Day 12 - 25.07 kms Caldas de Reis to outside of Padron - Sept 28

Buenos tardes - This is actually day 11 walking (we counted our first day in Porto as day 1). We are starting out earlier and earlier - today we were on the trail at 7:45 am... Partly because of the noisy night and everyone was up early. We had bustling traffic on a busy street outside of our room, that ceased a bit around midnight, but then the street cleaners and garbage pick up crew came out at 3:00 am. To top this, church bells chimed every hour - two different churches letting you know what time it was...the bells tolled 45 seconds apart. At midnight, after 12 loud chimes from one church, 45 seconds later there was another set of 12 loud chimes. I imagine if you live here, you get used to this, but for the pilgrims that are not accustomed to the bells, it was mostly a sleepless night. The air was crisp and moist, there was a foggy mist that covered the vehicles and streets. Many Peregrinos were already out on the pathway out of town. We walked mostly in the forest on a hilly terrain, passing several vineyards again and families out harvesting the grapes. There are many Peregrinos heading to Santiago and the line up at the cafes, for the coffee/morning snack and washrooms, is long. We passed folk we had not seen on the trail and many we have met, there is an excitement in the air as we are getting closer to our destination. Our booking agent, Marilyn, had conveniently booked us into a very nice hotel in Scala, outside of Pedron. With an early start, we may be ahead of some of the larger groups of pilgrims. Tonight, we reminisced about our journey and tasted the wine from the tavern owner (from a couple of days ago). It was delicious as were the snacks everyone brought. What was the best was the conversation in the room, the frank discussions and the laughter! The memory of the hot chocolate that Marilyn ordered that was so thick that she dunked her croissant into it, or the ripe grapes taken off the vine and devoured and the great seafood. Many great memories of the wonderful experiences we shared. It has been estupendo!