Day 6 • Palas de Rei to Arzua • 18.5 Miles

Just keep walking. Something everyone had to keep telling themselves today on our 30 km hike.

As we walked today, we noticed many things kept us walking. Appreciating the little things in life kept our spirits up. Around 13 miles, in a town we don’t know the name of (beautiful nonetheless), we were walking down a hill and noticed a fountain. A goldilocks fountain some would say, not too big but not too small. We noticed other people putting their hands in the fountain and dunking their heads, hats, and headbands to try to keep cool. We took the opportunity to take a little break and promptly do the same thing. The water felt incredible especially since today was a warmer day and the water was ice cold. Eventually we started splashing each other with water, and started giggling like children. This little insignificant fountain brought us so much joy in a long days hike and helped us to keep walking.

Another way we kept walking, was through humor. Giving each other riddles, some that made sense, others that made absolutely no sense, laughing about how high school boys from Ireland talk about soccer the same way we talk about American football. The funny thing about this, is that even though we’re an ocean away, it’s the same conversation. Not knowing Spanish has encouraged many hilarious situations. Examples include, being asked “botella o grifo” and answering “penquño”, getting lost in towns, and general Leaf goofiness. With all these jokes we still kept walking.

Overall, 30 km, tons of saying “buen camino”, with aching feet, and a positive attitude

We still kept walking,

Brenden and Quinn