Day 3: Mercadoiro to Portomarin

Day 3
The Irish lady decided that she might try a couple of km today.  The group was taken back to Mercadoiro and she and I were dropped a few km along the path.  It was cold and windy. We walked a bit and then stopped.  The road was fairly flat so she sat and I pushed her on the walker.  Then she tried walking with her sticks but tired soon after.
We found a patch of sunshine and sat in the sun for a while. After an hour she was feeling sweaty and weak.  I called Reinette and asked her to phone David (our trusty Portomarin taxi owner) and tell him where we were, about a km from where we had started.  We waited at a cross-road at the taxi came to take us to Portomarin.

The others arrived after lunch.  I got an email from Isa to say that she would arrive in Sarria the next day and would walk to Portomarin.  Reinette and I walked around the square, visited the supermarket and a couple of little shops.  That night we ate out at the O Mirador. Pat and Janet don't like evening meals so Pat joined us for a while but Janet and the other lady didn't venture out.

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Day 2: Morgade to Mercadoiro

Day 2
The morning was cold and grey. The Irish lady was in two minds about walking. She had sweated throughout the night and her head was pounding. "I feel as though I have done a few rounds with Mike Tyson" she said.  The taxis came for us at 9am and dropped us off at Morgade.  Belin would take our baggage to Portomarin.
She and I would try a km or two whilst the others walked on. We walked a few steps, stopped, walked a few more, stopped.  She sat on the walker and I pushed her where it was flat but even a slight incline exhausted her and she was too heavy for me to push uphill.  After an hour or so, and probably not more than a km, she was feeling weak so I called a taxi.

We arrived at the Pension but the room wasn't ready so we went to a café-bar in the square and had a hot drink.  They advertised that they had rooms and while we were there a German couple arrived and asked for a room but the young man told them they were full - completo. He offered to find them a room elsewhere and started phoning around.
Albergue Ultreia is uphill from the square and Pension Caminante (where she and Reinettte shared a room) is in a side street before the Albergue. When her room was ready I took her back to the Pension. The bathroom was a wet-room, especially designed for people with disabilities.  The toilet was so high that she could barely get onto it.  The shower area had no curtain and the water went all over the floor making it slippery and dangerous.  Understandably she wasn't very happy with it.
Jose arrived with the baggage from Sarria and I was able to check into our rooms.
I took the room with a double bunk and the others had double rooms.  The owners are a lovely family.  Warm and kind they made us feel welcome and their two charming daughters made a point of introducing themselves and welcoming us to their albergue.
By lunch time the albergue was full as was the one across the road. Pilgrims spoke of full albergues in most small and large towns and of having to walk long distances to find beds.  "More pilgrims are booking rooms ahead," said one pilgrim, "and this means there are no beds left for us".  Another pilgrim defended his right to book beds at private albergues or pensiones.  "Who is 'us'? He asked. "Am I and  my wife not part of the pelgrims? We knew that the Camino is going to be busy in May so I booked my beds" he said.  "We are all pelgrims - we are all 'us'. when you go on holiday you cant expect special treatment when you arrive and the hotel is full."  I left the dining room as others joined in and the discussion became heated.
The others arrived back from their walk and settled into their rooms. It started raining and we spent most of the day in the albergue.

At 5pm we got taxis to take us to Vilacha where we had a lovely meal with Gordon Bell in Casa Banderas. We met Johan from Cape Town and two German girls who arrived as we were leaving. It was raining again and the forecast was for much of the same the next day.

Day 1: Barbadelo to Morgade

Day 1
It is 4.5km from Sarria to Barbadelo.  Miguel Angel, the taxi driver we had used from the bus station to the pension, came with 2 other taxis to take us to a point 49m from the last Casa in Barbadelo where the 106km to Santiago waymark is.

The Irish lady was exhilarated to be walking with her Trionic Veloped walker. The path started off flat and not too difficult to negotiate.  Pilgrims walking past clapped, called her 'valiant' and most took photos.

We thought she might manage a couple of km but we kept going after the 2km mark, even when the path became difficult with stone slabs up a torrent course.  Adrian and I carried the Veloped while she walked up the path using her sticks. After about 2 km of partly walking, partly pushing we came to a very basic stop with a table bearing a thermos flask of tea and coffee and a few packets of cake.
We stopped for a lukewarm and then she sat on the walker's seat while Adrian pushed her along the road.

