Day 24: Vega de Valcarce to Biduelo 27.1kms

Up! We have walked ten hours today, breaks will account for an hour of that, down ... for possibly another hour, and the rest was UP! Thursday today, and either Thursday is washing day or it's the first fine weather in these parts as everyone had their washing on the line. And mountains everywhere in every direction as far as the eye could see ... beautiful. We crossed into Galicia halfway up some mountain today and so we will learn the differences/idiosyncrasies of another region. They grow cows here we know, as our paths today bore evidence. The villages we walked through were flanked by cow sheds and the streets paved with said evidence. Plenty of Sound of Music hills to graze on and the hills were alive with the sound of cow bells. The up path to the highest point today was also lined with the evidence of horses; not THE horsemen but horses offered at the bottom of the mountain specifically for the climb. Tempting! We have walked with many people from all over the world; a lot of Koreans, French, German and some all sorts. It is a pleasure to meet again someone we walked with maybe a week or two ago and there are those we really hope to meet again, maybe in Santiago. Some leave after a couple of weeks, vowing to return, some are forced to retire with injury. We are relatively unscathed compared to infected, raw feet, tendonitis, recurring injuries. And age is no excuse; two days ago we stopped for breakfast before a climb and looking around I noticed everyone at that point would have had possibly 20 years on me. Kept me quiet going up! Ken was quite happy to watch out for some of those older ladies. Mind you, I think some of them had TAXI on speed dial and they weren't carrying packs.