The one with the “gates”, sore feet, and wonderful Spanish hospitality.
📍 Location: Betanzos to Hospital de Bruma
🥾 Miles: 16 miles
⛑️ Health: Overall, we are all doing well. A few sore feet and generally we are all a bit tired, but all good.
🌦️ Weather: Much better! It was still hot, but overcast, which made the walk much more manageable.
HIGHLIGHTS:
🍳 7:30 am – Today’s breakfast was not quite up to the standard of the last few days, but it wasn’t bad. Toast, yoghurt, a mix of pastries, and fruit. The pilgrims were taking the little cakes for lunch, and the Spanish Muffin controller told them off! Guiltily, they returned said muffins! 😂
⛑️ 7:45 am – Julia’s health clinic was open. Blister popping, feet massaging, and taping up shins were all part of the service today.
🥾 8:00 am – And we are off! We wandered through the town and soon met up with the wonderful yellow arrows. We started the day at mile marker 68 and will be finishing around 40. It’s great to see these milestones decreasing as we walk. I take a left turn and we are faced with a steep incline… of course, we are. Every day starts with an uphill as we leave a town. It’s a great way to get the heart going.
🔔 9:50 am – We stop to ring a bell on a church. One of the locals was not happy with all the bell ringing and it caused “bell-gate”. 😂 They should put a sign up saying “please don’t ring the bell”.
🍰 10:30am – Muffingate! The next stop was our first cafe, where we had cafe con leche and chocolate bars, and they gave us little cakes (ironically, the same little cakes that we got told off for taking at the hotel earlier). One pilgrim didn’t have coffee, so they went without a muffin. Another pilgrim didn’t want to see her go without, so she produced another muffin from her pack. There was a “you can have this… no keep it… no please take it… no keep it, it’s yours…” type of argument. With said muffin being passed back and forth. 😂
🐶 10:53 am – A little dog appeared to be locked out of its home, barking and looking rather stressed. Kelly to the rescue, knocked on the door to notify the owners. We called this incident… dog-gate!
🍺 11:56 am – Is it too early for a beer? Hell no! Especially the lemon beer in freezing-cold glasses. We are walking with three men (Uni friends) with whom we now have quite good banter. They are trying the Expresso Liquor after tucking into a warm bocadilla. Jo then appears with a bocadilla and announces, “I’m going to save mine for lunchtime.” What a great idea, as none of us are hungry right now. We go inside and order a further six of the gigantic sandwiches full of cheese, ham, and tomato. The bread is made here and it is the best bread I’ve ever tasted. It was still warm and wrapped in foil. I’m going to enjoy this a bit later.
🐐 12:25 pm – As we trundle up yet another hill, we spot an old man taking goats for a walk. Yep, they were attached to a lead and enjoying their little stroll with their owner. He stopped to let us take a photo. How cute.
🥪 1:10 pm – We find a gorgeous picnic area, right by the river, and enjoy our freshly made bocadilla in the sunshine. It was perfect. I re-dress a pilgrim’s foot and then we are off again.
👼 2:00 pm – I walk with Cheryl for a good section this afternoon and we had a very insightful conversation which also got quite emotional. The Camino does provide each time you walk if you are open to it.
👩 3:17 pm – Our last cafe stop was just the best! This was the same cafe where Rebecca and I were given second-hand coats to keep us warm and told to put our feet up. The little lady has such an amazing smile and just loves to help pilgrims. She saw that Caroline had problems with her feet and brought out an ice pack for her. She then gave everyone stools to rest their tired legs and finally, she did the rounds with a plate of small bread, ham, and cheese followed by biscuits. I call this the “Mum Cafe” as she was just such a lovely lady who cared about the pilgrims.
🦶 4:30 pm – We made it! Waiting for us at the hostel was Sam, who had been there for a few hours. Everyone was straight into the stream to soak their feet and even sit down in the cold water (loonies!).
I made a call, and the lady from the hotel was on her way in the shuttle bus. She took five of us, and three were adamant that they wanted to walk. It was only a mile or so, so that’s what they did.
🏨 The hotel is clean, and the room is small but perfectly formed. We settle in well and then head down for dinner at 7:30 pm. They have a weird system where you place the order for the table on your phone, and then within minutes, our food is delivered. €18.50 for three courses (and lots of choice) and that included half a bottle of wine per person or soft drinks. We ended the evening with a round of “Roses and Thorns,” which is always great to hear everyone’s take on the day.
🛌 9:00 pm – I’m beat! Time for bed. Night night. See you tomorrow.