Palas de Rei to O Pedrouzo

A typical view in Galicia

Stay positive. The only difference between a god day and a bad day is your attitude. – Dennis Brown

February 1, 2025

Palas de Rei to Arzua – 18.1 miles

Phoenix had a measurable rainfall this past week for the first time since August 22, 2024. We missed tying the record for the longest dry streak by 1 day. When I was talking with Elizabeth before coming to Spain, I told her I was looking forward to having some weather. I also told her I hoped it would be snowing when I got to O Cebreiro. So, I have actually gotten exactly what I was looking for. It is winter after all and the temperatures here have been fairly close to normal. The 5 days of heavy rain was not out of the ordinary for winter. It has certainly added to the adventure. Really my only surprise/disappointment of this trip is the lack of English speaking walkers. The weather has not been a big deal for me. Here on the Camino I had a warm dry place every night. Even though most cafes/bars are closed, there is still way more food readily available than on the Appalachian Trail.

When it was wet and snowing I was plenty warm while I was moving. The risk was if I had to stop for some reason. Fortunately I was able to keep moving. I am wearing gortex sneakers. I typically do not like waterproof shoes as my feet get hot and the shoes take a long time to dry. These sneakers have been really good for most days. I think 3 or 4 days it was just too wet and my socks would get wet as well. In the snow the temps were in the upper 20’s, so not that cold. I would use these same shoes again. I do not like hiking in boots.

I do think I have lost some weight. I have not been on a scale, but my pants have either stretched a bit, or I have lost a little weight. There isn’t really a food that I am missing. The local grocery chain – Dia, has a great bakery section, including American style cookies. The Spanish beef is typically not to my liking, but twice this past week I have bad a beef stew that was really good. I do not like Spanish milk, but I do love the fresh squeezed orange juice, that that is trade that is fine with me. The Dia stores have an OJ machine where you make your own juice. I just bought some for breakfast. I also bought a Danish and some yogurt. I just put stuff outside my window to keep it cold.

Galicia is a bit lower in elevation and closer to the ocean, so it is not as cold here as the middle part of the way. You can see how green everything is here, even though it is February 1. They get more rain as well. It feels like a rain forest walking through some of the woods. Of course, today we were in the fog all day. I did see 5 other walkers. Since I was doing 18 miles I left early – 8:15. I saw 4 new walkers who started in Sarria and my young male Korean friend I have seen for the past few weeks. The shop keeper and Italy are coming here tonight as are the 2 Korean women I walked in to Palas de Rei yesterday. Florida is now 4 days behind.

For details of today’s walk, enjoy the pictures.

A foggy start to the day – it stayed foggy all day
A great lunch, at least I enjoyed it.
The orange container is to dump your used cooking oil
There are wet leaves everywhere
I got too close and they started to run away.
A vine on a telephone pole
A curious cow
Entering Arzua

February 2, 2025

Arzua to O Pedrouzo – 12.1 miles

Another rainy night. The rains are supposed to stop by 8:30. Sunrise is at 8:46. I only have 12 miles so I will wait till maybe 9 to start walking. Hopefully I will see more people as well with a later start.

I got restless and started a bit before 9, thinking the rain was over. Not so fast. As I walked out it started up again. I stopped to pull out my umbrella, hoping it was a quick passing shower. About 10 minutes later I stopped again to put on my rain jacket. The temperature was 45, so I started out with just my T-shirt and long sleeved shirt. After 30 minutes the rain did stop and the sky started to clear. It was actually a beautiful day for walking. The temperature was 51 when I finished about 1:30. I only saw 2 pilgrims on the path today. I took a couple short breaks thinking someone would catch me. During one of the breaks a guy from Barcelona came walking backwards. Going backwards must be a winter thing. I have seen more people walking east this trip than my previous 5 Caminos. This guy spoke some English. He lives in Barcelona and I think he left his house and walked to Santiago and is now headed back home. I know that is his plan, not sure if he left home last December or a year ago and is now completing his journey. Either way a cool story.

I could hear the jets taking off today, so I am getting close to Santiago. Actually, now I am less than 7 miles from the airport. I only have 12 to get to the cathedral tomorrow. The terrain was typical Galicia. With the overnight rains the path was quite wet. The waterproof shoes did their job today.

Tomorrow is the last official day of walking. I will spend the night in Santiago, then Tuesday morning I plan to take a bus the Fisterra, Wednesday walk to Muxia, Thursday morning take a taxi back to Santiago where I have a 10:30 train to Madrid. Then on Friday fly home. This whole trip I have basically planned 24 hours in advance. I just made a reservation in Santiago. I did also make my train reservations for next Thursday.