Camino walking: O Cádavo to Castroverde, 5.1 miles in 2:49 hours, moving 2:07
7.16 total miles for the day per Wynette’s (probably-not-accurate) watch.
48 flights of stairs.
Elevation: up 525 feet, down 1027 feet, between 1864 and 2779 feet
We are slowly moving down in altitude
We like to walk 7-10 miles a day but often that is hard to do because places to stay are often not in the right places. We avoid the communal rooms of the albergues so that reduces the places we might stay. Another solution is to use taxis: walk as far as you want, get a taxi to the nearest place to stay, and take a taxi back to the same spot the next day. You walk every step, a good thing for purists but we have already established that we are not purists. This has its own problems: once you stop you have a call a taxi and wait for it to get to you. Also the taxi fares can add up.
Another solution is to just have some short days and that is what happened today. We had a taxi solution planned but decided to go with a short days, nice to have a little extra time to catch up. There were a few hills but that doesn’t bother if you are only walking five miles.
It was another beautiful day on the Primitivo, albeit short. The views are not as amazing as the ones higher but still very nice, more rolling hills than mountains, more farms. We walked through some little villages which we love to do. We walked past a few streams and enjoyed the sounds of running water, which we also love to do.
We did have a “cow incident”. We were walking along a trail, maybe 10 feet wide, with walls on both sides and we saw a line of cows ahead lumbering towards us. This is common enough on the Camino. But they were big, as cows tend to be, and there was no herder or herding dogs in sight. The cows were mostly on their right of the path (Do they walk on the left in England?) but some moved over at times. We moved past them carefully. After a few cows we saw the herder and dogs up ahead at the rear of the line. There were a few calves at the end also. The herder gave us a big smile and a “que tal?”. One of the dogs started tagging along with us and had to be called back to his duty.
Of course, cows are by and large gentle and harmless but in the Guardian I occasionally read of some poor English person seriously injured by cows. This is always in some unusual situation but it stays in your mind, especially if you are a city boy like me.
About Camino purists, or completists, we are not, but we don’t want to put that down in any way. If we had started younger I would definitely have wanted to do a Camino and walk every step. There is a satisfaction in that completion. A sense that you have accomplished something hard to do. We love to walk and we make some compromises so we can do it and still have fun. Up those steep hills today I was glad to be carrying 10 pounds instead of 25.
Another interesting thing we encountered today. The Camino turned left along a stream with a narrow path on one side between a high wall and the stream, another place I was glad I was not too heavy. The stream had a line of rocks in the middle. We were wondering what they were there for. My guess is that someone did it just for fun.
Looking back at the cows and herder and dogs after they passed usStones in the middle
We’re getting good at packing the bag for pack transfer. We started using TaxiCamino. Call them up to arrange the transfer. Put an envelope on the bag with the info. Put money in the envelope. They’ll put change back if you didn’t leave the exact amount. This morning we put in a 10 and we got 3 back when we got the bag at the other end. So far, no glitches.Leaving A Cádavo. No fog today. Pretty clouds. It got a little cloudy later. But no rain.The first half of the walk today was rather boring and ugly (and uphill), on a logging road with logged forests on either side. But then the walk turned very nice. Streams, green fields, animals, charming villages.We met a small herd of cows on the trail. There were probably about 20. Makes me nervous walking right beside them with their horns and all. It does happen that a cow will attack a human, but I think it is rare. Worth the slight risk for the fun of meeting the cows, the dogs, and the man with the cows.We also met a donkey.This is in the bar of the place where we are staying tonight. Pension Roma in Castroverde. This is the owner. He said they’ve only been in business for 2 years. Everything is very new and modern. I asked if I could take a photo of his fancy cash register. I didn’t exactly plan (or ask) to take his photo, but he was very pleased that I was impressed by his cash register. I can’t tell you how kind and cheerful and welcoming and helpful everyone we meet is.This is the view from the balcony of our room for tonight. I don’t know if you can see, there is a little castle over toward the left.Our cozy little room tonight with very large balcony. Too bad weather is a bit too cool to enjoy the balcony.
