10 miles and a visit to the ER

 We left Ferrol in the rain. Since I had decided to NOT bring my poncho (big mistake) in anticipation of this wet day we had purchased 100L garbage bags the night before so we fahioned our homemade ponchos. We used one to line the inside of the backpack, one to cover the pack and in a third we made arm and neck holes for our bodies. Yep, we were pretty fashionable. 

Well by 10:30 we had a huge downpours and I was so grateful for the bags. The rest of the day continued to be wet with occasional downpours. 

We had decided to divert from the original way and cut our miles down (we thought) by crossing the bridge in Ferrol, thereby passing Neda. Our destination became a hotel in Fene called The Chips Hotel. Well we didn’t cut our miles but we did move further along south this way and will miss staying in the municipal Albergue in Neda. We found out that you cannot utilize backpack transfer service from Municipal Albergues and we had decided to take advantage of this service. The stage from Neda to Pontedueme is predicted as somewhat difficult. 

Yes the day was wet and it was also steep. With the addition of the man made ponchos, extra plastic bags and 2 small pkgs of vino I’m pretty sure my bag now weighed15 lbs. 

I didn’t get many photos as t was busy trying to negotiate the poles. This left me with no free hands to hold the camera.

We got  to Fene, after some searching found a place for food (just Spanish Tortilla). There seems to be no protein to be found before 1:00pm😝. When the place says “Cafe” it means just that: coffee. After not filling up on that, we continued onto our hotel — another uphill push. 

Upon arrival at around 2pm we were pleasantly surprised with our simple room where we settled into a bit of a rest before going across the street to do laundry. Here is the view outside our window:

 Instead of a restful nap, I experienced an episode of sensation that caused me to fear a possible heart attack. 

I tried to brush it off but in the end I decided to take myself by taxi to the local clinic where they did an ekg and after some discussion (and I don’t know what it is going to cost me but the matronly receptionist/guard said LOTS) the doctor (who is an escapee from Cuba) decided that my ekg was normal and more than likely I just need to drink more water. 

I don’t know what I will receive a bill for but whatever it is the visit was worth it.

Quickest visit to an ER ever. All of this took under 1 hour.

Upon my return in the taxi, I picked up the dirty laundry and went to the laundromat across the street. That was another unusual experience as the only laundromats I am familiar with are coined. This place is Hi Tech! Everything is controlled from a large motherboard. All one has to do is load in the laundry to the washer, pay by bank card and move your laundry. Their soap is included in the package. Pretty slick.

Tomorrow (today I am writing this early am) we are moving on to Pontedeume and paying 5€ each to have our packs transported. This is the first time I have ever done this so I sort of feel I am cheating but oh well.