El Camino

In the night there was a fiesta in Bandeiro. This is good… so I did not wake up many pilgrims as I carried my prepared backpack and my other bag outside at about 4 o’clock…. because it was loud anyway.

I wanted to go to Santiago today to meet Vince…. he starts his Camino to Finisterre tomorrow.

I walked about 34km to Santiago de Compostela…. first under the stars. The way was marked well…. about 10km in front of Santiago I lost it… I think someone painted an arrow into his village ( to his bar or something like that ) but not the way back to the main Camino. So I followed my open street map and my gpx data of the camino. In the forest my path got smaller and smaller… and then the way was not there any more. But the street was only 50m away… so going on. Now I stood about 5m above the street… almost vertical without bushes to hold..  even if it does not look like on this image….

So about 100m in the forest and then climbing down with the help of bushes…

Here I could see the cathedral very small for the first time….

The way in Santiago was not difficult with my smartphone….

The photos of the other pilgrims of me were not better…

In the afternoon I met Vince from Hungary in the albergue. We ate together and talked the whole evening.

Everything else like e. g. Compostela or pigrim’s mess should be tomorrow.

 

Yesterday there was a German couple in the hostel as well. They are on holidays in Galicia and the woman did a Camino about 20 years ago.

Today I thought I could try a larger distance…. after more than one month on my camino I am well trained and maybe fitter in walking than anytime before now or later in my life. And the way after Rodeiro is good…. not many ups and downs…. and it is not so hot today… and there are several albergues where I can quit if there is a problem. So I set the alarm clock to 4 o’clock (there was noone else in my room).

I started in the night without the moon and with my smartphone-lamp. Sometimes I covered the lamp and just watched the stars.

The dawn….

In Lalin I still felt good and went on….

I visited this church in Taboada and got a stamp for my credencial ( the pilgrim’s passport).

 In Silleda I still felt good and went on… a little bit later I thought… hmmm… is this really good… but then I saw Bandeiro in the distance.

After the last difficult kilometers I was there…. and I walked about 44km.

But now it is really enough with new personal records…

 

 

Today I walked about 26km from Chantada to Rodeiro…. and a little bit further to the top of the Monte Faro.

After Chantada it was a long way up the Monte Faro. Almost at the top the camino turns… but only a few hundred meters from the top I can try this as well, can not I? It was cold and windy. The view was not the best….

Then again on the camino…. I heard a noise in the fog. That have to be wind generators… and then I saw them….

Later I arrived in Rodeiro. I wanted to book my flight home and saw that some online offers only work with credit cards. So I booked a flight from Barcelona to Munich on Tuesday, the 28th of August (with paypal). And I can see the scenery of Northern Spain again… because I will go by bus to Barcelona.

 

 

Today I walked about 30km ( 600m up and 400m down) from Monforte de Lemos to Chantada.

This nice path could be the scenery in a film like ‚The Hobbit‘.

100km left to Santiago de Compostela….

I begin to think about the end of my Camino… planning the camino to Finisterre… how and when travel back to Munich… have I learnt something from my Camino?

The most difficult part was the path down to the river Rio Mino and up again.

Now I am in the Pension in Chantada and it is time for the shower, washing clothes, resting, shopping and eating.

Today I walked about 36 km with many ups and downs from Quiroga to Monforte de Lemos. It is maybe the most difficult day so I stood up early at 4 o’clock.

The morning was cloudy.

Here are three horses…

Only about 125km to Santiago de Compostela…. I cannot believe it….

After about 25km with the second major up and down hill I feel my feet, my legs and my right hip. At that moment I thought… another 10 km…. this is not good. I was lucky that the last 10 km were rather flat.

So after resting a little bit in the hostel I am very pleased that I have no blister and no other important medical issue.

Yesterday in the evening I talked with a Spanish pilgrim couple with two daughters ( 15 and 18 years old ). I had a room for my own and my alarm was set to 4 o’clock.

I made a holder for my smartphone in the callipers ( Bauchtasche ) so that I have a light in the nights without a moon.

I thought… one of the great things of the Camino is the trust in people you do not know. You have a albergue with rooms full of pilgrims…. you have not seen many of them before…. and everybody charges the own smartphone and can go out of the room.

The guides differ with their information about e. g. the length of the daily route. Today I walked about 27 km with many ups and downs.

I walked in the hills and saw the big river…. but for each small river I had to go down….

… and up again…

The first blackberries (Brombeeren) are ripe.

Tomorrow the distance will almost be 10 km longer. And it is public holiday, so no normal shopping.

Today I walked about 23 km to A Rúa de Valdeorras.

Today it was a shorter day so I did not start in the dark. Here is one of the ’shadow with long legs‘ photos….

I liked this suspension bridge and crossed it just for fun…. so I had to cross it again.

The albergue / pension in A Rúa had mixed recommendations…. normally this is not good. Here the owners ( a old woman and their daughter ) want to be so helpful that it was too much for some pilgrims ( e. g. help with medical issues ) who gave then bad recommendations.

I liked it very much… the mother invited me to eat ‚with them‘ (normally no cooking for the pilgrims). Then she cooked the main meal (chicken) only for me…. because she and her daughter did not eat or ate no chicken. Afterwards I talked long with the daughter… often with the help of google translator. The only thing that some pilgrims maybe would not like was her introduction to her view of astrology. I just said ’si‘ and it was okay.

 

Today I walked about 29 km to Sobradelo. 

There was a nice sunrise.

It was not that easy because of the many ups and downs in Galicia.

Here I felt almost at home in Bavaria / Germany.

In Sobradelo I had a nice dinner in a bar…. this time with no other pilgrim.

Yesterday after the dinner I drank wine with Vince from Hungary… he was the pilgrim with whom I have walked most in the last week. We huged us in case we would not see us the next day.

Today I start walking on the Camino de Invierno. I stand up early to meet some pilgrims and say goodbye…. even if I could begin my small walk later. Saying goodbye is often sad… and I do not want to leave the Camino Frances with the many pilgrims I know…. even if I think it is the right decision for me to choose the lonelier Camino… especially after Sarria.

Here I have to leave the Camino Frances and follow the Camino de Invierno.

It is so much lonelier on this way. I walk today about 15 km and see in my direction only one time pilgrims. On the Camino Frances I saw often several groups at the same time.

A nice view near my albergue in Villavieja.

The albergue is closed and I have to call a Spanish phone number. The call is not easy with my ‚basic‘ Spanish… but after a few minutes a Spanish man shows me the albergue. After some time a Spanish pelegrina who has a 31-year-old daughter came to the albergue as well.

Today we wanted to be at the Cruz de Ferro during sunrise.

The hills of Galicia in front of us and Ponferrada in the background….

The Camino de Invierno starts here in Ponferrada. So I walked about 27 km and it will be tomorrow much lonelier.

Today we want to cook together… the organisation is still a bit chaotic…. but probably it will be a lot of fun.