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.