shaken but not stirred

Ponferrada – Trabadelo
35km

Seemed to get bitten (a lot) during the night and this irritation revealed itself more and more as the day went on. Greeted Hot Spanish Guy this morning and let them go off ahead. Later I saw the familiar rucksack outside a café so decided to continue on to the next one. There were several towns on the route this morning and when I finally stopped for a coffee I was in a place that must have had a dozen bars. It was raining now and I hung my wet waterproof in a corner to dry and ordered my coffee. I stayed there a while sheltering from the rain and getting warmed up and just as I was getting ready to leave who should pop their head through the door???... of all the bars in all the camino…..
When I finally left and said goodbyes again I walked out and felt radiantly happy with the world. I did not see them again. I kept walking today not really knowing where to stop til it got quite late, I had walked a long way and somehow knew I had finally got well ahead of Hot Spanish Guy and the group and could forget about bumping into them all day.
Passed an old woman in the road collecting walnuts and later passed some men stirring a huge tub of walnuts to clean them. I picked three for myself and put them in my pocket along with the three almonds I had picked much earlier. Free food! Some French people in the albergue went out for dinner. They headed across the highway to the petrol station to microwave some shrink wrapped burgers so I threw some pasta in a packet soup and had a quiet evening in.