Barbadelo to O Coto

“Being soaked alone is cold. Being soaked with your best friend is an adventure.”
– Emily Wing Smith

Day 34 – Barbadelo to Castromaior – 17.0 Miles

June 19

Last night we think we were the only “single” pilgrims at our place in Barbadelo. There were probably fifty middle to high schoolers on what we think is a Sarria to Santiago Camino. They did not settle down until well after 11:30pm which is unusual, as most places have a 10 o’clock curfew and a silent time. Even the chaperones were constantly knocking on the young folk’s doors to quiet them down, but their knocking and yelling at them did not help the lack of silence. In their defense we found out that Spain had a huge soccer or in their case football game going on last night.

Today we started out in the rain for the first time this trip. I donned my rain pants and umbrella and set off for the day. I considered it my “wet bathing suit day”. You know…when you go to the bathroom, pulling your pants back up, the 100% humidity was like trying to get a wet bathing suit back on!

Today could also be called “smell that fresh country air!” day. I used this term with my kids when we lived in Vermont. It refers to the wonderful smell that cattle leave behind. It can also be intensified by the moving of all of that fertilizer from one location on a farm to another by a tractor. Of course, some of these villages are so small that “those” tractors pass by us often on the Camino in this area!

Galicia reminds us of what we think Vermont would have looked like in the early 1900s. corn fields, wonderful big, green, mature, deciduous trees and cattle everywhere.

We are passing through too early for the fig trees we went by, the apple trees we passed, no blackberries ripe yet or roasted red peppers being prepared at many restaurants and household back yards. All the aforementioned will be available later this summer. We were too late for the fiddlehead ferns.

We had a ceremonial funeral for the container that was holding my peanut butter. Gary’s been carrying it for me. We brought it from home. I used it all up today putting on my bananas and I’ve made a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Peanut butter is not common here.

Although it rained most of the day, Gary’s bag is drying in the sun, our clothes are on the line, and my umbrella worked very well for the regular rain we got along The Way.

We are at Casa Perdigueira in Castromaior, referred to as a small parish within the municipality of Portomarin. Castromaior was inhabited in the 4th century BC, before 1 AD! During the Iron Age.

The Romanesque church in Castromaior has a reredos, an ornamental cloth at the back of the alter, dating back to the 1500’s! Still amazes and impresses me how all these churches are preserved and cherished.

There are ruins we will visit in the morning. We are hoping for clear skies and another fabulous day!

Day 35 – Castromaior to O Coto – 15.8 miles

June 20, 2023

E: Today was a beautiful day to walk. It started off very foggy but soon the sun came out and it stayed in the low 70s by the afternoon.

We are beginning to run into people that we have met more recently. Some began their Caminos in Leon and some started just a couple of days ago in Sarria. We have seen a couple of school groups. The one we saw today was a girl and boy scout troop from Sweden. They were much more laid back and quiet on the trail than other groups we’ve seen from Spain. Someone mentioned there was an American school group which we have not met up with yet.

I’m sure you know by now that I love animals and flowers. The hydrangeas in dark blue were amazing. While walking in the woods, I heard frogs and other noises, so I veered off the trail a bit to where I saw a marsh and got a picture of some mallards enjoying the reeds. There were some independent sheep that had escaped a pasture. We looked toward the farm house and barn but did not see any humans. The road they are on is quiet and I’m sure a neighbor will let the owners know. We continue to see newborn calves, some of which I think are no more than a few days old or maybe a week.

We have been chatting about what we will do once we get to Santiago and have changed our minds several times. We first thought we would vacation down below Barcelona in the Mediterranean at Menorca and Mallorca. After doing some research and realizing that it would be a whole other vacation style… resorts, cities, not a rustic hiking type of vacation, we will keep that on the back burner for another trip. We then began to discuss walking out to the end of the world on Cape Finisterre. We have done this in the past. It can take 3 to 4 days from Santiago out to the farthest Northwest corner of Spain at my speed. But we now have settled on finishing our walking Camino in Santiago. We will stay in Santiago for 2 nights so that we can enjoy this coming Friday nights service at Santiago’s main cathedral. I have not done any research but there is supposed to be some sort of festival going on when we are there, which could be fun.

We will then hop on a bus and head out to the town of Fisterra, stay three nights in a nice hotel, overlooking the ocean. More on that to come!

Hope everyone is well in smiling!

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.”   – Douglas Adams