Camino walking: A Fonsagrada to O Cádavo, 8.5 miles, 5:42 hours, moving 3:15
Elevation: up 1480, down 1371, between 2175 and 3068 feet
Flights of stairs climbed: 133
Miles walked total per Wynette’s watch: 11.99. This includes walk to restaurant and grocery, etc. But we think it is a little too high.
This was another great day on the Primitivo. We started with a taxi to reduce the day to 8.5 miles. The views on the ride were amazing. We started at 3000 feet and you could see a think layer of clouds spread out in the valleys below, quite a sight. For the last mile we were in the clouds, that is, a fog.
The bars in Fonsagrada were not open when we left at 8:30 and per Google we thought there was a bar in A Lastra, the town where he dropped us off and we asked the taxi driver about it. He said he thought it was open and said he’d take us there. He had pulled off on the side of the road and proceeded to back up 150 yards on this narrow dirt road to the bar. We pulled up and the door was closed. A woman came out and he asked if they were open and she said “I guess so”, but with a smile. Clearly they weren’t open, but they let us in and made us coffee and we had a slice of homemade walnut cake. They were in the kitchen preparing things while we were there. The place was very charming. It was right on the Camino path and so they probably got a lot of pilgrim business. My guess is that they really opened at 9:30.
So we set out on the path, in the fog. The fog burned off over the first hour and we were treated with more spectacular views. This mountain country is so different from the coastal Portuguese Camino. There was a lot of up and down, as you can see from the elevation stats. The day got warmer as we walked and we started getting full sun. Mostly we were walking on mountain paths. We ran into some mud but it wasn’t too bad. We felt sorry for the pilgrims walking here last week when it was so rainy. We would not have been able to walk it in the rain, it would have been too risky. And we were especially thankful we switched to backpack transfer, me walking down the rocky paths with a full pack would have been dangerous.
After three miles we were ready for a break, it was already sunny and hot. We stopped at another old-fashioned bar. We asked about a tortilla (Spanish omelette type pie) and she didn’t have one but offered a ham and egg sandwich on their great bread. We shared one and it was excellent.
We got through the next 5 miles without much trouble. It was hot and there was a lot of up and down but we were well-fed and not tired. The nice thing about our short 7-8 mile days is that, even if it is hard, it is not that far and we have fun walking it.
We got into this little town and checked into our pension. We rested and then went down the road to a restaurant for a nice meal around 5 pm and we are still here doing this blogging and savoring our postres.
This doesn’t capture the fog in the valley very well. It was really quite beautiful. Photo taken from the moving taxi.They opened just for us.Walking in the fog after the taxi drove down into it and let us off.Finally above the fog again.
Heather in the fog.Gorse. The fog was starting to lift a little.One of about 4 homesteads in tiny village of Fonfría.A little chapel along the waySweet dog walked along the fence with us. On the edge of A Fonsagrada.Another large room in a great little pension/albergue. Great kitchen downstairs. These beds have been phenomenal. Firm yet soft. Only 50 euros.A large plate of “cauliflower a la Gallego” for lunch. That and a big bowl of lentil soup and some meat dishes. And dessert. And bread. Good thing we were hungry.Today’s menu del día.And now, blogging in a bar.
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.
The Lugo bus stationBlue Asturian house from the taxi. Houses are more colorful in Asturius.View of Grandas de Salime as seen from our short hike on the Camino above the town.We are loving our roomy hotel room tonight. The one last night in Lugo was very pretty but tiny.Tiny hotel room last night in LugoWe are blogging in the bar/restaurant of our hotel tonight. It is slowly filling up, about half locals (all older men) and about half pilgrims. The men on the right are playing some kind of card game. The empty table shown filled up with pilgrims shortly after I snapped this photo. The room went way back and was busy. These bars are important community gathering places.
