Day 4 - Palais de Rei to Melide

Itinerary

Walk to Melide – 14 km [9 Miles]

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Day 4 Journal Entry ~ Josh Adkins

Today was our “easiest” day of walking, at 9 miles and about 4 hours on the Camino. I would never take a 4 hour walk at home, with so many other things to do, but as Steve said on Day 1, here we “suspend our usual practices” and walk.

We started our day with breakfast at our B&B in Palais de Rei. The food served there, both breakfast and last night’s dinner, has been probably the best food we’ve eaten all week.

Our walk started around 9, with a message from Steve about embracing hardship and struggle like Paul did. This hardship can range from the aches and pains we are feeling to the really hard circumstances in our personal lives.

The scenery was beautiful today, with a lot of winding thru forests and walking past family farms and gardens. One of the stretches feels like what it would have looked like 1,000 years ago when pilgrims also made this journey.

We stopped to take pictures on the bridge leading into Melide, then found our lunch spot. Javier ordered a variety of food for us to try including the famous grilled octopus. It was absolutely delicious. We got ice cream for dessert and due to a comical translation mix-up, Kathy got rice pudding flavored ice cream.

Our hotel in Melide is the opposite of yesterday. It is very modern and in the heart of the city vs being 300 years old out in the country. But we have air conditioning!

Tonight we plan to walk around the town a bit, have dinner and watch the USA vs Australia World Cup game at 9pm local time.

Tomorrow is another shorter walk with accommodations outside of the main town. Time is moving slowly but also we are halfway done! I couldn’t do this 35 days in a row like some pilgrims, but I’m definitely not ready for it to be over just yet.

Buen Camino,

Josh