Saturday, 18 May 2024
A Laxe to Silleda
10.5 kilometers

We stayed overnight in our accommodation in Lalín. It was raining already when we walked across the street to the cafe at the 24-hour Repsol gas station for our breakfast. And breakfast at the gas station cafe was surprisingly good. The forecast for the day was rain, rain, rain, with some clearing in the late afternoon. This woud be a cold and wet walking day.

We talked to the driver that was supposed to take us back to Estación de Lalín asking him if he could drop us off at A Laxe instead. This would be shorter for him, and would shorten our walk from 15 kilometers to about 10 kilometers. After at least five or six days of rain, mud, more rain, and almost no sun, we just have little interest in prolonging our walking in the rain. From the map, our shorter mostly westward walk can be seen. From the elevation profile, the shorter walk was not all that easy, a long downhill in what had become a rocky creek, and then a couple of uphill climbs to get us sweating. Our feet got wet early, then all of us got wet as fairly heavy and steady rain came.

I put my camera in my backpack and used my phone for photos today. There are not many, because it was raining all day, and we did not feel like stopping and posing. The route from Laxe immediately went away from the paved road and onto natural paths. Natural paths were mostly not sandy enough to drain well, so early on, we had to traverse puddles and, of course, mud. The Camino waymarker where we started in A Laxe showed 50.036 kilometers to Santiago de Compostela.

Despite the rain and cold, Galicia, the part of Spain above Portugal, where we are walking, is stunningly beautiful. I realize I have said that many times, and it is true. In the photo below, we were on a stretch of the path that was pretty well drained, a not-so-bad walk here.

We got through this part of the natural path, crossed a paved road, and noticed this manhole cover with the Camino shell, and the whole cover styled like a shell. Very nice! (You can also see my very wet foot in the lower left of the picture.)

From this point on, it was walking on difficult (translate that to frustrating) muddy paths with puddles. Almost a continual game of hopscotch to negotiate the path. Occasionally we looked up from the path and saw beautiful vistas, like this one beyond a newly planted field. The farmer is probably happy it is raining. I recall that a couple years ago, this area was suffering a drought.

Then came more muddy paths and puddles, difficult to negotiate.

Here, where the puddles were very deep and long, Dan and I walked on the rock wall beside the path, not a safe option in retrospect. Ron got a photo of me on the wall, about 30 inches high.

Ron took a safer option and went over the wall into the farm field to get around the water. All of us got wet.

We met another pilgrim (my age it turned out) who was born in Spain, moved to Australia when he was 9, returned to Spain in his 20s, met his wife in Barcelona, and has lived here since. He was walking several Camino routes one after the other, now on his 5th. He had been on the Camino Invernio which starts at Ponferrada on the Camino Frances on the north end and connects to the Camino Sanabres at Laxe, where we started today. He and I talked a good bit in between his making a video of part of the rainy walk. Below through the trees is a concrete pillar holding up a highway across the valley in which we were walking. It is difficult to see in the photo, and near the bottom is a creek. A beautiful scene.

And soon we were back on softer, muddy natural paths through the very wet forest. Negotiating the muddy sections is becoming an almost automatic response after several days of this wet weather.

One of the interesting sights we saw today was a very old bridge. Ron took a photo of Dan, me, and our Aussie friend peering over the side.

And back into the wet forest on a path that was better drained, and not too soft. The green of the forest is quite nice.

The Spanish pilgrim and I waited under a bit of a roof for Ron and Dan to catch up and I got a photo of a beautiful flowering bush showing itself over a wall.

Just after this photo, the Aussie went on ahead while I waited for Ron and Dan. We then rounded a corner and the Camino path goes down what in dry weather would be a rocky path. Today is is practically a creek, but better than mud. Ron got a photo of me ahead negotiating the very slippery rocks, a slow process because we do not want to slip and fall.

Here is another photo of what I saw ahead of me on this downhill rocky creek:

Then we were back in the forest for a bit before arriving in Silleda.

One of the challenges each day is finding our accommodation. Today, as we entered the town, we saw a sign advertising our hotel, only 215 meters away. We went there, and because of the shorter day, we were quite early, and the rooms were not ready. We went to the restaurant, and after quite some discussion with the server, we ordered lunch. It took quite some time to get our food. Ron surmised that the kitchen was not quite open when we ordered. Dan had scallops, and Ron and I had what turned out to be a good-sized steak with fries. We passed on dessert, maybe after a light dinner tonight.

We have two more days of walking to Santiago de Compostela. Both days are about 20 kilometers. We are hoping for less rain tomorrow, and maybe some sun on Monday as we walk into Santiago de Compostela.

Next: Silleda to Ponte Ulla, 20 kilometers