We stopped again a bit further on for a hot cup of Cola Cao and then after another difficult section, Negotiating stone blocks alongside a river, she started to flag.  Pushing, walking and being pused we had covered about 4km.  She had never walked 2km in her life and was exhausted by the effort of walking, pushing and being pushed.  I called a taxi and she and I went back to Sarria while the others continued to Morgade.
Although it was only 6.2km today to Morgade, the others returned quite tired from their walk. Adrian was still feeling the effects of his long flight. Bob was proud that he had taken the first day in his stride (quite a long stride too with his long legs), Pat and Janet were happy that their feet had held up and Reinette was euphoric having loved every moment of walk.
Besides the weather not being very kind with almost freezing temperatures and cold winds we hadn't had any rain and our Caracoles had done well and were looking forward to the next stage on this slow Camino.

Lugo and Sarria

I waited for Ivar Revke outside the Hospederia. He brought the box with the 20 copies of Camino Lingo which Paul had sent to Santiago for Reinette. We had a chat and then I called my friend Luis Angel (a Santiago taxi owner) to collect us at 10am to take us to the bus station.  He organised two taxis to take  the 4 of us.

The bus left at 11am and all the way to Lugo we could see pilgrims hiking on the Camino paths. It looks like the Camino is going to be very busy. When we arrived in Lugo we found the taxi rank, loaded our stuff into two taxis and told them to take us to the Hotel Puerta de San Pedro.  The taxi driver looked at us in surprise and pointed to a building about 250m away!  We told one driver to drive the Irish lady and our bags to the hotel across the road and the rest of us walked.

After checking in we walked to the 'gate' in the wall and entered the old city. The Lugo walls are the best preserved complete Roman walls in Spain and one can walk on the top, around the circumference of the walls for about 2.5km.  I got a message from Adrian. His Iberia flight was delayed by 9 hours and he wouldn't be able to meet us in Lugo after all.  He would catch up with us in Sarria instead.

We had a few tapas and drinks then walked to the church and had a look at the Roman baths where hot springs once bubbled up.  We returned to our hotel and decided to order dinner in.  The receptionist, a lovely, accommodating young woman, set a table for us and we phoned a nearby Italian take-away restaurant for dinner. Bob kept us in awe of his stories about his previous Camino walks and in stitches with his lovely sense of humour. After dinner we returned to our rooms and resorted our baggage.
In the morning we dragged our bags across the road to the bus station, bought tickets to Sarria and found the lifts to go downstairs to the platforms.  Our bus left at 12h45 and we arrived in Sarria half an hour later.

We found two taxis to take us to Pension Escalinata.  I had a small daypack with 4 bottles of Amarula and Mrs Balls chutney for Gordon Bell.  I gave one Amarula to Jose and when Gordon arrived, gave him the other bottles. Someone called my name - it was Janet who was sitting with her mother Pat at an outside table.  Not long after, that Adrian arrived. Our Camino Caracoles were all there.
 Belin arrived to take us to the apartments where we would stay for two nights.  Once we were all settled into our rooms - the guys in a room with an en suite shower - Reinette and I went down to the river and found a nice sidewalk café-bar called 'Santiago' where we ordered different tapa dishes for lunch.
That night we went back to the Restaurant Santiago for dinner.  I gave each one a South African beaded badge and a pin as well as the little name magnets I had found in Santiago.  I then started the 'Breaking the Ice' discussion where each one in turn told us their name, what they liked to be called, where they lived, a place they might have lived before and when they had first heard about the Camino.  When it came to Adrian`s turn we listened enthralled as he told us about his extensive experience in the hotel world, living in many different countries around the world where he learned to speak about 8 different languages.  He and his Manchester born wife live in Costa Rica.
I told them that the taxis would pick us up at 8:30am to take us to Barbadelo where we would start walking.  we walked back to the pension, to our respective rooms, all excited about the start of our Slow Camino the next day.

