Less than 100 km to Santiago. Overnight in Gonzar (Mon 7 Oct)

Another good sleep, although it was a cold night and my tactic of not bringing a sleeping bag (just a sleeping sheet) was challenged.  I wore my fleece, my nylon wind breaker, draped Jan's fleece over my legs and added my raincoat as another layer.  It worked OK, except when I rolled over it all came apart.   Jan was toasty in her sleeping bag that she made into a quilt before we left and in a pinch we could probably squeeze together in a single bunk under the quilt (as long as it was a lower bunk!).  Many albergues have blankets, but this one was a bare bones municipal one -- a Xunta as they are called here in Galicia.  They are mostly reconverted schools or purpose built to be an Albergue with full facilities, but no character.  Full facilities means a kitchen, however, most Xuntas have bare kitchen cupboards: no pots, pans, dishes, cutlery.  So, the local restaurants are guaranteed a brisk business.

Today, we were treated to another misty morning:

With nice paths high up from the valley:

And gradually the sun's heat lifted the fog and it ended up being another hot sunny day:

Here's a very modern Albergue we passed today -- looks like it had a great view over the valley:

Concrete posts mark each kilometre in this region, and this one -- 100 km to go -- has attracted a lot of attention:

I prefer the attention given to this post, 94 km to go, likely by one of the village folk:

These men were harvesting apples and I was curious to see what kind of tool they were using, as we have two overgrown apple trees in our yard with most apples out of reach.  Their tools? Looong sticks:

A nice harvest from these trees:

And in another small village, someone had created this little refuge to pause and enjoy some peace, and sample the harvest.  Very thoughtful:

Just love these stone villages:

More fall handiwork, neatly stacked, ready for the winter, with two chairs to enjoy a well-earned break:

We were delighted to meet up with two Camino friends, from S Korea who we met the first day and kept seeing for the first couple weeks, but had lost contact with them.  We had many good laughs, despite the language barrier, and never did exchange names.  So great to see them again:

And after almost 20 km of walking, we came to Portomarin, with a wide swath of water and two long bridges, one very high, one much lower:

We were convinced the river was tidal, as it reminded us so much of the island in the Fraser River delta where we live.  We rejoiced, knowing the sea must be very close:

We were wrong.  The sea is a looong way away and this river is dammed several kms downstream, so the fluctuating river levels must be caused by that.

Stairs into the town, right at the end of the bridge.  The Camino didn't go up these steps, but we needed to find a Bankomat (ATM) and buy some groceries, so up we went:

Our Albergue in Gonzar.  Renovated old stone building.  Really cozy:

We met a wonderful woman named Christina here, on the Camino celebrating her 70th birthday.  Really a joyous person and we talked about Teresa of Avila, St Ignacius, Richard Rohr, Jonah and the whale, the Good Samaritan, etc.  Jan had just finished Joyce Rupp's book on the Camino: "Walk in a Relaxed Way" that someone had left behind at an Albergue and was planning to leave it behind here.  We asked Christina if she liked Joyce Rupp and she said yes and would she like to have a copy of her book on the Camino.  YES!!  She was overjoyced.  I asked if I could take her picture and here's her pose: