Last night we joined around 40 other pilgrims in a communal three course dinner. A nice bowl of veggie type soup, sliced meat with a mixed beans. Don’t know what it was called, obviously washed down with some red. Every body had to stand up and introduce themselves and their reasons for being on the camino. I always love this bit. Just remember there are thousands on the track at the one time,and here we are a number of 40 odd,and there are Australians, Irish, poms,welsh,Dutch, yanks,Chinese, tiawanese, and probably four or five other nations,in one room, all enjoying our meal together after a killer climb. Bring it on again tomorrow. And I spoke too soon. This morning wearing my fav old singlet and shorts, ready for breakfast and another slog up the mountain, a huge thunderstorm hit. Beautiful sound of thunder rolling across the hills and lightning 🌩 and pouring with rain. By the time I ate my cornflakes, a baguette with jam and a cup of tea, also making my flask of tea for the journey, the rain had stopped, and by 8 am when we started walking, the day just got better. Although it was quite cold, I was happy walking in my singlet and shorts, whilst everyone else was wrapped up like eskimos.The next 15kms were again like yesterday, but maybe not as steep. Yesterday we climbed 900 metres in 8 kms,today another 500 in 15 kms. Guess what?what goes up, must come down, an appropriate song by Blood Sweat and Tears, and that’s what happened. Five ks of steep down hill on a track where 4wd vehicles would have struggled,the blood sweat and tears were alive. Half way down, we stopped to assist Amy as she had a hot spot turning into a blister, and I suggested if she didn’t sort it straight away, it could get a lot worse. By the time we reached the bottom, my knees were screaming, and I had to sit down for at least an hour before continuing. We arrived at the albergue after 4pm, washed my clothes, had a shower and relaxing before going to dinner. We added to the family today, on and off we walked with Allister, a welsh man, and Scott from California. Also ran into Helen and Mark. This sunny Sunday afternoon will continue into tomorrow we hope.