2022 Camino Frances

We had a good time in A Coruña, and good weather. By Friday we had decided we’d head back to the Camino when our time there was up. So this morning, we took a bus back to Villafranca del Bierzo, where we left off before, had a cup of coffee, and then started walking the 6 miles to Trabadelo where we are staying tonight. We got here just in time for a late lunch. The cook here is excellent. We had one of her lunches in 2013 on our first Camino and never forgot it. Today we had the menu del día and chose the trout. “Trucha” in español. It was delicious. For those who live in New Mexico, you might know the town in Northern New Mexico named “Truchas”, or “Trouts”. I’m sure many good trouts have been eaten around there, too. We walked along a large clear stream most of today. It’s flowing just outside our room. If it were summer I bet we would have gone out and done some wading.

It’s cooler here than it was in A Coruña but not as cold as it was when we left a week ago. Actually perfect walking weather. Mostly cloudy with sun peeking out every once in a while. We are glad to be back on the Camino.

Actually the oldest extant lighthouse, a landmark in A Coruna. I walked up there today to climb it. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. Here is the walkway up to it.

I walk up there, up the steps and go to the entrance. Two people were guarding the entrance. A ticket booth was off to the left. I said I wanted a ticket and they said you can’t get them here, you get them at the kiosk as you enter the park. Okay I’m Camino guy, I can do that. Down the ramp, the stones on concrete are quite unpleasant to walk on. Way over to the kiosk. Two people there guarding the ticket booth. Wait for one guy. Use the disinfectant they require. Put on my mask. Go to the booth. They ask me what country I’m from. I get the ticket that is only good for 30 minutes. Guess what? It’s free on Saturday, but you still need a ticket, from the kiosk, at the entrance to the park. Walk back to the ramp. Walk up the ramp and the stairs and give her the ticket.

It is about 250 steps up, I counted. Standard tower steps, square, five steps a flight then turn 90 degrees. 20-30 circular staircase steps at the end. I’m the only one there. The views are great. Overall I saw them turn away 5-6 people with no tickets. I came back, not sure how many others did.

[enter snark mode] I’ve read 4-5 articles in the last year about the record number of pedestrian deaths and injuries all over the US. One even mentioned Albuquerque as having one of the highest rates in the country. I’ve been a pedestrian (aka “target”) every day in Albuquerque for several years and I’m happy to report that I am still alive and unmaimed even though I always carry a backpack that reduces my maneuverability and car dodging abilities. But lets be realistic, how long can my luck hold out?

The Spanish have come up with a clever solution to this problem that they call a paso de peatones, in English it would translate into something like ”crosswalk”. For Albuquerque residents unfamiliar with this concept here is what they look like.

Here’s the idea: people enter the crosswalk and the cars stop for them, every time. I know this beggars the imagination but it is really true, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Albuquerque could try this ingenious Spanish idea and reduce the pedestrian fatality rate and avoid bad press on the national media. [exit snark mode]

These are some photos I wanted to share. They are totally unrelated except they were all taken in A Coruña.

Our Airbnb host, Margarita, suggested we might enjoy visiting Monte San Pedro, a high hill northwest of A Coruña with great views of the city. We did that this afternoon. Took a bus to the base of the hill and then walked to the top of the hill (a steep 20 minute walk). It did have great views of the city and the Atlantic. After hanging out there for a while (it’s also a park), we walked back down and then home along the ocean front. About an hour walk. So, trying to stay in shape for the Camino.

We have heard that energy is very expensive here in Spain. People are careful to turn off lights and they are frugal with indoor heating. Charlie and I knew that we were coming when the weather would still be cold but all we really thought about was how we’d feel hiking in the cold weather and decided we had enough to keep warm and dry while hiking. Turned out we barely did. I threw in a light-weight fleece hat just a few minutes before we headed for the airport. I had packed two buffs and had some misguided idea they would keep my head and ears warm. I’m so glad I threw in that hat. I’ve worn it nearly constantly. But, basically, we haven’t been too uncomfortable hiking in the cold. It’s the hotels and hostels and pensions and albergues and B&Bs that are the problem. And restaurants and bars to some extent.

One strange thing was that on our first night on the Camino, in Bercianos del Camino, there was a large radiator in the room blasting out heat and we couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. We were way too warm that night. The next morning the owner proudly asked us if we were warm enough. I smiled and told him “yes, thank you” and held back saying “way too warm!”. Now I know why he was so proud of providing a warm room. Just about everywhere else we’ve stayed has been cold. Some better than others and some just barely tolerable. After we checked into our Airbnb here in A Coruña and our landlady showed us around I asked her “hay califacción?” She showed us two electric space heaters (the kind that look like little radiators). So, the first thing we did the next morning was shop for something warm to wear in the apartment. Our landlady told us about Decathlon, an inexpensive chain that sells sports clothes. We found some warm but not-too-heavy fleece shirts that work nicely and we’ll be able to take them with us back to the Camino for the cold hotels. Charlie also bought some big thick fleecy socks at a China store that he can wear around indoors.

PS. We’ve blogged about the China stores in previous years. They are all over Spain. There is one just down our street named, in Spanish, “Store of Gifts China”. They are crammed with stuff, just about anything you can imagine. Most is low quality and quite cheap. But sometimes you can find just what you need. And they always seem to be open even when all the other stores are closed during the long mid-day break.

I cranked the telephoto up to x15 and got this.

It’s not clear what it is for. It doesn’t look like a house exactly. On the next hill, about 500 feet away, was this structure.

The blog photo might not have enough resolution to see but it is a smaller building with two big holes in the roof and a bare tree in front. I made up a silly story in my mind about how that was the loser’s house and the winner could look down on their derelict house.

The old town in A Coruna is on a big peninsula. Yesterday I walked all around it on a seaside path. There were lots of big apartment buildings like these with great views of the ocean. It was cloudy but pretty warm.

We mentioned earlier that we have not had a lot of fears about covid on this trip and that we have decided to trust the vaccines. I wanted to add it’s a lot more than that. Back home, even up to shortly before we left, I was reluctant to go anywhere without a mask and only would dine in restaurants if they had an outdoor area. That was difficult in our cold Albuquerque winters but luckily a few had patio heaters. (Thank you Holly for indulging me on that!)

We also stopped feeling so fearful because Spain has a high vaccination rate and, like the US, is in a low point with respect to number of covid cases. A lot of people got Omicron so we figure that there’s probably a lot of immunity out there. Also we took a plane trip to California in January at the height of Omicron. Four or five days after our plane flight there, I had a mild sore throat and felt very tired. I took a home covid test and it was negative and luckily no one I was around got sick. But I was kind of convinced that I had a very mild case and/or reaction to an exposure either on the flight or in wait in Phoenix Airport. Somehow surviving that trip made us feel a lot more confident.

This might all be crazy thinking. I’ve heard stories about over-confident people getting extremely sick or dying from covid.

It certainly would be a drag to get covid here, even a mild case, because of needing to quarantine. But one amazing thing is that Galicia, the Spanish region that we are in, will pay for all medical care for anyone who gets covid including tourists. Galicia is trying to get their tourist industry going again and this is part of it.

One more thing I wanted to write about: In the landing outside our Airbnb apartment (above photo), there is some hand sanitizer and a bin for shoes. We hadn’t noticed the shoe bin but this morning, our landlady, Margarita, pointed it out, not to ask us to use it but to tell us how at the beginning of the pandemic she and everyone thought it was important to sanitize our hands and not to track covid into our houses. She said that now they know it is transmitted through the air and not (or rarely) through surfaces. So now she doesn’t ask people to take off their shoes.