journeywithmadonna

….as he relaxes on our little deck admiring our view in Finisterre.

……was the plan and we were thrilled to wake up in the morning to sunshine!    The forecast was rain by noon so we gathered for breakfast and then took off to walk as much as we could before it rained.  We were fortunate in that this area of the trail is known to be more relaxed and is an area of rolling hills with no real flat sections and we met very few pilgrims given the time of year that it was.  We walked through the villages of Boente, pop. 147; then Castenada, pop.154; and finally Ribadiso with its pop. of 10……..well a population of 13 as we travelled through…….that’s where the picture above was taken.   The next 3kms were straight uphill as we headed towards  Arzua which has a thriving population of 4,729.    We were so thankful that the rain had held off for five hours and off we were again to pick up the car to continue on our journey and as we headed off guess what, it started to rain again.   But never mind we had a great day, a great walk, met a few very interesting people along the way and were headed towards an unknown destination……..fill you in on that tomorrow!   Hope the snow is melting in NS and that by the time we come back we won’t have to use the snowblower to get into the house.

…..we jumped out of the car for a photo-opportunity in case the rain started again!   We kept seeing these el camino signs as we drove by and thought one of these hours we’re gonna walk a piece of that trail.   Before we left Nova Scotia we had considered doing 4 or 5 days of walking on the camino but we did not want to make our trip all about that so remaining flexible was important and Marilyn was on board…….good thing flexibility was built in because as mentioned Mother Nature was in charge!  For those of you who don’t know the history of the camino it’s worth mentioning that it is 800km long and separates the Pyrenees from Galicia and is all about the legend of St. James.  The history of the pilgrimages to Santiago began some two millennia ago when St. James, the apostle, was beheaded in the Holy Land.  It was not until the year 830 that a Galician hermit found the tomb and the first to make the journey to pay his respect was King Alfonso II the Chaste.   Since then hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have made the journey, via various routes, and now you have to go to ‘google’ before I put you to sleep with my boring description of what it’s all about.

We thought we would do a small piece, maybe 60kms, and thought we would use the route called the ‘original’ or ‘primitive’ way! Once we were in San Sebastián, however, our plans changed because Carol,  our air bnb host who turned out to be a ‘camino’ guide, suggested that because of inclement weather we would be better doing the piece on the French route.   Boy, was she right?   The rain set in, as mentioned earlier, and every day we would make a plan for the day, which would change by noon and then by evening…….and that continued for a few days.     We had almost given up when we arrived at Palas del Rei where our  friend Dawn had stayed a couple of years ago when she spent a couple of weeks on the camino.   I was referring to her friend’s blog about their journey and noticed they that had stayed in a  neat Pensionne there and thought it would be worth checking out as the weather looked like it was about to change.  Lone behold we found the pensionne and while I was knocking on the door the sky opened and the rain poured and Jim said “let’s go on” and my knock remained unanswered so off we go.  But we didn’t travel too far before the rain let up and we thought let’s stay here and settle in for the night and make another plan…..and so we did!    The weather, however, improved and so after checking into our hotel we decided to go for a walk and see if we could find the camino and it didn’t take us long before we  took this picture.  Our thinking was that if this is all we get then we want the picture to prove we were here.   We walked on for about five kms and the rain started again and we returned to the comfort of our hotel which was under construction but turned out to be one of our most favorite accommodation in Spain thus far.

After short naps and showers we went downstairs to the restaurant for dinner and because the restaurant didn’t open for about 45 mins we had wine in the bar.   It was there we met Jack,  a Scotsman, who joined us for the evening and shared his hiking tales for the last week.  He was a few years older than us, a youngster really, with great energy and he loved to chat much like Jim but a little different than Marilyn and I if you get my drift.   Actually it turned out that he and Jim had a lot in common.  Whenever Jim meets a Scotsman it usually ends up with him talking about his experiences in Scotland 40 years ago when he spent a few months planting trees.  Jack, although a Scotsman, did the same thing 40  years ago so they talked about where they planted, how many, etc.  Then the conversation turned to walking trails, time spent in Africa, travelling and the like……and Jack is quite the walker of trails!    We also began to talk about our travels to Portugal and a place we have stayed three times now and are planning to go back to, Carvoeiro, and Jack looked surprised as that’s where he was headed after the camino to meet up with his wife as they have a ‘winter’ home there…….another coincidence!   And as the evening continued over good wine and excellent food we learned Jack had recently retired from the contracting business and had three daughters and six grandchildren…….that’s where the similarities ended, ie. the grandchildren, but the evening was great!  We headed our separate ways for a good nights sleep and were hopeful that the rain might hold off for another day.   However as I slept I was awakened by the pitter patter of rain on the window……or was that just another  nightmare?

…….for the night in Ribadeo! This wonderful little place offered us an hour of rain-free weather where we were able to scout out a restaurant within walking distance and, lone behold, some great food!

TO be done driving for the day, even if we’re back seat drivers.   The rain continues, and continues, and……..

….is a tiny fishing village that Marilyn said reminded her of Fox Harbour! It’s been so long I can hardly remember, but this place is beautiful!