Looking back on yesterday’s post I realise I sounded like a bit of a big girl’s blouse, complaining about the weather. Mind you, I was in good company. I was sitting in a bar writing my post yesterday and, as always, there was a TV in the corner which I wasn’t watching. Anyway, after I hit the “publish” button, I looked up to see a picture of serious flooding and the headline “caos in Vigo”. The next headline was “Roja alerta en Galicia”. One doesn’t need to be a talented Spanish speaker to work out that Galicia was a bit damp yesterday. It wasn’t just me complaining, the woman on telly with a kitchen flooded with sewage was also a bit hacked off. Not the best day to start walking.
Betanzos main square
One of the best things about walking though is that it makes you appreciate what you have so much more. My clothes hadn’t dried yesterday so this morning I put on some damp stuff (quickest way to dry clothes, although not to be recommended in cold climates due to the unfortunate side-effect of hypothermia-induced death. But the joy I had on reaching tonight’s stop! Not a particularly fancy hotel in the little town of Betanzos. But it had a heated towel rail in the bathroom. I will leave this town tomorrow with clean, dry clothes and that feels great.
The route today was hilly and pretty, with a lot of walking through woodland. There was a strong wind and branches were coming down left right and centre. The more minor hazard were the conkers smacking onto the Tarmac as I walked. But the combination of new green lanes, clouds racing across the sky and tumbledown villages was well worth it.
Still very few pilgrims on this route. The three Spanish guys I met yesterday overtook me today. One of them literally ran past me. Yesterday when I saw them I was really impressed by how lightly they were travelling. Each was carrying rucksacks that were 25 litres tops. I had mentally tagged them as ironman types. However as I was checking out this morning at the hotel in Pontedeume they appeared at reception with their suitcases which they were sending on to their next hotel in a taxi. And these were big, hard-shell suitcases – not the sort of case most people would take for a week’s holiday, more the size that Dara would take for a fortnight’s holiday. So if anyone on this Camino is a big girl’s blouse….
Tomorrow is the last bit of serious climbing. Apparently there is a hill with a 1:5 slope that goes on for a while. Looking forward to it.
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