Day 46: Eiravedra to Santiago de Compostela

Here at last was the day when I would arrive in Santiago de Compostela after over 1000km of pilgrimage. The sound, during the night of heavy rain and thunder storms did not augur well for the day ahead. Indeed, we started the day with quite gentle rain until we got to our first rest stop. The Camino passed just behind the pension in which we were staying so we climbed the hill to the point where we joined the official Way and walked the first few kilometres entirely on peaceful woodland paths. Passing through the village of Outeiro and then bypassing Lestedo, we soon arrived on rural roadways in Deseiro. It was midday and we stopped at the Queen Lupa albergue.

The dominant feature on the landscape during this first section was the Pico Sacro (Sacred Peak). The legend has it that evil Queen Lupa lived on the mountain, but when the relics of St James arrived there, she was converted and have the "field of stars" (Compostela) as a place for the relics. The albergue which was named in her honour was a good resting place. The smell of lunch cooking made us hungry, and after a little priestly persuasion, the lady of the house presented us with an ad hoc portion of raxo (spiced pork loin) with potatoes, enough for all five of us. 

Continuing on the way, we made a slight adjustment to the official Camino which seemed to crisscross the main road and took the bridleway which was more direct. More rural roads took us through the village of Aldrei and onwards to our last rest stop of the whole Camino in Piñeiro. This is a village right by a little Ermita chapel dedicated to St Lucy, the lowest point above sea level on today's section. After drinks and a tapa of the lady's lentil soup, we began the gentle ascent of 4km length to the final target: the Cathedral.

It was slow going as everyone was tired and some were suffering with blisters (thankfully not I). We passed a poignant memorial to the people who were killed in the train crash some years ago, the enquiry into which is ongoing at the moment. I said a prayer as I passed the photos and flowers. As soon as we passed this point, we were walking through the outskirts of the city.

Suddenly the Cathedral came into view and we could see our trajectory ahead of us: dropping down to a little bridge we then had a steep ascent to the city centre. Finally, reaching the old city walls and the historic centre, it was an easy downhill walk till we arrived at the great Obradoiro square in front of the Cathedral. We were greeted by those who had come simply to be with us at the end of the pilgrimage. There were tears of joy and of sadness and some emotion, but we had made it. I had made it. Just over 1000km, the best part of the length of Spain, walked over the period of three years, or rather, one year with a two year break for COVID in the middle.

Day 45: Silleda to Eiravedra

Today began with very promising blue skies. After Mass and breakfast, we set out from the little hotel for the penultimate day on the road. I think the past three days of rain and slopes had taken its toll as I can't say I felt very animated, but at least it was dry. Leaving Silleda and then dropping down from the main road on to a rural path, looking along the valley, we could see rain approaching. Fortunately, when it came, we were near a watering hole - a roadside bar - so stopped for another coffee till the shower had passed. By this time the distance to Santiago was already below 40km. We would see that number drop during the day to below 20km. Very heartening when the total was almost 1000km at the start of the whole Camino.

The rain stopped quite quickly and we were back down to the rural path and on the way to our first scheduled stop in Bandeira. The guide sums up the countryside as peaceful rural pathways and serene woodland walks. That was precisely how it was, alternating between the two. One of the things which has been notable is the proliferation of different fungi. I've always thought it would be very interesting to get to know about wild mushrooms and benefit from the knowledge through foraging but of course it has inherent dangers. Looking up some of the fungi we have seen along the way, it is frightening to see them possible consequences of eating some of them, but also how some quite colourful ones are edible. I think I'll leave it up the experts.

The food in Bandeira was all very edible. We dropped in on a bar for a bit of lunch and ended out with shared plates of Iberic ham from Alba de Tormes in Avila province, Cantimpalos chorizo from Segovia and some Castilian style cheese. It seemed only right to have a little glass of wine to accompany it, again from Castile. The lady in the bar was very friendly and wished us well on our way to Santiago. Credentials stamped (they have to be done at least twice a day on the final 100km to qualify for the Compostela parchment), we made our way along those peaceful pathways once again.

Today's route was punctuated quite nicely by villages with bars which broke the stage up very nicely. At Dornelas, I was greeted by the hospitalero at one of the albergues who had a bar in the hostel. He was obviously a bit of a handyman as he had made the bar and furniture himself from timber he had bought locally, from an entire tree. The bar also had a lagar (a winepress) which was a great conversation starter. The hospitalero and I chatted quite a lot about the Camino and I noticed that, although his Spanish was perfect, he has a slight accent which I discerned was Italian. True enough his name was Andrea from Milan and had left a former way of life 15 years ago to come and move to this idyllic village in Galicia to do his woodwork and welcome pilgrims. Quite a character!

