One thing we have learned on this pilgrimage is that the Camino has a way of humbling everyone who travels on her. Just when you think things are going your way and your plans are good and solid, the Camino will remind you that you are not the one in charge.

Today, the Camino humbled us and we finally decided to throw in the towel for the day after only hiking about 13 kilometers. The day was miserable for us as we found ourselves in heavy rain for almost 4 solid hours before deciding to find warm, dry quarters for the night. We had done pretty well in moderate rain over the past few days, but this was something different. It was a steady hard rain all morning long. We were pretty well soaked in spite of our rain gear and there didn’t seem to be much point in going on since the rain did not appear to be letting up at all. So, we are now in a very nice albergue in the town of Arzua and will continue our pilgrimage tomorrow morning. More rain is predicted, but there is no prediction of “heavy rain” as there was today.

One consequence of our stopping early today is that we will not arrive in Santiago on Saturday, as previously planned, but on Sunday instead. Our overall schedule allows for this and so we will just shift our planned activities by one day and go on from there. We had been warned about the possibility of rain in Galicia and now we have a new understanding and appreciation of that warning.

Actually, though, we have been greatly blessed so far on our pilgrimage in that the weather has been exceptionally good up until the past 3 or 4 days. So, we will count our blessings and continue on to Santiago tomorrow. The forecast for Santiago is warm and sunny and we are looking forward expectantly to our arrival there on Sunday morning.

¡Buen Camino!