Some reflections on the Vdlp/Mozarabe

[Alan Pearce]

I have posted some reports of my walk on the "Live from the camino " section of the forum, starting from when I left Salamanca, but as I am well and truly back home in Australia, I will continue the story here.

From Lubian to A Gudina --- There had not been much rain overnight so Mattheus my Dutch friend and I kept to the marked trail rather than go on the road. The climb up out of the valley on rough and muddy tracks which often carried running water was long and arduous, and I would place it number 1 on my list of strenuous climbs on the entire camino. Once over the top of the ridge the walking became much easier, and we arrived in Laza about 1 PM. We could not find a bar on the way where we could have CCL so that was the first stop in town. My guide said the Protection Civil office where you could ask about the albergue was on the right hand side as you entered the town. It was once but is not there any more. To get to the albergue, follow the main road into town. Turn right opposite the Bar Peregrino which is on your left. Go under the railway bridge and turn right again. Ring the phone number on the door and the police will come and open it. The hospitalero came at 3 PM and booked in those who were present at the time, then left and did not return until 8PM. We had bocadillos at the Bar Peregrino for dinner.

From A Gudina to Laza ---- We had a good desayuno at the Bar Peregrino which opens at the very early hour [ for Spain ] of 6.30AM. We walked nearly all day on bitumen but the roads were totally devoid of traffic. There was a heavy mist that did not lift until 9.30, and after that there were some great views on offer. We stopped at Campobecerros after 20 km and had a HUGE bowl of coffee at a bar, and we got some biscuits thrown in as well. Most of the villages we walked through were semi- or totally deserted. We paused for a rest at As Eiras, where there is a perfect covered picnic spot at the end of the village. We arrived in Laza about 2.30 and found the Protection Civil clerk waiting outside her office for peregrinos to turn up. She was affable and efficient but some other pilgrims who arrived later said she was rude and abrupt towards tham. I personally think they arrived at a time when she was busy with police business and she had to rush their registration. We were given a key to the albergue and another key for our room. Each room held 4 double bunks and there were 4 rooms plus a room for disabled people. We had dinner that night at Bar Picota. It was a 2 plate meal with only 2 choices in each course but it was good food, with copious amounts of wine. We ate upstairs in the kitchen and watched the meal being prepared, and when we had all eaten the staff sat down and ate the same meal, which is surely a recommendation. That night was our first encounter with a very quiet Frenchman who got up each morning at 5.30 and then went and sat in the kitchen until i 6.45 when it was light enough to leave. You do have to wonder sometimes.

More later

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

From Xunqueira de Ambia ---- We returned the keys to the police office in the morning by sliding them in an partly open window, as instructed. The first 5 km was on hard and flat roads but after that we [Mattheus and Wolfgang and I ] started on a climb up a dirt road which the other 2 claimed at the end of our camino to be the toughest ascent of the entire VdlP. It was not particulaly steep in many places, it just went on forever. The mist lifted after about 2 hours and again gave us grand views. We stopped for coffee at Vilar de Barrio at Bar Carmina, where pilgrims can sign a shell and have it fixed to the walls of the bar, along with I don't know how many other similarly-signed shells. The bar is opposite the towns albergue which is well worth a look [ the servicios for the bar are in the albergue ]. Very colourful, and i will stay there next time! There was some severe downhill going on the way into Xunqueira, but we found the albergue easily, on the way into town. It is new and neat and clean, and divded into 3 rooms, but the dividing walls only go 2 thirds of the way to the ceiling so it is in effect 1 huge room, and lights on in 1 room affect the other rooms as well. Simlarly snorers can be heard throughout the building. We had dinner at the first bar on the right as you take the rout out of town for the next day. It was 9 euro for the MDD, the food was good and we got 2 bottles of wine between the 3 of us. And we sat down at 7.30!

