Where there’s a will

After the rigours of yesterday we opted for a slightly more leisurely start with breakfast at 8 am, and were back in the saddle by 8 45am. As it was a Saturday morning Lugo was decidedly sleepy after the raucous activities in the tapas bars yesterday evening! It made it easy to make our way out of the city. Our wonderful hotel was located right underneath the ancient walls beside one of the very few gates, and so we were able to slip out of the old city and onto modern tarmac to access the Roman bridge over the River Mino. We passed the ancient Puerta de Santiago in front of the cathedral which has been used by pilgrims for hundreds of years. Our friends, Brian and Liz, had recently had a walking holiday in Portugal, and had crossed and re-crossed the River Minho and we pondered the river’s journey as it makes its way from Galicia to the Atlantic Ocean.

The landscape was markedly softer than that of the past few days, but the route remained surprisingly hilly. Instead of the long climbs to mountain “altos” it was constantly undulating, with short, sharp ascents followed by descents. The trend, however, was always upward and I was surprised when I checked my Garmin to discover we had climbed almost 300 metres above the Roman bridge crossing in Lugo.

The other real surprise was the number of walking pilgrims along the route. Whilst at times we have seen a good number of pilgrims along the way, especially at the start of each day, the numbers have been noticeably less than on the Camino Frances. Today, however, a considerable stream was flowing away from Lugo. On checking this evening we have discovered that if pilgrims start their Camino in Lugo they are able (just) to qualify for the award of a Compostela by completing 100kms before arriving in Santiago! It explained the numbers, but we’re not sure we understand the thinking.

Today we saw our first typical Galician horreos and you will see how very different they are to those in Asturias. Again, our friends Brian and Liz recently sent us examples of Portuguese ones and they were very like these Galician ones. We think they have a more funerary look than the Asturian ones that seem more related to alpine granges. As you’ll gather we rather like them all!

By now we were getting ahead of most of the walking pilgrims and we arrived at the tiny twelfth century Iglesia de San Roman de Retorta buried deep in remote country. Sadly, once again it was locked, but the unspoilt and semi-wild setting enabled one to imagine being back on the Camino eight hundred years ago.

Here we parted company with most of those on the Camino Primitivo as we turned slightly south towards Palas de Rei where our route finally converges with the Camino Frances, the most frequented of all of the huge number of caminos that thread their way across Europe.

After a trying series of downs and ups we finally made it to our wonderful resting place for this evening buried deep in the Galician countryside – A Parada das Bestas. It was worth the effort, and the welcome message at the door spoke volumes!

It offered peace and tranquility where we can recharge the batteries for the final two days into Santiago, as well as an ideal place to do our washing!

Just before we turned off in Palas de Rei we had a glimpse for the first time of a distance sign for Santiago. Perhaps we can begin to dare to hope! Hasta manana!