There was a "Butterfly Festival"

Hello,  everyone.  Today the weather is flirting with a turn to fall weather again. (We had a piece of summer weather for a while, though not as beastly hot as August gets.) There was a "Butterfly Festival " at the butterfly place down the road from Bentsen State Park,  ao we drove by to have a look. 

The grounds were basically a lot of flower beds. Just now the purple fringe-y flowers that look like ageratum were blooming. Theirs are the shrub variety. Many monarch butterflies were enjoying the nectar. We saw a strange bug on one of the bushes.

This is from above. We've never seen this creature before. 

We were hoping the butterfly place would be having a plant sale, but they weren't.  It's too bad; I would have loved to add some of the goldenrod variety they had growing to my flowers. 

Returning to Bentsen State Park

Hello,  everyone.  Last week, we got out early and walked at one of our favorite local places: Bentsen State Park.  The weather was a little cool and less humid and it was perfect. 

The birds thought so, too. 

We did 5.4km (a little over 3 miles). 

Some garden stuff I wanted to share

Hello,  everyone.  It's been well into the 90's F since we got back. (30+ C) There is supposed to be a strong cool front rolling through this afternoon, possible day's highs in the 70's this weekend. I think fall (autumn) may finally fall into place.

Our friend the barrel cactus is still hanging in there, after moving house multiple times and finally being set into the St. Joseph garden. Over 46 years and counting.

This crinum lily was the last bulb package in the big box store bin a couple of years ago. She looks happy.

Right after getting back from our pilgrimage,  we got to work on the cool season garden. The radishes and amara (a kind of mustard green) are up and running already

The dragonfruit plants are blooming like crazy. In the morning before the flowers close, the bees are going insane trying to figure them out. 

It was good to be on pilgrimage  and it's good to be home.

Our last dinner in Madrid

Hello, everyone.  We love the Spanish foods, and when we're over there we try to enjoy them whenever the times work out right for a good meal.

Absolutely delicious olive salad for the tapa with the wine. This was a short appetizer stop before we settled on a place for dinner.

Assorted tapas plate, they had two of each so we didn't have to fight over anything.  😉

Assortment of cheeses, with a fruit conserve and some membrillo to accent the flavors. I cut each piece in half and put the fruits on them.

It was a beautiful meal for our last evening in the big city.

Santiago at last

Hello, everyone.  Yesterday we walked into Santiago. The published stages had it as a shorter day, around 16km but Strava tells me we did a bit over 18km. But what's an extra 2 km between friends, right?

First sight of the Cathedral!

This is the first time we have entered the city from the north. There's quite a bit of city to go through from this direction. 

The St. James statue and bas-relief art on the (?) Diocesan office across Obradoiro Square from the Cathedral. As y'all can see, the centuries-old art has been cleaned.

We didn't stop, but it's always nice to spot the free wifi place.

Lunch today was shared tapas: pulpo a feria, follwed by bacalao con conservas de tomate y de berenjena. Yummy.

The tapas were quite good--now I want to learn how to make that cod! 

House wine was a Mencia (a red Galician grape) which we hadn't tried before.

Tarta de queso with "blueberries" glaze

The cheese tart was really great. I'm not sure that it has blueberry glaze, it could have been lingonberry as the color is a bit red, but the combo was excellent. 

We have eaten at this tapas bar in prior years and then it was okay. This year the food was very good.

After a few days with not much wi-fi, a post!

Hello, everyone.  I will do a quick recap. We left Monday early and walked to Pontedeum. As y'all can see from the name, there is a bridge to cross. 

After Pontedeum we walked to Betanzos. There, we stayed in a Xunta albergue. These albergues are sponsored by the province of Galucia. They are basic, but they get the job done. They usually don't have working kitchens, because the Xunta's reason for sponsoring the network of albergues is to support the local economy. They also have the standard 10pm albergue curfew and they don't accept reservations. 

A fountain and a bench along the way. You should always look carefully to check whether the fountain is "potable" or "apto para consumir humano" before filling your water bottles from it. 

The more modern version. Note that they're trying to discourage people from drinking directly from the tap.

This is a celebration mural about the lady who has a little, very busy, bar along the way. 

After Betanzos we walked to the area of Bruma. We actually stopped a little short, as we had located a room just before the town. We also very much enjoyed our snack at Casa Avelina, a bar in the area. Lovely wine, delicious pinchos, wonderful hospitality. And as we walked over to our room, it suddenly poured down rain! 

If there weren't any rain, we wouldn't be in Galicia.

Mists under the sunrise light this morning. 

After that, we walked to Sigüeiro. Yesterday's walk being a little short, today's began with catching up on the missed kilometers. We ended up having walked about 28 of them. Weather was cool but very nice.

Caminos 2026, a couple of days

Hello, everyone.  We're having a rest day today because the last two days were pretty near 30km each. Our feet were feeling it. We decided to take a no-travel day in Xubia/Naron.

We left Cedeira at 0800, walking the Coastal Route as far as state road 102, having forgotten to start the Strava, and used that route to transition from the Coastal to the Inland way. At the bar in Porto do Cabo, where the 102 meets the inland way, I remembered to start Strava. After 2 hours of walking! 🤣 We walked along the route, mostly except when confused, into the Xubia area. (Thank heavens for Mapy.com, which helped us get back on track more than once!) 

Contrary to route information in our Cicerone book--the older one--and app--the new book--that tiny bar/tabac  in Porto do Cabo was the very last of the day's walk. But the weather was nice. 

We found a place in Xubia and have discovered the new futuristic hotel. Maybe. We rang the intercom bell at the door, after asking about a place "today" they opened the door and we did the whole registration and payment by remote video. They even activated the room keycard by remote!

We then extended the stay by another night, also by remote.

The Chapel of Hunger which we passed by enroute. It was closed up.

Cool tree fungus at edge of Cedeira

The church in Xuvia. I believe the sculpure above the door is the Holy Trinity. The Father appears to be wearing something like a triple crown. Jesus is on the Father's right hand--our left side--and the Holy Spirit is the dove at the top. The parish has Sunday Mass at 1230 according to their posted schedule.