Santiago 11th May

I walked into Santiago at about 2pm on Saturday 11th May.  As I arrived at the reception in the Hospederia San Martin, I saw a woman with a walker coming out of the lounge.  It was our peregrina from Ireland. 
Shortly after, Reinette arrived and we sat together for a while  chatting about Reinette's adventures in Galicia and my walk from Sarria. While we were talking Christine hobbled in.  She thought she might only arrive after 6pm but was 2 hours early snd relieved to have made it with her painful shin splints.

I checked in and took my pack to the room. As I came down the lift I recognized Bob amongst the people waiting to go upstairs.   I told him that we would have dinner in the hotel at 7pm.
The Irish lady still wasnt feeling well so went to her room.  I invited Tom and Nancy to join us for dinner at the Hospederia.  Christine had hobbled in by then so  I suggested she join us too.  Pat from the pilgrims office also joined us so we were a happy group with Reinette, Ann, Christine, Tom and Nancy, Pat, Bob and me.

The waiter wasnt the friendliest person in the place and I suggested that he might have drawn the short straw and had to work instead of being outside for the Galicia day fiesta.
After dinner we said goodbye to Tom and Nancy, Christine and Pat.  Reinette and I sat with Bob in the lounge for a while and then we went to our room to sort out what we would take with us on the walk and what to leave in the cases at San Martin.
Our big adventure would start with a trip to Lugo and one night in Lugo before taking the bus to Sarria.

Slow Camino reconnaissance walk

5th May - Checking out the paths and trails
After two nights in Santiago I caught the bus to Lugo and then  a taxi to Sarria.  Gordon Bell was at the Pension Escalinata to meet me.  Gordon took me to the Casa Nova rente in Barbadelo where I was to spend the night. I had dinner with a delightful French couple.  They couldn't speak any English and my French is abysmal so we used sign language and drew pictures and maps on the paper tablecloth during conversation.

6th May  (Barbadelo to Vilacha)
I had breakfast the next morning and started walking, turning my pedometer to 0.00km
The apple trees are all in blossom but there are not many other wildflowers out yet.   I decided that we should start our group walk 49m beyond the Casa at the small road crossing where the 106km marker to Santiago is.

The path was mainly gravel, with some rocks until the large water fountain with the 2004 Holy Year logo that looks like Mickey Mouse.  At the 1.5 km mark the path went steeply downhill to the river which had a concrete path on the side for pilgrims to cross.

The path then joined a tar road again after 2km and 1km further on, one has to step on large blocks in the torrent course.  I realised that this could be difficult for the walkers, especially the lady using her Veloped walker.

After walking for two hours I reached Morgade and the end of our first stage.
For the next 4km the path undulated steeply uphill and downhill on tar and gravel with a few muddy places in between.  After 10.2km the path became difficult with deep mud and shale slopes. I reached Mercadoiro which would be the end of our 2nd stage and stopped for lunch.

 

At the 13.35km mark I started on stage 3 of our walk.  It went downhill on a gravel and sand path and then steep downhill on a concrete path into the forest.  It was a fairly easy stage on tar, concrete, and a forest path all the way to Vilacha where I spent the night with Gordon Bell.

There was a lady from Holland who was planning on walking to Portomarin but it was raining hard and when she saw the sign STADIG (slowly) on the road just before Casa Banderas, she took it as a sign from above and stopped for the night.  A German pilgrim arrived, then a couple from the US who I shared my overnight stops with so that we met up each evening from then on.

7 May (Vilacha to Ventas de Naron)
The path from Vilacha was being resurfaced so was closed.   I walked on the road into Portomarin.  I climbed the hill to  the Albergue Ultreia to check out the rooms which were all upstairs - no good for the lady with the walker.  We decided that she and Reinette could share a room in the Pension Caminante around the corner.

I continued down to the bridge and decided to walk on the road instead of climbing through the forest.  The Camino path continues over the bridge but one can turn right onto the road which re-joins the Camino path at the Brick Factory and from there on it was pretty much alongside the road for the next few km. I stayed on the road until I reached Gonzar which is the end of stage 3 for the Slow Camino.  I arrived at Ventas de Naron and booked into Casa Molar

8 May
The path from there to Pevisa was easy walking and one could do most of the route on the road which shadows the path for most of the way. I caught up to Tom and Nancy, the American couple from Vilacha, at the cafe bar after Ligonde.  (We walked together on and off from there to San Xulian)

 

 

9th May
The next day to Rua was my longest day at 24km.
At Palas de Rei the yellow arrows lead down a flight of stairs from the Bar Crucero but one can stay on the road to avoid the steps. Closer to the main road is another short flight of stairs or an impossibly steep ramp.  There is another way around the side where one can reach the main road. (Our Pension was on that side road.)

