Tag: rain

Day 30 – The one with no stopping

I started a bit after 7 after some breakfast.

Once again in the dark and occasional rain and of course this was again not a light polluted city walk but through a forest.

Before 11 I was in Negreira (22k from Santiago) so it was a quite quick decision that I want to go further. It was the plan as well. So after a second-breakfast-break I went on.

The rain as well. It just wouldn’t stop. And once again it was proper rain so I couldn’t power through it in t-shirt. Meh. However, just when I started to be a bit pissed because of the weather I passed by a bus stop where a pilgrim couple was taking a break and one of them ran to me offering a piece of chocolate. It came in the best moment, once again lifting my mood a lot.

Before 2pm I was in Vilaserio, 34k from Santiago. This was my first plan for the day. However there was a town, San Marina, in 8k so after a nice tea and hot chocolate and some small talk with the pilgrims waiting for the rain to calm, I left.

I crossed path a couple of times with a Checz man, Merek and finally we started walkig together. We stopped shortly in San Marina but went on soon. This was exciting as San Marina was already past 40k.

Even mlre than before the weather turned crazy with wind and sometimes stopping the rain, even giving a bit of sunshine. But all in all it was difficult to walk sometimes.

We arrived to Mallono (53k!) before 6pm and stopped to check the albergue there and ask about the following ones. Finally we decided to complete the second etap as well, going all the way to Olveiroa.

I closed the day with 55.5km in 11:40. What a day! …

 

Day 12

We went together this day with Maria. It was a good thing too as the weather and i the first half the path was quite depressing.

Ate a few figs along the way and had to use the raincoat for the second day. Although after a while I realised that it might not actually help much: since the rain was head-on it fell into it next to my face as well there was a lot of condensation on the inside so all in all I think I got more wet from it than without it ..

We took a break next to a beautiful industrial chemical plant pipe that was actually warm 🙂

In the second half the path went to the countryside away from the busy car roads finally and the misty scenary was a bit better but still depressing.

We arrived in Santillana Del Mar around 2. I was a bit disappointed as I planned to go forward but my shoes were just too wet. I went to the albergue I had a sandwich as it was still closed. Finally I figured out that the municipal albergue was actually more expensive than a hostel a few minutes away so I went there. Apparently Paul, Andre and Maria too.

Since I’ve been postponing doing laundry due to the weather I now had to do it and we shared it with Paul.

The place had a surprise: massage shower 😀

After some streching and settling we went for a dinner where I finally got to eat some paella.

Day 11

Wax earplugs FTW!

Although the previous day I already had them it apparently took me 2 nights to get it right. From the moment I’ve put them in, until my alarm went off there was silence. I actually barely heard my alarm 🙂

I packed before breakfast and we left with the now usual group around half past 8. With some second breakfast break along the coasta way we arrived in Somo in around 4 hours and 15.5k. We had just a little drizzle in the morning but it got a bit chilly so for the first time I actually had to put on my sweater for a while.

I realised that most of the time I was taking pictures with low resolution … note to myself: always check the settings before trips and maybe during from time to time.

We had to wait for the ferry to take us to Santander but after crossing the bushes next to the beach as we didn’t want to walk in the sand and then half the city it was actually useful.

A bit before 2 I said goodbye to Susanne who ended her Camino here and left the group as they decided to stay.

It was confusing to get out of the city as there were many conflicting signs. It also wasn’t a particularly nice part. So just when I was thinking that I should have stayed in Santander it was a very much of a mood boosting experience when someone shouted buen camino from a car. It gave me some energy.

At a slightly dodgy bit going under a bridge next to the railway I realised that I have complete trust in the signs. Ironically later I learned that next to that spot a guy was pleasuring himself yelling at women walking by …

I planned to walk only until Santa Cruz de Bezana, especially that my left heel started aching again but the albergue I was goig for was closed and the other one I’ve passed already. So for the first time I’ve made a call to check availability in Boo de Pielagos and since they had I went on. It was quite hurtful but finally made it around 5pm with 32k behind me.

The place was not as magical than in Guemes but very clean and friendly. They even provided towel which is a nice touch since there’s one less thing to worry about to get dry. Also breakfast included and dinner offered.

Maria arrived as well so there was at least one friendly to share dinner with which is always nice after a few hours of lonely walking.