Sixteenth update on pilgrimage 2021: honor to trustworthy companions

 Hello, everyone. 

Today I wish to honor our faithful companions--indeed our very guardians agaist catastrophe: our hiking poles.

These faithful aids were there for every scary moment. They kept us from falling numerous times. And now, since we have passed them on to aid other pilgrims on the Camino, I want to honor their service. 

They were the balancing aid on rocks both ascending and descending. They gave us needed information about muddy patches. Once they spotted a missing board on a bridge. Imagine if the pole had not gone before in the overgrown weeds and discovered the missing board! 

Thus I honor their service.

They were bought from K2 Planeta sports shop in Leon, before we started walking on the Ruta San Salvador. They proved their worth over and over, going up and down on the Salvador, then up and down on the Primitivo. 

Today we delivered them to the volunteers at Pilgrim House in Santiago, to be passed along to other pilgrims who need poles.

Fifteenth update: entered Santiago yesterday!

 Hello, everyone. 

My last post was about arriving in Arzua. 

The next morning we walked to Pedrouzo, a bit over 19 kilometers. 

Dawn leaving Arzua.

We left Pedrouzo too early for a good dawn photo, and it was cloudy when the sun did appear. Also we were eager to finish and didn't want to slow down and get the tablet out.

The final day was also a bit over 19 kilometers.  We didn't take pictures on Monte de Gozo as not only was the sculpture no longer there, but the day was cloudy and we thought we wouldn't be able to photograph the Cathedral from the hilltop.

The new ramp from just past the youth camp down to the bridge over the freeway was nice.

Other than that the entry into the city was much as we remembered it from prior pilgrimages.

Fourteenth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello,  everyone. 

Yesterday we walked from Melide to Arzua. This is a really short walk as Camino days go, only 14 kilometers.  In fact, we looked at making it a little longer, hoping to move some kilometers from the last day to this one. It didn't really work out,  so we decided to go with the traditional Ruta Frances stopping points of Arzua, Pedrouzo, and (of course) Santiago. 

When we got into Arzua, around noonish, we had some time to use up, so we stopped at a bar where the most amazing huge pan of paella was being cooked.

Seafood paella. And it was very good!

Thirteenth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday we walked from Ferreira to Melide, a short walk of about 20 km. Melide is the town where the Camino Primitivo merges into the general flow of the Camino de Santiago. 

The day began, we thought, with a fine, early start. We left the room and headed out the front door at 8, only to discover that the sky was pitch black and the clouds were sitting on the ground as well. Oops. Went back inside to wait for enough light to walk by. After a while the clouds lifted up and the day was beautiful. 

I forgot to take any pictures with the tablet yestderday, so photos will wait until we get home.

Twelvth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday we walked from Lugo to Ferreira. This was about 25 kilometers. 

We didn't take pictures on the Samsung tablet of the day's walk, sorry. It was a walk that started before sunrise and continued until about 3 pm. We were actually surprised at ending that early! 

We stayed at an alburgue with some pension style rooms. It was nice to have some privacy and also they turned on ghe radiators for heat.

In the morning we got up about 0700 and we tried to leave about 0800 but it was too dark and too foggy. We turned bback and waited for morexlight, then set out again.  We finished the day's walk in Melide, where we ate pulpo (octopus chunks) and rejoiced in our progress.

Today's walk, about 20 km.

Eleventh update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

We walked from O Cadavo to Lugo, about 30 km, and the walk was nice. Long, but nice.

One of the bridges of Lugo. 

The city, founded by the Romans, is surrounded by three rivers.

One of the first things we saw, a bar, reminding all that this is one of the 100 kilometer cities of the Caminos de Santiago. (If you want to qualify for a Compostela certificate for walking the pilgrimage, you have to get two sellos (stamps) per day in your pilgrim credencial for the last 100 kilometers...you must personally walk those last 100 kilometers, too.)

We took a rest day here.

Tenth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

We left Fonsagrada at about sunrise, a little before 9, in misty clouds. It wasn't actually wet enough to be rain, but it was chilly. It stayed chilly for much of the day. The sun barely peeped out later on.

I wore my Buff as a kerchief to keep my ears warm and it worked very well.

There was a portion of the day's walk with some steep ups and downs,  but there were also some very pretty bits. There was also road walking, the kind where you keep your left foot hitting the white line on the left side of the road. Most drivers also move over about half a lane to give room, but it's good to hug the edge if there is no shoulder to walk in.

We ended the day in O Cadavo, a small place with 2 grocery stores to choose from and a couple of bars. We stayed in a pension type room at the Albergue Porta Santa and went to the grocery store for easy, simple DIY supper and breakfast food. If you do this, by the way, don't just grab the first small jar of olives you see! You might end up with the very spicy ones canned with loads of hot peppers. 😉 

Our easy breakfast was prepared salad with some canned mussels added to improve the protein profile.  The easy breakfast was a half dozen eggs, boiled and cooled before we opened out creamy-salad packages for dinner. In the morning we pulled the boiled egs out of the kitchen fridge and peeled and salted them. Manzanilla to drink, we put our little tea bags into glasses, added cool water, and let the microwave do its thing.

At Fontaneira, after A Lastra, the local authorities are working on a beautiful boardwalk alongside the road. It's broad, they're using a board with little carved in stripes to make it textured, and they are putting in a fence along the edge where there is a drop off. All they need is a foot joint to be a very attractive rest point. (A Lastra apparently had 2 bars in the past but just we only saw the one and it was tiny...too chilly for sitting outside.) If the Camino Primitivo begins catching on the way it was starting to before 2020, improvements like this boardwalk should make people walking happy to pass through Fontaneira and look for a bar to snack at and rest a little.