I popped into the Pension Bar Plaza to check on our rooms only to find that our rooms were up a steep flight of stairs. They called, Antia, the woman who runs the pension and she took me to a Pension Ignacio around the corner where all the rooms are on the ground floor.
When I got to San Xulian I found that I would be sharing a room with Tom and Nancy.  We were given a 3-bedded room at the albergue. We had a wonderful meal with other pilgrims and then sat outside the albergues chatting to pilgrims and the local women.)

 

9 May
From San Xulian the path disintegrated and I resolved to phone San Xulian and ask whether there was a road route for our lady with the walker as she would not be able to negotiate the path between here and Casanova.

At Casanova I did a 2km detour to O Bolboreta to confirm our rooms and a 2km walk back to the path. At Campanilla I stoped for a Cola Cao and bumped into Tom and Nancy. They had phoned the Pazo de Sedor and had booked a room so I knew I would see them again at Castaneda. 

On the way to Melide the path became a road of crazy paving, also not easy for those that are unsteady or for a Veloped.

 

I saw that the Hotel Carlos was quite far from the main centre.  I thought of cancelling the rooms there and finding something closer to the centre of town but so many places are full, I decided to leave things as they  are .  It started to rain and I stopped to take out my raincoat.   All the tape covering the seams was hanging like streamers so I stopped at a sports shop and bought a poncho type raincoat.  It is bright orange and all my clothes are pink and purple so I'm not going to get lost on this Camino!

I walked up to the church and down to the road following the Camino arrows and realised that the group wouldn't be able to walk down that steep path.  We will walk on the road rather.
The next Slow Camino stage is from Melide to Boente on an undulating path through the forest. ± 2km further there are large stepping stones across a small river. The terrain going up from the river will be impassable with a walker so the lady with the walker will have to stay on the road.  From here the path joins the road with a short break back into the forest.

At Boente I stopped at Os albergue for lunch. I spent the night at a fabulous Pazo de Sedor at Castaneda.  Tom and Nancy also stayed there and we had dinner with a group of American ladies walking the Camino.
From here it was very steep down hill and under the road, then a very steep uphill: the group could stay on the road and join where the ramp goes up to the bridge. There is quite a steep downhill to Ribadiso. 
Coming out of Ribadiso, I will suggest to the lady with the walker that she gets a taxi to Ribadiso Carretera higher up.

 

The walk into the town of Arzua is long and dreary. I found that the Suiza is not in town but way out on the other side. However, it is 30m from the Camino the next day.
It was uphill for about 500m then onto a small road on tar to a road.   After passing under the road there was a flattish section then lots of rocks and mostly up hill. To the 32.5km mark.  There was a place selling fruit and cakes on an honesty system  where I bought a banana for €1 -over R12.

 

Two years ago a large section of the forest here was felled to make way for a new road between Santiago and Lugo.   They ran out of money and the construction site was left as it is now.
From Calzada there was an easy path -a little rocky through the village and with large stepping stones across the river.  It will be better for the lady with the walker to stay on the road.  The walk from  then on is fairly easy.

From Salceda the path mirrors the road and it appeared that one could take a side path down to the road every 500m or so. You pass Empalme and St Irene. When you reach Rua there is a recorded greeting that is activated when you walk by.  The info kiosk for Santiago is on the right.

From here you pass the turn into Pedrouza-Arca and can continue into the forest on an easy path.

You go up hill and over the road . One could stay on the road for most of the way around Lavacolla.  I thought it would be best for the lady with the walker to be taken to Neiro where the Tv Galicia centre is and to walk from there to Monte de Gozo.

After  visiting the Monte de Gozo reception to confirm our rooms I walked on the road to avoid the flight of steps down to the main road.  It was then the long, dreary walk through the outskirts of the city into Santiago.