More woodlands and another village, San Miguel de Castro, and the road took a very steep downward trajectory into the valley of the River Ulla. Crossing the bridge over the river at the aptly named Ponte Ulla, we had lost all the height we had gained since Ourense. The valley is traversed also by a high speed train bridge, recently installed to complete the Madrid-Galicia Ave train route.

The final two kilometres were gentler in gradient than the downward stretch, thankfully. I navigated a path to Eiravedra which is only slightly off the Camino, though the main reason was to avoid walking by the main road again.

Eiravedra is a village by the National road and our lodging tonight is a pension-bar-restaurant, the sort that used to be very popular and well used before the advent of high speed roads and rails. It provided all in one place a comfortable bed and a great pilgrim dinner (omelette and then sea bass and apple tart for me) for €15. And so to bed, to prepare for the last day into Santiago.

Day 44: Castro Dozón to Silleda

The rain came and it went. It came and it went. It came again and went again. Sometimes with wind, sometimes heavy. It was a day marked by rain. It was also a long day of 28km, the longest of this stage. 

We began the day well with Mass at the lodging. After a coffee we then headed back, by taxi, to the village of Castro de Dozón to pick up the Camino once again. So we went directly to the bar in Castro for breakfast. The ladies running the place weren't really set up for breakfasts - toast, croissant, etc - so we each had a large bocadillo of Cea bread with serrano ham and cheese, with coffee. While we were eating, a group came in the bar. It was hard to work out how they had come together as a group. Later, I discovered they were a group of randomly brought together tourists organised by the regional government tourist board. I ended out speaking at length to one of them who was from Uruguay later on. Interesting conversation!

After yesterday's failure to find any lunch, we were keen to keep to one of my maxims: go to the first bar you find. So, within 4km, we had stopped at a very friendly little place for another coffee. From there we journeyed from village to village, along rural pathways towards our lunch stop. Only one steep path in this section made it rather easier than yesterday!

We made it to Botos by Spanish lunchtime. On arrival in the village we saw there was a place offering lunches. It was one of the old-fashioned bar/restaurants with tremendous value for money lunch and lots of workers eating together. I had lentils and pork knuckle. Others had been beans with chorizo and hake. All were satisfied with the food and with the price.

The rain and wind really got up as we left the restaurant and walked up the hill, through the village and onto woodland paths. These paths continued for a time till we got to the N 525 main road again and a nice place to stay: María Carmen's restaurant. It had a bar area with a real fire: so we sat there to try to dry out, took on some liquids and some of the homemade Spanish tortilla which was kindly offered. A quick change of socks was good too as they had got wet and I wanted to avoid any blisters.

The last 8km to our target was tough. We saw from the map that the official Camino went well off the direct route, marked by the main road, and took in a deep river valley. It was unpleasant walking by the main road getting sprayed by lorries and cars going past. So we found an alternative minor road which took us through a lovely rural stretch and then around the less beautiful industrial estate of Silleda. As we entered back onto the main road for the final ascent into Silleda town where we were staying tonight. We arrived very tired with the darkness already fallen. A very light supper and a bottle of beer was enough for us, tired as we were.

So we have seen the distance to our target drop from 69km to 41km. Very close to Santiago now! Only two days till we arrive.

Day 43: Pazos to Castro de Dozón via Oseira

A dry morning! It was great to see a bit of blue sky today as we stepped out of our lodging to begin the second day of the Camino. The first 4km took us as far as the village of Cea, famous for its bread. The bread here is typical of Galicia: very dense and with a beautiful crispy crust. Rustic it is; delicate it is not. We had arranged with our host to meet for coffee in Cea at the Bar Vaticano - a Rome and papacy themed bar. 

After our coffee we left Cea on the variant of the Camino which passes through Oseira, where the most important Cistercian monastery of Galicia is situated. The days of rain preceding today meant that there was a lot of water lying on the path. It meant having to bypass the path by making our own parallel woodland paths. Once we reached uphill sections (today's route, like yesterday's included quite a few climbs taking us as high as just over 800 metres) the water turned into a little river flowing down the middle of the path. The water made the stones slippery and the earth waterlogged, so the walk was difficult in parts. However it had also contributed to the plentiful display of colourful mushrooms and toad stools, seen in the woodland sections along the way.

In a village just before Oseira we stopped for a drink, and it was just a well, as we found no bar or shop open till the very end of the section. Even the restaurant in Oseira was closed on Mondays. It made the route additionally difficult, having no food for the journey. The Abbey is a magnificent structure. However, we arrived at lunchtime and the church was locked and there was no way up make contact with the monks. So the budget to Oseira was very short. Just as well, as we needed all the time to make the rest of the Camino. The monastery at Oseira first became known to me by name as it is the place that the fictional Monsignor Quixote dies at, after crashing his little car. Graham Greene, the author of the book, spent long periods of time on retreat at the Abbey.

