O Coto to O Amenal 44km

I’m so glad I’m doing this blog as sometimes I can’t even remember what happened this morning, never mind a few days ago. The Camino definitely has an effect on time, or rather my perception of time. Any previous notion of it being linear, has gone out the window! Back to this morning, first focus was on getting to the bathroom. Four double bedrooms sharing a single bathroom is destined for queuing. Coupled with the bathroom being downstairs and my room upstairs, I decided an early attack and was pleased to find it free. You can’t complain for €32. It rained a lot in the night, and looked like it would continue at anytime so I prepared my rain poncho on my rucsac and even got my waterproof trousers ready. I left by 7:45, and immediately stopped for a coffee and croissant in the cafe next door.

Just as I was finishing, the Columbians came passed. They needed to do a 48 km day today (they had already done 9km) as they were flying back to Bogota on Sunday. They’d been to the UK before the Camino and been to London and got to see Stonehenge. They’d even seen Woodhenge, which I hope has improved since I visited it years ago. It was terrible, just a few concrete posts marking where the wooden posts had been (or if I recall, might have been)!

I left them and headed up the road and met Joerg from Bavaria. He had started on Easter Sunday, so had been going a day longer than me. We had a good chat, and it sounds like both our downfalls had been on the descent from the Cruz de Ferro. Mine was getting shin-splints due to the red mist of camino-rage. Whereas, Joerg got down well in a new pair of shoes from León, but had seen the river and had paddle. He forgot to dry his feet and had been plagued with blisters ever since. He was walking in flip-flops (pretty sturdy ones) this morning. We had a good chat, and he was in agreement that Bamburg is the best city in Germany! By the way, the cure for shin-splints is to just keep doing the miles and hope they go away – the pain certainly diminishes.

We reached Melide, I went to the supermarket, Eroski obviously, and Joerg went to find a barber shop. That’s the problem when you go through a small town, there is so much temptation….

The rest of the day is a blur. It threatened to rain for a long time, but nothing came of it. I was ready to stop for a quick drink after about 20km. I was about to go into one of the posh places, where just around the corner there looked to be something interesting. I must have sensed the pink Fiat 500. It was a really nice stall selling local produce. A small cup of coffee and two cakes for €3.5 was good value on this part of the Camino.

The route went through Arzúa, and I had my eye on somewhere to eat my lunch. You know me, I wanted a quiet bus shelter, with a good view (with a TV and free beer). I couldn’t find that, so a bench had to do. I’d just been chatting to a Scottish/Slovakian couple, who had walked the Camino Primitivo from Oviedo, which had just joined the Francés. It sounds like another quiet route to consider for the future.

After lunch I headed off along the deserted track. It was a superb route all day. There was next to no road walking. It was very hilly, with some really stiff climbs, which really got the sweat running. In general, it was through fantastic old woods, with the occasional Eucalyptus trees. On one section after a bit of rain, it was like having treatment to clear your sinuses. Amazing smells.

I came across the Scot/Slovaks who were eating their lunch. The guy had done his knee in and was heavily using his walking poles. I’ve been very fortunate not to have any issues, but my heart goes out to those struggling to continue. It’s made me re-evaluate what doing the Camino means. I used to think that finishing the Camino was the most important thing. In fact, it is starting on your Camino, and stepping into the unknown. It is way more important. Bad luck and circumstances can prevent you from finishing, but only you can stop yourself from starting.

I think from then on it started to rain. At first gently, but became torrential at points. I even put on my waterproof trousers. These have been on more trips than I can remember, but never used. They got well used today. It was really quiet out again, the afternoons are always quiet. I bumped into the Italian teacher again, but she was with others from her group today and carrying a pack.

There was a lull in the rain, and I was ducking in and out of my poncho all day. Although I had to stop to take my boots off to get my waterproof trousers off. This obviously involved buying a coke and a cake as I needed to sit down.

It didn’t take long for the rain to get going again. I didn’t have a target today, other than it would be nice to only have about 20km to do tomorrow. I had an idea to head to what called itself a campsite, but the website was only had info about 112 glamping pods. So I wasn’t sure it would accept tents. I thought it would be nice to do a final camp, but the rain dampened that thought. Then it strengthened it. Just one night, did it matter if I got wet? In the end, I’m sure I walked past the campsite and didn’t see any signs. The rain prevented looking at the map on the phone in detail. So I ended up in O Pedrouzo.

This was the first time I’d hit a town without knowing which albergue to go to. Right on the outskirts one albergue had a little area, playing music, and sign boards showing the albergue. It also had a digital display saying 28 beds free. In the town, I headed towards it, but couldn’t quite find it (or maybe just the doorway). Anyway, there were lots of pelegrinos milling around, some with packs, others who had places to stay. It was still raining and I just couldn’t find it. Three other Albergues that I traipsed to had “full” signs. It must have been 6:30, I was tired as you can’t sit down in the rain. You can’t even take your rucsac off because it’s inside your rain poncho. So I found a dry doorway, outside a closed albergue (presumably waiting for peak season) and took stock. Out came Booking.com. There were a few offerings in the town. The best value were rooms with shared bathrooms for about €50-€60, but they were a kilometre or two back through town. One hotel jumped out. It was €90, but for a ensuite room, and it was 4km towards Santiago. I was a bit disappointed in myself, but on the other hand, I was still walking on the Camino at 7:30pm in the pouring rain.

Got to the hotel, and there was a bit of kerfuffle. Tried to check in at the cafeteria, but the booking was not showing. Alex, the barman, was trying to sort out dinner for a big tour group of pelegrinos. He gave me a beer (and some mini croissants) and I was happy to chill out, but happiest to be out of my waterproofs. There was definitely confusion on the booking, some may be down to me as my card expires in 3 days time, and the website hangs asking whether you want to update my card (which I can’t because it’s probably in the post at home). Bottom line. The boss comes down, and the room is not available, but drives me 2 km to a sister hotel. Its very nice, with a big triple room, but the menu was too rich (and massive portions) for my simple, exhausted taste. So I left a lot of food, which I never like doing.

It’s been a good hard day, and I only have 16km to walk tomorrow. I’ve got a feeling its going to be a bit of an emotional experience. So, don’t expect an immediate blog post. I think I’ll need to do some processing of what happened over this last month. I’ve got two nights rest and relaxation in Santiago de Compostela, so hopefully, I can make sense of it all.