey cows but are much larger. At least one cow in the herd has a bell. There's a paddock of cows beside our pension, and one of the guests was worried the bells would ring all night. The landscape has definitely changed. It is more mountainous and the villages are like typical mountain villages tucked into hillsides. The walk from Pereje to Portela de Valcarce was like walking the Karangahape Gorge. Road on one side, river on the other.

It was fantastic to check my email tonight and see that Georgia's Camino has received some more donations. That is wonderful. Please keep promoting Georgia's Camino and sharing holyblisters.co.nz