Camino 2016: Via de La Plata Day 33 - Ventas de Narón to O Coto

Saturday April 30, 2016
Today was a tough day for me physically. My legs are saying "enough" but my heart draws me nearer and nearer to Santiago. When I set out this morning I had 80km or 50 miles to go and I walked 21 km so now I am down to about 60 km with 5 days to go but I plan to have at least one full day in Santiago so I am planning on 4 more walking days and arriving in Santiago no later than Wednesday.
The albergue was nice but after I had checked in and unpacked etc. that I learned that the wifi was not working. So I started the blog without wifi and went across down the road to another albergue to upload the pictures. It took a while but a beer helped pass the time and it was warm enough to sit outside in the afternoon with the sun, but gets very cold as soon as the sun gets low in the sky.

It was very cold last night in the albergue and I was glad to have an extra blanket on top of my sleeping bag. When I left at about 7:15 the temperature was close to 0°C or 32°F. It had rained a bit during the night and the road was wet except under the trees so I don't think it was much.

As I passed a group of trees in the semi-light it looked like frost on the leaves and my hands certainly felt cold enough. Although we have had several cold mornings I have only used gloves about twice but today I got them out again and was glad to know where they were and not in the bottom of my backpack.

The route today had very little flat ground but went up and down over several hills, not mountains anymore but still strenuous. However it was very pretty. At first we had fog but it cleared in about two hours as the sun rose higher in the sky. Here I pass d a washing station where people from the village could take their washing but I am sure it is not used anymore.

It must have been quite a communal activity with the women doing their washing while they learned all the latest happenings and gossip.

Some of the time the route ra n along the side of a road but it was early on a Saturday morning and there was very little traffic.

Since I was walking from village to village I passed several of these horreos in each village. I think someone are for a Family to store their grain and some are for comunal storage for several families or even the whole village.

After an hour or so I came across a place where I could get some breakfast so I had my usual toast and coffee.
Much of the time the paths were lined with trees and were much lower than the surrounding fields, rather like the country lanes in England..

After about 4 fours of walking I came to another place where I could get some refreshment. Earlier, as I passed through the town of Palas de Rei I noticed a bakery by the side of the road. There was no retail store but I asked if I could buy an empanada. Yes, of course, I was told. What kind do you want and the person rattled off a whole list of different ones. I settled on "carne" and after discussion she cut a big piece from the pie and let me have it for Eur 2.50. I put it in my backpack for later. Now I bought a beer and sat outside in the sun to enjoy it along with the empanada.
Then I passed a grove of trees with the silver looking leaves and recognized them as eucalyptus trees which are often found in Galicia, originally imported during the Franco regime for paper making when propaganda papers were produced in vast quantities. I think the trees I had seen first thing this morning were also a eucalyptus trees and that it was not frost on the leaves but their natural sheen.

The continuous ups and downs finally got my legs to the point where they didn't want to go any further. The next albergue was 6km further but I remembered that when I was here three years ago we stopped for the night at a small hotel in a place called O Coto which was very close so I headed for that and found a nice room there to myself instead of in a dormitory for a change, even with a private bathroom. I remembered that last time we paid Eur 45 for a room with 3 beds for the three of us. now a single room cost Eur 45. Inflation or should I have tried to negotiate?
This is the side with the patio. The inside of the hotel has stone walls and is very comfortable.

It is very nice to enjoy that for an afternoon and a night after 30 days and nights. After I had settled in I went to the outside patio for some lunch and enjoyed a Caldo Gallego (traditional Galician soup)and Pimientos de Padron. Some of them may be spicy but you can't tell which ones, but these were all mild. The beer tasted good too and my legs started to recover a bit.
After I took a nap I worked on today's blog sitting outside. It was very nice.
Later I had some dinner. Chorizo with fried eggs and fried potatoes. All very greasy so perhaps it will lubricate my legs for tomorrow!

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