One challenge at a time

  We left Melide early... this was our hardest day.... basically we had squished 2 recommended days into one, resulting in a 20 ish mile odessey to complete today.  Melide is also the place where the primitivo route (the one we were on) joined the Franco one. Thus in my head I had expectations of the route being much busier. Also given that we were counting down the miles to Santiago, I was expecting that much of the route would be alongside the road. From the bus on the way here I had seen pilgrims walking alongside the road and assumed that most of the route was like that.  So once we left Melide I was expecting tarmac but to my surprise and delight, our path branched off very quickly onto gravel and into woods. We had passed some nice cottage like houses with views over the fields and the woods were full of Eucalyptus, with a smell that made all else suffer with insignificance. Today was absolutely about getting the miles done and although we had made tentative plans f...

  Needless to say... last nights sleep was not great at the hostel. We discovered why everyone else had been practically running down the road when we were shown to our room and found only the top bunks were available. If anyone hasn't stayed in a hostel before, the top bunks are the least sought after for several reasons... firstly after a day of walking, getting up and down is not the easiest thing to do, especially when ypur head is about 2 inches away from the wooden beam. Secondly, the ladders they use have the thinnest rungs so it ends up like some excruiciating form of torture for your feet.  Finally there is the concern for your bunk mate below that every toss and turn throughout the night will wake them up as whenever you do try to move, the entire bunk system shakes as if in a force 10 gale.  The room itself was ok with about 7 bunks but the noise from the occupants inhibited any kind of restful night. The snoring that emenated from 2 or 3 bunks, penetrated to y...