Year: 2024

Our original plans called for completing the approximately 15.5 miles remaining on the Camino in two parts. The primary reason is that if we tried to do the entire thing in one day we would arrive in the late afternoon and most likely not have enough time to have our Pilgrim Credentials validated because of the number of hikers that had already entered Santiago from all six routes. Our first leg was supposed to be about 10 miles and would end in a town just outside the city limits of Santiago, named Milladoiro. The following day we would get up early and walk the remaining 5 miles, ensuring that we would be one of the earlier groups to complete the Camino for the day.

As luck would have it, our reservations that we thought were in Milladoiro were in fact seven miles to the west and would have meant an extra 14 miles! Now we were scrambling, since reservations anywhere near Santiago are booked almost completely on a daily basis. Shortly before departing our apartment in Radon this morning we were very fortunate to find a hotel just barely inside the city limits of Santiago with two rooms available. Of course, this would increase our planned distance significantly on a day that promised strong winds and constant hard rain.

A decision was made to follow the N550 highway to Santiago, thus reducing the mileage slightly, but more importantly keeping us out of untold hours of walking on slick, crowded muddy paths. The rains never let up until just before we reached our hotel. The wind gusts were often time brutal and we had to inch close to guard rails as trucks and cars sped by. One of the highlights of day was entering a 15th century cathedral about seven miles into our 12.5 mile trek. Absolutely stunning inside, and we were able to observe mass in progress.

Tomorrow morning we will have less than a mile before reaching our final destination :

CATHEDRAL of SANTIAGO de COMPOSTELA

While rain in Galicia is a virtual certainty, we may have had more than our share. Furthermore, on Monday, the DAY AFTER WE FINISH and for the foreseeable future, perfect weather is forecasted.

With that backdrop, today promises to be challenging in that rain is forecasted for the entire day. Not that you ever get used to walking in constant rain, but generally if you have the right gear you are able to stay semi-dry. The problem becomes the heat generated while climbing a steep path is trapped within the waterproof jacket with no way to escape. Cold rain on the outside – —- burning up on the inside!

Today we hiked just under 12 miles and most of it was on either sandy stone paths or very muddy trails exasperated by Camino bikers eliminating what solid footing we could have had.

Everyone should understand one thing – this is absolutely beautiful country that is probably not being fairly portrayed by our blog because of the extended preponderance of RAIN.

We were blessed to see several old church structures along the way, with an untold number of medieval stone crosses and other relics that dated back more than 1500 years.

Crossed a very windy and rainy bridge as we entered the town of Radon, where we will spend the night.

TWO MORE DAYS!

As you have seen for the past few days, the rain gear has come on and off based on intermittent showers – occasionally hard – but never too long. We turned a new chapter today, however, as we walked the first hour and a half in a continuous downpour. The result was often muddy paths with large pools of water.
Today’s hike was 13.5 miles with 800 feet in elevation gain, and a section that followed a 2,500 year old Roman road. Normally we try to rest about every four miles, but with everything everywhere so wet, that was impossible. We were finally able to stop about 5.5 miles into our hike when we found a small cafe on the side of our path. As has been the case for the last few days, it was very crowded with other pilgrims. This is such a change from the French Way – and not a good one.
Not much time or inclination to stop in the rain and take many pictures today. The early afternoon improved slightly, but not enough to remove our rain gear.

TWENTY SEVEN MILES TO GO!

You know the saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men ……..,”

While from a pure physical standpoint this is a perfect day to take off, we did not account in our “ancillary benefit” planning that May 1st is Labor Day in Spain and almost everything is closed!

It turned out that there was still a good bit of activity in the town despite virtually nothing other than bars and restaurants being open. We were able to see a couple of the more important landmarks., including: (1) Igrexa da Virxe Perigrina site of the original virgin pilgrim church (2) Ruins of San Domingo, a 13th century remnant of a Dominican convenant, and (3) Iglesia de Santa Maria Mayor, a 15th century cathedral.

The entire day was filled with sporadic periods of rain and sun. Even with most stores being closed and given the original purpose of this day …… we still managed to walk 4 miles, and ate a traditional Pulgrim’s Meal.

Letting our “battle scars” heal, and will march on tomorrow.

BUEN CAMINO

Awoke to dark overcast skies with moderate rain. Temperatures were still chilly, but probably ten degrees warmer than yesterday. Today’s adventure called for roughly 12 miles and in excess of 1,000 ft of climb. Not knowing the type of terrain ahead, wet footing was a big question mark as we began.
In order to get back on the Camino trail we had to carefully walk a busy highway with more than its share of speeding truck traffic for about 2 miles. Also started looking for a potential breakfast cafes in the first town we saw. It is becoming increasingly apparent that one of the bigger challenges on this section of the Camino is finding dining spots that are not already overflowing with pilgrims. Very difficult – especially when you are hungry.

As we left our restaurant the skies completely opened up and we were forced to continue in heavy rain. The paths became muddy as we started to climb. The terrain changed to a bed of smooth topped boulders positioned erratically up an increasingly steep path. Careful footing and shortness of breath accompanied us for the next several miles.

The rain stopped for a while and allowed us to shed our rain gear. …. until it didn’t … and made us open our packs and start over! This and the seemingly constant temperature and wind changes made for an interesting day.

We reached the outskirts of the beautiful city of Pontevedra in time for a late lunch and our customary sangria. We have changed our plans a bit since we are a couple days ahead of schedule, and have decided to book an extra night in Pontevedra and spend tomorrow exploring.

BUEN CAMINO

Once you pass the 100 kms remaining on the Camiño, in addition to the larger number of pilgrims mentioned yesterday. you begin seeing specially designed concrete markers with the traditional Camino shell and yellow arrow. On the bottom of these markers is a brass plate marking the exact number of kilometers remaining to the Cathedral in Santiago …… to the hundredth of a km. It became apparent that these markers can stimulate paradoxical emotions. They undoubtably provide constant motivation and reinforcement of goal attainment, but also begin to inject the reality that our special journey is getting close to the end.

Last night we decided that since our pending hike to Redondela provided us with only one apparent town along the way that served food – we needed to get an early start. We left our apartment at 6:30am, a clear 30 minutes before sunrise. Needed to make sure that we were ahead of the mass of pilgrims we expected to see today. Strangely enough we were joined by one other pre-dawn pilgrim as we walked through and out of the beautiful town of O Perrino in a cold 41 degree morning.
We reached the only interim town, Mos, four miles later and found a great little cafe and ordered breakfast. We were able to easily find a table and order our food. However, just twenty minutes later and for the rest of the day we were joined by hundreds of fellow pilgrims. Had we not left when we did breakfast could have been much more difficult. Later discovered that this portion of the Portuguese Camino has been attracting over 130,000 pilgrims per year!
1000 well, it was the day
The house we rented north of Redondela sits on a bluff overlooking a beautiful inlet of water off of the Atlantic Ocean.
Great finish to a 13 mile day that saw us climb over 1,200 feet of elevation, descend steeply 850 feet, hike by Roman artifacts, and visit another amazing 16th century church and convent.

BUEN CAMINO