46. Rebadeo to Lourenzá

Hola everyone and thank you for all your affirming comments yesterday. I continue to improve health wise and hope that I might be back to normal before too long. 

🙏

As I write this, I am lying in my bunk at the municipal albergue in Lourenzá - the Xunta de Galicia Pilgrims Hostel. It costs 10€ to stay here for the night and I would describe it as an ‘honest’ albergue, functional and adequate. The shower has half a door but hot water, the beds are covered in plastic but firm enough, there’s a power point to charge your phone, a sink to wash your clothes and a line in the sun, at least partially, to dry them. 

This latter feature is particularly helpful given the forecast for the coming days. As you will know if you’ve been following along, we pilgrims on the Camino del Norte have had an extraordinarily good weather window these past few weeks. Indeed, don’t think I’ve used my rain jacket so far this month. 

Alas, that is all about to change. We will hopefully get one more dry day tomorrow but on Sunday, heavy rain is predicted. And then, it looks like rain for the rest of the week. At that point dry gear becomes a distant memory.

The walking day started as it always does in northwestern Spain in October, in the dark. By 8.30am in is just starting to get light.

When day did dawn it was a beautiful sunny one.

For some reason, I saw more pilgrims on the path than any other day since we began walking.

Note David is still wearing his head torch here, which along with his walking still makes him look something like a Viking harpoonist!

The path itself was rolling and rural, passing through the occasional hamlet. Corn harvesting was in full swing. The first and only open cafe (apart from one in Ribadeo where we scored a cheeky early coffee and tostada) was at the 24 kilometre mark. By then it was close to lunchtime so a bunch of us opted for a menu del dia. This is more than adequate for the day, so relieves the pressure of trying to find food before 8.00pm, which is as early as most restaurants in Spain open.

Sheep and sheep dog in the morning sun.

One feature of the Camino in Galicia is that all the way markers record the distance remaining to Santiago, down to the metre!! As of this evening, I am precisely 162.347 kilometres from the cathedral.

Lourenzá has a slightly worn feel it, with a very baroque looking church, which (like most churches in Spain) was locked and looking slightly forlorn.

So, just to work you up, a view of the albergue, complete with our pilgrim washing drying happily on the line!!

🌞

Which reminds me, I better go and bring mine in before the dew starts falling and soaks it all again!!

Until tomorrow, buenas noches, dear reader.

👣 💤 🧡