Day 35 - to Arca / Pedrouzo

As always, my thanks to my day and 5000 step sponsors. I think I mentioned yesterday that I was surprised that sponsors kept walking through the parish office door and, then, within a few hours, another two day sponsors appeared. I am grateful for all those who are journeying with me.

I was not sure what time Mass was at the local church last night as there were different signs with different times. So, after a brief rest, I went to the church for 7pm Mass. Thankfully, that was the time foir the Mass. The feats of Our Lady of Mt Carmel must be just around the corner because there were about 50 locals in the church and, after the rosary but before Mass began, there was a special series of prayers which related to Mt Carmel. Further, there was quite a fancy statue of OLMC near the sanctuary with a number of candles lit. 

Because of the novena, there was a great deal of singing at the Mass. No one seemed to have hymn sheets; they must have been the spanish version of Amazing Grace or Open My Eyes. Because we are in the region of Galicia, everything sounds a bit different. The Mass was in Spanish but it was spoken with the accent of the regional dialect, which is more like portuguese. I found it hard to follow the prayers and the homily. This was the first time that I saw an offertory at Mass - one of the nice things is that a young girl carried up a candle and went to the statue of OLMC and lit one more of the large candles; they are obviously counting their way down through the Novena. The priest was very, very dramatic... Ultimately, I had to close my eyes at the consecration because every word was followed by a five second pause. The elevation and the return of the host to the paten was very very slow and purposeful. It all seemed very "pious". At the end of Mass, we pilgrims were called up around the altar and were offered a very personal and lovely pilgrims' blessing. 

After Mass, we went around the corner to a cafe and had a lovely dinner of steak and salad accompanied by a local red. It was delightful to sit in the town square and watch the locals, especially the families with young children, gather in the piazza to chat and play.

Thankfully, I had a great night's sleep. Everyone was in bed and ready to sleep well before 11pm. There were no great snorers in the complex. Linda and I had decided to set off a little bit earliewr today, so as to miss the heat, so I was on the road at 6.15am. The exit from town was down, down, down, down. I was really glad, as we descended, that I was not walking in the other direction. We hit the bottom and there was quite a hill ahead of us. At that precise moment, I thought that I would need my hiking sticks to climb that hill and then I realised that I did not have them with me..... So, it was back to the hostel that I went!!!!  It was quite a climb and most of the people whom I passed looked at me with a very perplexed look in their eyes.

Having retrieved my sticks, I was off again. I had not lost a huge amount of time but I am sure that I lost 2 kilos!  Linda and I had organised to meet along the way - I would catch up... It seemed to take forever until we were reunited. She was making a cracking pace. 

Apart from the extra up and down hill of the day, the walking was very pleasant. The sun did not appear until quite late, hidden behing fog and clouds. Most of the walk was along tree lined paths. Even though I would race ahead until the next appointed meeting spot, I never had to wait terribly long until Linda arrived. Finally, we were in Pedrouzo before Midday.

I headed straight to my hostel to book in and ensure a decent bed. The shower and washing of clothes could wait. Twenty minutes later, I met Linda for a delightful lunch and refreshing beverage. She has now headed off to her hotel, I have returned to my hostel. We will meet again for Mass and dinner.

Adios!