Mist, rain … we are in Galicia

Six years ago, while on Camino on Spain, I heard people saying “if it’s raining, you must be in Galicia”. Well, here we are… it’s raining and we are in Galicia walking with Daniel to Santiago de Compostela.

Bill and I left Saint Jean Pied-de-Port three days ago. It took two days of travel, cross the border into Spain and then travel across northern Spain to Ourense, one rest day in Ourense and then we started to walk, today. It was raining when we arrived(11pm), it rained all day yesterday, and today as soon as we set foot on the pavement… it started to rain! Luckily it did not last long.

We headed out of the wet, sleepy city and crossed the old Roman Bridge and immediately started climbing, again! This time though we are in Spain and we are hopeful of open cafes with coffee and food! 3kms from the city centre we found a lovely bar serving croissants, chocolate croissants, tortilla and coffee. We were set, fully caffenaited and hunger sated, we continued the climb, steep in parts but manageable. We passed small towns with little churches, closed of course, gardens, vegetable plots, fruit trees, grape vines and then open road and patches of forests. It was the green, wet Galicia that we remembered.

The few pilgrims we met were quite focused on their finish line. Some have been walking from Seville, some 1000 kilometres away. Others, the cyclists, went by in a blur merrily wishing us a Buen Camino.

The day had its challenges and we managed to meet them. Please arrived at our lodgings early afternoon. We met a trio from Porto and later a couple from Sydney. We shared some stories,and some wine ready to do it all again tomorrow.