Author: Charlie

WynChar Diary, April 23

  • Camino walking: Grandas to Fonsagrada, 7.5 miles in 4:06, moving 2:58
  • Elevation: up 702 feet, down 1001 feet, between 2740 feet and 3478 feet
  • We’re on the Primitivo now so there is a lot of up and down, and we are higher now that we are in the mountains.
  • We started with an 8 mile taxi ride to make today’s distance doable (well, fun). Wynette was in the front chatting in Spanish with the taxi driver.
  • Then our 7.5 mile walk. Since we started 8 miles ahead we didn’t see a single pilgrim until we got to Fonsagrada. In fact, we didn’t see anyone on the trail at all. Our pension is also an albergue so we see them there and we have seen lots of them around the town.
  • The views are spectacular, lovely mountain country.
  • Total miles walked per Wynette’s watch: 11.07. Flight of stairs climbed: 70
We started out walking in fog. We wore the raincoats because we were cold. Luckily, no rain.
It was cloudy most of the day but finally the sun came out and we could see the views.

WynChar Diary, April 22

  • Camino walking: Grandas de Salime to Grandas de Salime, 3.7 miles in 2:46 hours, moving 1:30
  • Elevation: up 302 feet, down 302
  • Mainly a traveling day to get to the start of the Camino Primitivo. We started in Lugo taking a cute little (by bus standards) bus to A Fonsagrada (where we will spend tomorrow night) and then a taxi to Grandas de Salime.
  • In A Fonsagrada we stopped at a traditional Spanish bar, had coffee and free tapas and planned the rest of the day. One of the reasons we love Spain is going to little bars like this one.
  • In Grandas we checked into our room, very nice, roomy, and had the menu del dia in the bar attached to the hotel. Then we walked backwards on the Camino for 1.85 miles and then looped back, just to get in a little walking.
  • We were fresh and not carrying much weight but Grandas is the end of a stage so we met many tired pilgrims while going backwards. One guy was so beat he looked like a zombie and didn’t respond to our “Hola” but just kept trudging on. I have great respect for these 15-20 mile a day pilgrims but I am glad we only go 7-8 miles, or in today’s case, 3.7 miles.
  • Speaking of long days, tomorrow’s stage is 15 miles. You just can’t do short stages on most of the Primitivo as there is no place to stay between the main stages. That is why we arranged for a taxi to take us the first 8 miles tomorrow and then we will walk 7 into A Fonsagrada.
Local bus we took from Lugo to A Fonsagrado. It was a cross between a van and a big regular bus.
Our packs in the “trunk” of the bus. (We were the only ones who had luggage.)
On the bus
Traditional Spanish bar in A Fonsagrada
Today’s lunch. Together, we had everything they listed except the cheese cake.

WynChar Diary, April 21

  • Travel day: Caldas de Reis to Lugo. We finished the Camino Portuguese at Caldas. We didn’t want to do the final legs into Santiago since we had done them in 2016. Tomorrow we will start walking on the Camino Primitivo, called that not because it is primitive but because it is considered to be the first Camino.
  • We left our spacious apartment and walked to the bus stop. Going out of our building we let in the Correos pack transfer guy who picked up two bags from people staying in the same building.
  • We had coffee at a pastry shop across the street from the place the bus was going to stop. Wynette ordered a large coffee for me and a regular for her. The waitress converted that into a regular and a small. See photo for the sizes we got.
  • We took the bus to Santiago, 90 minutes. It was late and we missed the 11:00 bus to Lugo so we took the one at 1:45. We had lunch at a cute little Chinese snack bar, very good. The name of the place was literally “Snack Bar”, in English. Then a bus to Lugo.
  • Right now we are blogging at a deli/bar inside a grocery store. It has a small deli selection and it also offers coffee and drinks like a normal bar. We have not seen anything like this before.
  • Miles walked today so far per Wynette’s watch: 4.22. But we may walk around Lugo a bit more.
The Correos guy transferring somebody’s luggage. He had to park way at the end of the street because they were sitting up an outdoor market in the street.
Large and small coffees. They threw in a bunch of pastries.
Waiting for a bus
Back in Santiago once again. We zipped into the train station (right next to the bus station) because they have a better cafe.
View while blogging: Grocery store cafe/bar/deli. You can see the huge grocery store in the back. They call these stores.”hipermercados”.

Donativo Digital

I included a similar photo in a previous year’s blog. We pay almost everything with cards on this trip and I’m glad to see the church keeping up with the times. But I am including this photo because of the photo I did not take and so cannot show. After I took this I looked to the right and saw a “No photos” sign. I was tempted to take a photo of it but I like to respect rules like that, their church, their rules, only fair. I wouldn’t have taken the first photo if I had seen the sign.

Good advice

The graffiti people did a number on this sign. We were noting that Spanish stop signs are in English. Is this an international word like taxi and hotel? Also the Spanish stop signs seem slightly different than American ones but I can’t put my finger on exactly what is different.