The final stretch of about 10km to Castro de Dozón passed through numerous villages, mostly ramshackle and unpopulated. The only bars we found were closed down, probably finally killed off by COVID. It felt like I was running in empty on this final stretch, having had almost nothing to eat all day. The route also had a few steep or difficult ascents and descents making progress slow. The weather contributed to the environment as our afternoon was punctuated by rain.

Arriving at Castro de Dozón, it was already 6.30pm but our taxi was on standby to take us back to Pazos for the overnight stay. 

Day 42: Ourense to Pazos

At last: the final return to this Camino. Accompanied by Tim, John, Andy and Alek we set out from Stoke on Saturday, travelling down to Stansted airport and on to Santiago arriving late at night. Staying in the new part of town, and leaving while still dark in the morning, we avoided seeing the Cathedral, so as not to spoil our final arrival. 

Having waited out the summer to avoid the heat, it was immediately obvious that this was going to be a wet week. The weather forecast shows rain every day, the only difference between the days being thunder and lightning on one day, and wind and rain on a couple of others. True to form, as we had breakfast at the bar next to our hotel in Santiago, the heavens opened, so we got quite wet even on the short walk to the railway station. Santiago to Ourense is a short train ride of 35 minutes. As we sped along at high speed the light began to appear in the sky. On arrival in Ourense, we walked from the station to the Church of Our Lady of Fatima. I received a great welcome by Fr Celso, a retired priest attached to the parish. He was celebrant at the 10am Mass and was really pleased to welcome me to concelebrate. 

The church of Our Lady of Fatima is an interesting mixture of architectural styles. The congregation were very welcoming and were delighted to have our small group of pilgrims at their Sunday celebration. After Mass and another coffee we made our way once again across the Roman bridge to the north side of the River Minho and so on our way on the Camino. 

Today's route, after leaving the town, proceeded on a fairly steep path through the village of Cudeiro towards Tamallancos. From Ourense at 100m above sea level we got up to 450m. I have to say that, having had a lazy summer with no real walking done, the ascent of the first half of today's route was very taxing. A bit of stitch and cramp made it more demanding and the constant rain made the steepest parts of the ascent more challenging. Fortunately we found a good bar at Tamallancos for sustinence. 

Passing though Tamallancos and a ifew other small villages, with the rain really coming down, we tramped the path to Pazos, a small village in the parish of Cea. We were welcomed by out host Paco who later ferried us to a neighbouring village for dinner. A great time was had! So at least it's good to be back on the Camino on this final stage, but it was tough getting back into it today.

Day 41: Xunqueira de Ambía to Ourense

It is always tempting to think of the last day as something other than a full day of the Camino. Possibly it is because the main Camino website gives it only a one star for difficulty (compared to four for some of the other stages this week), or because it is mostly downhill, or because the last part is through the rather prosaic outskirts and suburbs of a modern provincial city, that the stage can be played down in one's mind. But it has been a day of 22km walking, and has passed through a large number of villages, with a few good views over the valley in which the city is situated. 

We started out early from Xunqueira - well earlier than usual - and decided to postpone breakfast until the first village out of Xunqueira. It was a good move. The first three kilometres included a drop down into the river valley and then a bit of a climb up to the village of O Pousa, where we were greeted in the Bar O Torre by a lovely lady with a hugely welcoming smile. The view over the countryside and back towards the mountains made this a beautiful place to stop and just take it all in, over a coffee. Today's stage is punctuated by villages and bars throughout. So after a further five kilometres we took another break for a drink at a roadside bar. Although cloudier today it was still hot, with a maximum of 30 degrees, so it was still necessary to keep up the liquid intake. Realising we were a third of the way along we decided to make a good effort to do the next third before stopping for lunch. 

Most of today's route was roadside walking with a bit of parallel green lane. This is always less interesting and harder on the feet. The villages in Galicia are much closer together than in Castile, more like in England, so lots of today's walk was through places where people live. As we got to our designated lunch stop, Reboledo, we passed through a particularly ugly industrial estate. In the town, though, we found a bar which did enormous bacon and cheese bocadillos. Great Camino food!

The last seven kilometres seemed to drag. The only place of interest was Seixalbo, which has a quaint medieval centre, but not much evident life. Descending into the city - having started today at 500 metres and the city being at 100 metres - we passed through seemingly unending blocks of flats before getting to the street near the old town, where we have a flat to stay in overnight. 

So it is great to have finished this section and to have only about 110km to go to get to Santiago finally, once I return, Deo Volente, in October. This has been the most challenging of the sections of the Camino, but a great thing to be able to do, to conquer the challenges. And so tonight there will be a nice dinner in Ourense and tomorrow see a little of the city before heading back to Madrid airport by high speed train, passing the places we have walked and going through tunnels in mountains that we have climbed. 

To be continued...