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous

 

[gittiharre]

Hi Alan, thank you so much for all the effort you put into the helpful accounts of your walk. It sounds like you had a most amazing experience. I am planning to do this route next year, starting from Sevilla at the beginning of May, do you think this is too late as far as temperatures go? Cheers Gitti

 

[Senyor Pirotecnic]

I too am enjoying reading these "on the road" postings of a camino I hope to walk in August/September (from Salamanca). A little disappointed to read about large numbers though perhaps there will be fewer come August. A question about Salamanca that is definitely not worth opening a new thread for: can i buy a camino-style wooden walking stick there?

 

[alexwalker]

Gitti,
I started in Sevilla on May 6th. No problem.

 

[Alan Pearce]

Some earlier posts on my walk, beginning from Salamanca, have been moved from the "Live on the Camino" section to another thread in this area. The thread is headed "From Huelva on the Camino del Sur and Via de la Plata". Thanks Ivar for your help.
To Ourense --- A lovely day for walking and even though most of the walk was on roads it was enjoyable. We had CCL's at 9.00 and again at 10.30. It is a long walk into Ourense and a bit of a climb up to the albergue, and we arrived at 11.45. The note on the door said that the albergue would not open before 12.30 so I guarded the bags while the other two went off to find bocadillos. The hospitalero opened the door at 12.15. He charged 2 euro to do a load of washing for us and the albergue has folding racks over the tops of heaters so you can be sure that your clothing will dry whatever the weather. One word of warning the hospitalero goes home during the afternoon and the door is locked between 2.30 and 4.00. Mattheus and I returned from the tourist office to find that we had been locked out, and we only got back in by bashing on the door and finally attracting the attention of the only pilgrim in the Albergue. Our hospitalero was a big help in finalising our plans for the rest of our walk. Both he and the Ourense Tourist officer were adamant that we would not be able to stay at the monastory at oseira, so we made the decision to go to Cea on the next day and then do a long walk the day after. We had dinner at a restuarant that the hospitalero recommended. It is on the route out of town on the next days walk, and has the same name as that Calle. We sat down at 7.30, and it cost 10 euro for the MDD, including having rum poured over the icecream, and a glass of arruja to finish! A lot of new faces around as many people start their 100 km caminos here.
To Cea --- a welcome CCL on the way out of town. It took us an hour to clear the suburbs of Ourense, and as we had decided to take the shortest route we then climbed up the long hill just out of town. We each rated it as No 3 in difficulty of the hills we struck on the VdlP.It was overcast and muggy and we worked up quite a sweat on the ascent and were pleased to see the fuente at the top of the climb. We found another CCL an hour further on and arrived in Cea about midday. It is a great albergue with a very picturesque hand-washing area underneath, and plenty of clothes lines, many of them under glass which helps quicken the drying process. We had decided to eat at a pulperia which did not open until 8.30 but heard that one of the bakeries did meals. So it was that we had one of the best meals of our journey. The bakery is in the main street and is identified by a plaque on the wall which says 'Casa Pintarolo". The meals have to be pre-arranged [ we placed our order at 5.00 ] and we sat down at 7.3o. After soup we were given individual plates of ensalada and then shared Tortilla Espana and steaks. We finished with a cake of the region and more of the ubiqitous urruja. It cost 11 euro each and the couple serving us seemed to have as much fun as we did. Back to the albergue where we found out that the main lights can not be operated manually - thay switch off automatically at 10PM and switch on again at 7AM. The sleeping area is upstairs but the toilets are downstairs. There is a light over the stairwell which is on a motion sensor so it switches on as soon as someone is on the stairs. It also shines directly on the bed at the top of the stairs. This happened to be Mattheus, and he had a terrible nights sleep.Again we noticed a lot of people that we had not seen before and who had just started their camnio.

