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.