Rainy Approach to Santiago

Gallicia is famed for its unpredictable weather, and that continues. The past three days have been cloudy, chilly, and wet. 

Yesterday was just a tough 16+ miles, finishing in a nice rural hotel as we had also the night before. But the long days and later arrivals leave little time for drying out.

Today, Tuesday, day 38, was finally sunny again. We have one more day of walking into Santiago tomorrow. 

A Rainy Anniversary from Sarria

Saturday, day 34, took us out of Sarria to Portomarin. It was also our 32d Wedding Anniversary, celebrated with Trish's favorite KitKat!

This was the day we broke the last 100km milestone above. 

Lots of rain but also beautiful views. And champagne and chocolate at the end provided by Helen and Robert!

The Way to O Ceberio

Wednesday, day 31, was the 18+ mile walk up to O Ceberio, the mountain village of Napoleonic War fame where the British got away from the French, getting their rather inept commander killed in the process, and making way for Wellington to take command, which ultimately ended badly for Napoleon at Waterloo, some time later... 

Anyway, O Ceberio is a 30 km walk from Villafranca, 20 km flat; 10 km up. That's 6 miles on muddy tracks, shared with horses, after already walking 12 miles. In 2013 we did it over 2 days; this time in 1. 

Yeah, we did it. And arrived in time for 7pm mass to boot! 

The Longest Day and the Best Wine

Ponteferrada to Villafranca del Biezos was another 15 mile day, but now nearing rainy Gallicia, we got a taste of rains to come. 

The path out of Ponteferrada took us past familiar spots from 2013 and to an important new discovery. In mid afternoon, looking for a place for a short beer stop, we instead entered a cafe with the most wonderful white and red wine we have had on the entire journey. Our short stop turned into an hour and, had we had less far to go, would have turned into a second bottle. 

Small Miracles in Ponteferrada

John's boot situation had been getting worse; tape on the bottom was coming off on the very rocky paths and the tear in the worn through sole was getting worse.  We needed a real shoe repair and we couldn't wait hours for it at the start of another 15 mile day. We also needed money as there are banking riots here and fears the banks could shut down. And a pharmacy. But opening hours in Spain are iffy. 

Well, we started walking out of Ponteferrada at 9, looking for all of the above with some vague directions from our hotel, and stopped into the large church- which had an English mass going on for a group of Australian pilgrims on a bus tour. So of course we had to stay, even though we had another long day ahead. 

Afterward, a shopkeeper sent us to one shoe repair place that didn't open til 10am (and actually did open 15 min late) where the repairman looked at John's boot and said he could do nothing. As we were leaving he mentioned a "zapaterria" around the corner. Thinking that might be a shoe store with "shoe goo" for a makeshift repair, off we went. Of course it was this little key cutting shop that also did shoe repairs. The proprietor took one look, said "no problema" and demanded both boots for patches that took 5 minutes!

Day 29 - The Descent to Ponteferrada

What goes up, must come down, and the descent from Cruz de Ferro, the highest point of the Camino, is in a word, hellish. Several miles of what once might have been a Roman road, now a steep, rutted, eroding goat path. It was bad in 2013 and worse now. 

We made it to the delightful town of Molinaseca, had a beer, and John made a new friend. Then we walked another 7 km to Ponteferrada. A very long 16 mile day.

Day 29 - Almost Freezing at Cruz de Ferro

Photo credit to Robert for Dawn pix. Going to be cold this AM as we go to CdF. 36 degrees now at 6:45am. Wind 4-11 mph after high winds yesterday on the ascent. Wool underwear will finally get used. 

The approach up the hill, above. The 4 of us, below.