Rodeiro to Lalin, and on to Santiago de Compostela, July 20 and 21

Our departure was a bit delayed this morning.  When we went up to our room the previous afternoon, the proprietor insisted that we'd settle our tab, and she'd stamp our pilgrim credentials, the following morning when she gave us breakfast.  We agreed on 8 am.  But when we walked over to her bar at 8, it was locked up tight.  We found another bar down the street that was open, and had something to eat there.  But we still needed to pay for the room and previous day's meal.  After looking here and there, and waiting a while, we called.  She rushed downstairs to the bar in a minute, full of apologies: she'd been to a party the night before, came home at 3 am, and forgot to set an alarm.  We settled up, had a few laughs, and went on our way a little behind schedule.  I hope she went back to bed.

Near the end of yesterday's stage we passed the 400 km mark.  Here's our commemorative shot, by Rodeiro's town hall, before setting out in the morning.  

It had been raining steadily most of the night, and continued to drizzle on and off as we walked a very pleasant stage through farm country.

This part of Galicia is granite country, and it's used for many purposes including fence posts.

Our route was very meandering and passed through a number of tiny villages.

About the only ones up and about on this Sunday morning were the dairy farmers and their cows.

Just over halfway through today's stage, we stopped for a moment to shed rain shells.  I don't know what happened, but when we started to walk again I had a terrible pain in one foot.  It didn't clear up as we walked; it grew steadily worse.  I hobbled slowly the remaining 10 km to Lalin, we ate, and then found the first hotel we could with an elevator.  My foot was swollen tight inside my shoe, and every step (even leaning on the hiking poles) was a struggle.  Even with elevation and icing there was no improvement by morning, so we took a taxi to the health center in town.  The doc examined my foot, looked at the X rays, and told me he didn't see anything broken but my camino was over.  Darn.  The weather was finally clear but not hot, and only three relatively short stages to go.

We called the hotel we'd reserved for three days hence in Santiago, they were able to accommodate us at their sister hotel just down the block, so we boarded a bus.  We could see much of the route we would have been following over the last three stages from the bus window as we made the hour ride to Santiago.

The good news is that rest, elevation, compression, and ibuprofen seem to be helping.  Now (one day after arriving in Santiago) I can walk better and with very little pain.  But the foot is still very swollen so I'm taking it pretty easy, a difficult thing in a city as beautiful and walker-friendly as this one.  This is the week leading up to the Feast Day of St James, and the city is full of all sorts of special events and entertainments, along with the usual throngs of tourists and arriving pilgrims.  It's a great place to end up, no matter how one arrives.

Diomondi to Chantada, and on to Rodeiro, July 18 and 19

Because we hadn't finished the long stage to Chantada the day before, we had only a 10 km walk this day from the lovely B&B in Diomondi.  We enjoyed a very nice and leisurely breakfast, Ian gave us a lift back to the camino, and off we went.  The first part of the day was a descent toward the Rio Mino through forests and vineyards.

Some of the time we were following the stones of an old Roman road.

At the bottom we passed through the small village of Belesar, and then climbed steeply up the other side.

Growing grapes for wine along these hillsides dates to Roman times, as do some of the terraces still in use.  In some places the hillsides are so steep that each terrace has room for only one row of grapes.

Near the top our path took us by an old mill site and across this stream.

Because we arrived early in the day, we had plenty of time to explore around Chantada.  Our hotel room included breakfast, but they don't open until 9, so they packed a "picnic" breakfast for us the night before.  As we headed out of town, we passed this small sculpture tucked into a roadside shrine.

After only a few km on roads we were off onto side lanes and paths, through forests and (mostly) farmland.

We climbed steadily until we reached these hills, where our path became much steeper as we climbed toward the top of the ridge.

As we neared the top, we had great views back over the valley through which we'd been walking.

Near the top, at Alto de Faro, there's a nice spring and picnic area where we stopped for a break.

From there our path followed along the ridge line for several km beneath this long row of windmills.

Eventually we descended the other side of the ridge and meandered our way through farmland and a few small villages to the small town of Rodeiro.  Part way along this stretch, the skies opened up with heavy rain.  A few km from our destination the path was a river of rainwater, so we followed the pavement the rest of the way.

It was after 3:30 by the time we arrived in Rodeiro.  We found one of the two lodging places in town, which had a bar downstairs.  The owner prepared a very nice meal for us and then showed us a room.

Puebla de Brollon to Monforte de Lemos, and then on to Diomondi (July 16 and 17)

It's been a few days: lots of catching up to do....

The stage from Puebla to Brollon was mostly flat and rolling, and through farmlands with the occasional small village.  Here and there a reminder of where we are, such as this old stone sculpture (on a cross near the village church) of an early pilgrim (note hard-to-see scallop shells on his cloak and hooked walking staff).

It's only 12 km to Monforte, so we were there in the morning.  Our plan was to walk another 10 or 14 km and stay at one of the casa rurales (sort of country B&Bs).  When we called ahead, though, one was full and the other closed.  At the second, because we were pilgrims the owner offered to open up for us, but we didn't feel right about that so declined.

We found a hotel, and had a few hours to explore Monforte.  There's a 17th century monastery, now a four-star Parador (fancy hotel), on top of the hill.

Our path out of town would lead over this Roman bridge.

The area near the bridge is quite lovely.  We had a great meal in the old part of town, and enjoyed walking around (despite temps in the 90s).

An old gate in the city wall.

It was pleasantly cool and there was a low fog when we left early the next morning.

After several km of road walking, our route took us onto this medieval stone walkway.

