Day 3 – CAMINO INGLÉS
The one with ponchos, pointless bridges, and stamp wars
📍 Location: Miño to Betanzos
🥾 Miles: 7 miles
⛑️ Health: No complaints. A few sore muscles and some tired legs, but spirits remain high.
🌦️ Weather: Started rainy and grey, ended up cloudy and warm – ideal hiking weather.
HIGHLIGHTS
🍳 8:00 am – A simple self-serve breakfast of toast, yoghurt, croissants, and coffee. Nothing fancy, but it did the job.
☔️ 8:45 am – Ponchos on. Hoods up. Off into the rain we march, looking like a gang of brightly coloured tortoises.
🐢 9:00 am – First stop: a bridge to nowhere. Juan had us all in stitches with his commentary: “Did the council just have leftover funds and say… I know! Let’s build a viewing platform over an unattractive train track. And better still – let’s give it a glass bottom so people can admire the weeds below!” He wasn’t wrong. A totally pointless construction, but it sparked great banter.
🥾 10:01 am – The world shifts into walking mode. The rain sharpens the scent of the earth, and the smell of freshly baked bread drifts from a nearby panadería. Cockerels announce the morning, the clink of walking poles keeps time, and the silence between us feels sacred. Abandoned farmhouses lean into the hedgerows, ivy creeping over cracked stone. For a while, conversation fades, and we each sink into our own rhythm, our own little Camino bubble.
☕️ 10:26 am – Salvation appears at 4.5 miles: a brand-new café with wonderful coffee and warm smiles. Here we meet Stefano, a new pilgrim, and it’s clear now that familiar faces are emerging on the trail. Joanna and Patrick, a young German couple glowing with new love, wave as they pass. While we chat, I notice Gaby sneaking something into my rucksack. “What are you doing, Gaby?” I ask suspiciously. “Nothing,” she replies, eyes guilty. I peek inside to find a Camino bracelet – a thoughtful surprise. Straight onto my wrist it goes. Thanks, Gaby – I love it.
🥰 11:06 am – A special moment. We arrive at a small replication of Cruz de Ferro – a symbolic iron cross where pilgrims leave stones representing burdens, prayers, or memories. (On the main Camino Francés, the famous Cruz de Ferro near Foncebadón stands on a tall wooden pole, its base piled high with millions of stones left by pilgrims across centuries). Here, though smaller, the sentiment is just as powerful. Lucy, Lou, and Jane have already placed theirs. I leave a stone for my ex-mother-in-law, Trina, who passed last year. RIP Trina.
🎵 Earplugs in. Max MacNown is playing. I belt out the lyrics under my breath as the rain finally clears—energy returns.
⛪️ We regroup at a little church that feels… different. Sombre, heavy somehow. A woman arrives, unlocks the door, steps inside – and promptly locks it again behind her. No visitors today!
Ahead, Betanzos appears in the distance. The descent is steep, knees protesting, but we take it slow.
12:10 pm – Across the river and into Betanzos we go – job done!
🏨 1:30 pm – By 1:30 pm, we’re checked into the hotel. I book an Italian restaurant for later, answer a few emails, then give in to the inevitable. Duvet. Darkness. Two glorious hours of sleep. While I nap, the rest of the gang go stamp hunting, ride a merry-go-round, drink wine, and play some kind of rather violent crisp-throwing game that ends with Lucy wearing salt and vinegar in her hair.
😝 7:20 pm – Stamp wars are now serious business. One lady has officially been crowned Stamp Queen. She gleefully tells us how she bought her husband an ice cream in one café (stamp achieved), then nipped next door for another ice cream for herself (another stamp achieved). Day three and some of them already have 20+ stamps! The obsession is real. Lol
🇮🇹 8:30 pm – Dinner at Picallo, a cosy Italian-Spanish restaurant I’ve visited before. Service: impeccable. Food: excellent. Wine: on point (thanks to our waiter, Bruno, who clearly knows his grapes). The chatter is lively, the mood buoyant – exactly how a Camino evening should be.
💤 11:00 pm – Back at the hotel. Feet up. Lights out. Another day done. Tomorrow is a long one, so for now – Buenas noches.
Watch our highlights from today!
Watch our highlights from today!
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