Sorry, I´ve got a cat on my lap

The best excuse out of doing anything when I was growing up was to say "I´ve got a cat on my lap." Of course, the cat actually had to BE on your lap for this excuse to work. More on this later.....

I was walking from Sarria to Portomarin & having a very bad go of it. For some reason, I felt like I was walking in sand, just couldn´t get myself going. Took me until almost noon to go 5 or 6 km. What the heck? I felt bad, because I had told all my friends from Sarria that I would meet them in Porto, & it was getting later & later in the day & I was nowhere near the town. My feet hurt too & started swearing at me. They would have made sailors blush.

I came across this little rest area & flopped myself down, almost completely spent. Along came 2 friends from Galicia, Emilia & Sonia, who asked if they too could sit. Well, I don´t own the joint & there was plenty of room, so I said sure. And we talked a bit before they dug out sandwiches, & offered me bits of each. I was starving by this point, so I accepted them. Mmmmm. We then sat & talked about where we were from & where we had started, etc, & how bad the walking that day was (Monday?). Then Emilia broke out some chocolate & I said Gracias a los Aztecas! and we all laughed. They put their bags back on & left. I kitted up a few minutes later, only to stumble down the path & find not just a bar but an albergue, 5 kms from Porto. It was absolutely beautiful. Nice garden with an herb section, overlooking the countryside. Oh, how I wanted to stay here! I started crying, and my feet decided for me. Hell no we won´t go to Portomarin today! So I stumbled into the reception, paid my Euros, and headed up to the bunks. After getting settled in, I came back downstairs & saw that this albergue had a dog and a cat, both snoring away in the sunshine. Emilia & Sonia regretfully had to leave as they were on a deadline to reach Santiago, so we took pictures & exchanged emails.

The next morning, I had breakfast at the albergue & sat outside. The cat decided he would sit on my lap, so for 30 minutes, I had a huge purring tom on my lap. People kept leaving & wondering when I was going to start off myself & all I could say was "Sorry, I´ve got a cat on my lap."