Sunday, 12 May 2024
Campobecerros to Laza
14.4 kilometers

Today’s walk on the Camino de Santiago was characterized by stunningly beautiful vistas as we descended along the side of a mountain into the valley and the town of Laza. We are now in Galicia and everything is a little greener than central Spain. Here is an example of the scene looking across the valley as we descended the mountain.

The walk today was another day of walking from east to west. The elevation graph clearly shows how we climbed up a little twice early in the day and then proceeded to descend for most of the rest of the walk today.

We started with a taxi ride from our accommodation in A Guidiña to our ending point yesterday in Campobecerros so we could start the walk where we left off yesterday. So we started walking at 9:00 AM in Campobecerros. The first part of the walk this morning was gradually uphill, a little more than I had hoped for to start the day, but not too bad, and the beautiful views were upon is from the start.

After about 3 kilometers, we passed through the hamlet of Porto Camba. I took a photo of Dan and Ron at the old Porto Camba sign still looking very fresh and energetic in the morning.

We use two apps that show the Camino route and provide information about the towns, the services in those towns, and a map to see where exactly the Camino route goes. Both of the apps said something like, “Take your time here and enjoy the views.” We do take our time every day, and we do enjoy the views. The views today were the best.

I saw an arrow in a style I had not seen before, carved into a rock and painted. Definitely worth a photo. Nice!

The beautiful views kept coming. Farmland, forest, and sometimes clear-cut forest on the hills across the valley all made for stunning views.

Rounding a corner, and still high on the mountain, we could see a dramatic railroad bridge and the tunnel portals (one for each direction). This is the high-speed line from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela. I’ll be on a train on that line on my way home after we reach Santiago.

Walking downhill can sometimes feel as difficult as walking uphill, just different muscles are in use. Downhill is also harder on the knees, so we kept the pace slow. Soon we were in a slightly more dense forest and the distant views were seen through the trees. A beautiful day walking down the mountain.

I saw a Camino waymarker indicating just under 170 kilometers (105 miles) to go to Santiago de Compostela, so it seemed worthy of a photo. We will look out for the 160-kilometer marker tomorrow which is 100 miles, a nice round number for those of us who mostly measure in miles.

A little further on I got a photo of Ron and Dan in the forest continuing downward.

Then we came to a sharp right turn and a steep, rocky downhill section for 30 or 40 meters to get down to another road into Laza. As we made our way towards Laza and out of the forest, we crossed a creek before leaving the forest for the farmland around Laza.

And right before entering Laza, I saw some cattle munching away at the tall green grass. Their horns were long and even from a distance looked sharp. We have not seen many cattle in the past 11 days of walking. Last year in more southern-central Spain we saw cattle almost every day for much of the walk from Seville to Salamanca and even closer to Zamora.

Then we entered Laza signifying the end of the 14.4 kilometer mostly downhill walk for the day. There is an older and a newer sign indicating the town, so I captured both.

We found our accommodation, checked in, took off our backpacks, and went in search of lunch. We were headed to a restaurant recommended by our taxi driver but stopped at a different place. This bar/restaurant was crowded and lively – people talking loudly and passionately sharing stories and drinks. A very energetic group of people, and it lifted my spirits. There was no menu, only one choice: beef stew with french fries. Everyone who was ordering food was getting the same. The beef was so tender it fell apart, and tasted so, so good. Of course, I also had my after-walk Coca-Cola, too.

Tomorrow is a little longer day at under 20 kilometers with a long uphill climb early in the walk. The weather is expected to be a bit cooler with a chance of rain in the afternoon. Hopefully, we will be done for the day when the rain comes.

Next: Laza to Vilar de Barrio, 20 kilometers