Day 31 – Abadín to Vilalba

Much nicer day today! Abadín was a bit of a funny town – 3 pubs and not much else, although Al did manage to get some more plasters for her feet and we got some yoghurt and peaches for breakfast (festival season strikes again – the bar/restaurant was closed this morning for their festival).
We had a bit of a mosquito attack last night – spent about half an hour killing about a dozen of them at around 3 am so bit of a disturbed night and subsequent sleep in! Still, we were on the road by 10 to 9 and with the persistent fog, it still felt early. After a bit of up and down to get the day started it was very flat. We got a pleasant surprise in Martiñan after a couple of hours – a coffee shop appeared just in time for morning tea (the guidebook said there was nothing there, so we weren’t expecting a break till lunchtime. After yesterday’s exertions our legs felt a bit leaden, so the rest was very much needed.
Just before Martiñan we discovered the origin of the phrase “… when the shit hits the fan…”. We have been seeing what looked like water trucks on many farms and today we found out what they really were: a tractor towing one pulled passed us and then, a few hundred meters further on, started spraying a mixture of cow dung and water over his fields! I have to tell you, the stench was unbelievable (and we have smelled some pretty terrible piles on this trip!) – definitely the fastest we have walked as we passed the field!
A gentle 7 or so kms from Martiñan to Goirix for lunch and then 5kms to Vilalba – by now the sun had appeared and we were happy to get in about 3:30pm. We have finally struck a beautiful hotel (a Parador) for a two night stay, although once again it is festival day so everything appears to be closed. Oh well, just have to sit around and do nothing tomorrow! 20kms today and 702 now in total…