We are woken in the night by the sound of rain drumming on the cabin roof, so an early start this morning is neither so appealing or so necessary. Luckily it dries up by the time we set off, about 7.15. Though the clouds look threatening for much of the morning our waterproofs are soon superfluous, but it stays cool.

We walk through the vineyards to Villafranca del Bierzo in time for a late breakfast, though poor Rosie’s mouth ulcers make it difficult for her to eat – I end up eating most of her tortilla too. From bitter experience she knows that chocolate milk is the best source of pain – free calories so we find some to carry with us. Our blisters are much less painful today but we opt for the lower route from Villafranca, which shadows the road and the river, to allow us to cover some distance more easily. We make good progress up the valley but decide we’ve had enough when we get to Ruitelan, as it starts to rain again.

The rain doesn’t last long, but we are well positioned here to start the climb up into Galicia when we are fresh tomorrow morning. 27 more km under our belts – still 164 km to go. We’ve decided we like working in km as it feels like we are covering the distance more quickly! We are also having such a good time that we are thinking about doing something similar next year – lets hope that feeling lasts till we reach Santiago!