Camino Frances Day 47: Palas de Rei - Os Penedos

Another 36 km day walking through the mists, forests and farming villages of Galicia.

Horreos for drying corn

We always come up to churches from the back.
I never noticed it before, but all Christian churches face west! 

Walked through the town of Melide, where the Camino Primitivo joins the Camino Frances.

After Melide the trail passed through a eucalyptus wood, crossed a stream and continued through the forest. Here I sat down for five minutes just past the 50 km mark and Barbara came along, walking with a Spanish boy; I set off again chatting with them, and then Jesper and Alysson caught up, the Danish/Canadian pair I have been running into since Ventosa, way back before the Mesetas. They were speeding along at their usual rapid pace, and so I huffed and puffed to keep up with them for the final ten kilometres into Arzúa, where I stopped for lunch to recover!

Palas de Rei, Melide and Arzúa are all largely modern cities, and Spanish twentieth-century cities are just as graceless as Italian twentieth-century cities, if not more. So I haven't been taking many pictures in the cities lately! But the forests of Galicia are truly enchanting, as are the tiny farming villages with their stone huts, slate roofs and horreos. 

Ventured just under one kilometre off the trail to stay in a quiet spot tonight, away from the last-100 km hordes: Albergue/Pension Camiño das Ocas in Os Penedos, five kilometres past the classic end-of-stage town of Arzúa, where I spent the evening darning my socks and polishing my boots in preparation for the big day tomorrow!

Only 34 km to go! I hope to manage it all in one day.

Ultreya!