The small village of Pineiro has this beautiful fountain: a great spot for a break and to cool off.  By this point we'd been climbing steadily for a few hours.  You can (just barely) see one of our markers, a painted yellow arrow,  behind Ellen's pack.

The path continued winding through farm country, on dirt and old stone surfaces.

After a bit, the marked path became seriously overgrown with a mix of ferns, shrubs, thorny blackberries, and stinging nettles.  I wielded my hiking sticks like machetes, but eventually it was too thick to move through and we had to retreat to roads.  Now we were off the marked route, and we spent over an hour finding our way back to the camino further along.

All of this adventure hiking and route finding left us seriously behind schedule on what was a long stage.  After eight hours of steady walking with but one break, we were still 10 km (with a lot of elevation) from our destination.  Fortunately there's a very nice B&B nearby, run by and English and Dutch expat couple, that had been recommended to us.  A phone call and Ian was on his way to pick us up.  Before long we were relaxing at Casa de Santo Estevo, perched amid the renowned vineyards of the Ribeira Sacra wine region.

Next door to the B&B is a small but beautifully carved 12th century church.  They claim that the carvings were done by the same artist who later did the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.  Although many are worn, it is quite nice.  Not the Celtic symbology, common here in Galicia.

And of course scallop shells, symbol of Saint James.

Quiroga to Puebla de Brollon (July 15)

When I looked at our distance log in Quiroga, I realized we'd passed the 300 km mark the day before.  Here's our belated picture as we headed out the next morning, bleary in the early light (we're starting very early to get a jump on the very high temps).

Still some cloud cover as we ascended away from town, but it burned off (and the temps quickly climbed) by about 9:30.  We started out with a few km of level road walking, then began to climb.

After only a few km of climbing along a quiet road, the path took us off onto dirt, and we stayed off pavement most of the rest of the day.  Up and down, but not much steep and through beautiful forests.  If you look closely you'll see a bandanna draped over Ellen's head.  The gnats and their insect cousins were swarming ferociously, and the bandannas helped.  Still, we both picked up a bit of inadvertent extra protein as we walked.

There are some magnificent old chestnut groves here.  These old guys had trunks a good 2 m diameter at the base.

After a while we broke out on top of a long ridge, with tremendous views in both directions.  Lots of heather in bloom along the way.

As we came closer to our destination, the forest land transitioned to fields and farms.

By early afternoon it was hot as blazes when we dropped down to the small town of Puebla de Brollon.  A friendly man helped us find our way to the town's sole hostal (a little off our route), where the owners gave us a very friendly welcome and nice room.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to cool off.

A Rua to Quiroga (July 14)

Asun interviewing Ellen about her journal.  Two friends from A Rua, Manolo and his teen son Carlos, were planning to follow the camino to Quiroga the same day as us, so she arranged for us to walk together.

Looking back toward A Rua as we climbed out of town in the morning.  The cloud cover was very welcomed, and helped to keep the temperatures moderate until it burned off around noon.

This stage was a mix of trails and pavement, but we saw only a couple of cars all day on the very minor roads we traveled.  Although our route is still roughly following the Sil river valley, we would climb several hundred feet, then descend, then climb again.

We passed through the small village of Montefurado.  The 18th century church is huge, but now only about 20 people live here.  Most of these rural villages are practically ghost towns.

Ellen and Manolo on one of the paved stretches.  His son Carlos was far ahead.

Shortly before we arrived at the small village of Bendillo, we encountered another pilgrim (first one on this camino).  We stopped for a snack and water break here at the town's spring and lavadero.

Passing a small village along the river.  Grapes are plentiful all along this valley, and there are also a few small olive groves and many fruit trees (mostly singles, not in orchards).  We've grabbed cherries here and there, and the occasional plum, but the others are not yet ripe.

Just before we entered Quiroga we passed by this old castle, which was apparently built by the Knights Templar and housed pilgrim accommodations in the 14th century.

Form O Barco to A Rua (July 13)

Yesterday was rest day in O Barco.  We took it easy, walked around town, did some shopping for supplies (because today is Sunday when all the stores are closed, tomorrow we have a very long stage without any places to buy food).  The hot afternoon brought lots of people out on the long grassy park along the river bank.

Evening was the wine fair.  This is an up-and-coming wine region, specializing in Mencia (red) and Godello (white) varieties.  The fair was set up in a square in town, with booths all around for the different wineries.  Five euros bought us wine glasses and tickets for as many tastings as we could manage.

This couple's winery (Bodega Santa Marta) has made the first sparkling wines in the region.  Very tasty.

At the same time, a number of blocks away, the local truck drivers had their own fiesta going, with decked out trucks (they cruised through town a few times blasting their horns), a Mexican band on a stage, and dancing.

Today's stage from O Barco to A Rua was short, only about 14 km, and very mellow.  We continued following the Sil river valley.

Lots of vineyards and wineries.

Just as we entered A Rua, and were standing deciding which way to go, we ran into one of the vineyard proprietors we'd talked with the previous night.  He remembered us and said hi.  Gave us some great pointers about where to go and best places to eat in town.  We headed up a path to the private albergue, which is run by a woman named Asun who is also an official of the local Camino group.  What a delight.  We were brought into her home as houseguests.  After we dropped our packs, we walked into town for the mid-day meal.  When we returned, we washed up and then sat in the courtyard (below) for a bit to write and journal.  Asun asked to interview us for a radio show the Camino association puts on.  We ended up talking for several hours, about all kinds of things.  They are trying to grow pilgrim traffic on this camino a bit (not too much).