More laterAlan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

From Cea to A Laxe --- We were cautious about taking the right route and not going the longer way through Oseira, so stopped at the bar/albergue at Cotelas only 2 km out of Cea, had a CCL and got advice on the route to follow. T he bar was open at 7AM. The walk to A Laxe was 37 km and we arrived at around 2.15 PM. We had encountered two older French pilgrims over the previous few days, and they were fairly noticable as they wore very colourful and obviously expensive hiking/cycling gear. They walked quickly and used two walking poles, pushing with both of them at the same time. We nick-named them the Grasshoppers because that is what they resembled when they were using their poles. Although they walked more quickly than us, we used to start earlier and usually were ahead of them at the end of the day. You could tell that they did not like this, and for the last few days of the camino they walked exclusively on the roads so they could get to the albergue first. There thay would throw bits of equipment over 6 or 7 beds, and thus preserve them for the rest of the French contingent which was following them and who would arrive some time later. None of the albergues that they did this in became completo, and it kept all the French people in one group which we did not mind, so we said nothing. The albergue itself was large and airy with the biggest kitchen/eating area I have seen in an albergue, but was virtually devoid of implments and utensils.We had an excellent dinner at Bar Ma Joses for 10 euro and they left the bottle of arruja on the table for us to help ourselves.

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

From A Laxe to Capilla de Santiguino --- It was a cold night in A Laxe and I was grateful for my sleeping bag. There was heavy rain for most of the night so whan we set off we kept to the main roads for most of the day. The coffee machine in the albergue cost 60 euro cents for a CCL, and when you pulled out the cup, it gave you back your 60 cents again! There was light rain on and off during the day and we switched to off-road mode with about 2 hours to go until our destination. During the mornings walk I heard someone calling out, and it was a French lady who had been at our albergue the previous night. She had left the albergue just behind us but had not put her ponco/backpack cover on, and could not put it on without assistance. I was happy to help, and made a friend for life, and we had dinner together in SdC 2 days later. We arrived in Capilla at about 2.15 after 37 km, at a lovely new albergue. The two French walkers had arrived earlier and had taken one of the rooms for the French connection, and 1 of them was showering in the ladies room when an elderly Swiss lady walked in. She was not amused. There was heavy rain soon after we arrived so we bided our time waiting for it to clear because it is 1 km to the bar/rte where we were to have dinner. We really are in Galicia now - it is so green, it is raining, and there are gum trees everywhere. The meal at the bar/rte was good, and we sat down to eat at the unheard time of 6 PM! We walked the 1 km back to the albergue without getting rained on, to find it virtually full, and again a lot of people we had not seen before. As we waited for the hospitalero to turn up I wrote in my diary "I feel good: nice meal, nice wine, bottom bunk, dry sleeping bag, Santiago tomorrow - life is great!!

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[Alan Pearce]

From Capilla to SdC --- It was only a 17 km doddle under clear skies to reach Santiago. We had hopes of finding a coffee in Susana, but there was no bar on the signed route so continued on until just after Capilla de Santa Lucia. There we found a sign at a 4 way intersection which pointed to the left and said that the Bar/Rte Los Cruces was only 50 metres away. We had often been deceived by Spanish estimates of distance, but this one was correct and we shared one last CCL on our walk. Some how we got lost in the suburbs of SdC and walked into the square via the way that the Frances walkers come in, but we did not feel disappointed. It was great to be there. A quick visit to the Suso where Matheo and I were sharing a twin room for 40 euro, and then a nice bottle of Alberino with lunch.We said goodbye to Wolfgang who was to spend the next month photographing in Portugal and after a nap visited a tapas bar. There we met Jean/Pierre who expressed his sense of sadness at his camino being over, but Mattheo and I both felt none of that sadness, only joy that we had the opportunity to do this wonderful thing. One last lingering cognac and off to bed, interrupted when Mattheo had to get up at 4 AM so he could catch an early flight back to Amsterdam.
I will post some details of my walk to Muxia later

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[marjude]

Hi Alan,
It's been great to read about your walk from Salamanca to Santiago, the section of the walk that I was unable to complete. It just makes me more determined to go back.
Judy.