Portomarin - Casanova, 31 kms

Albariño!

We continue to have some pretty good sunsets this week. Not sure why we are so lucky? Perhaps it's designed to entertain us as we pass through the pandemic, sort of a beacon of hope.

what ever is happening, I am enjoying the sunsets.

We started our early walk by meeting two young boys on bikes asking us if we've seen the bear. We looked at each other. What bear? By the time we completed our walk the signs had been posted. We have had lots of cougars in our area over the years, but this is the first bear in this part of the city that I can recall. This spring there have been 4-5 bear sightings all over the city. Clearly a sign that the bears are feeling comfortable wandering around with fewer people out and about. The problem is that these bears are now sort of trapped as traffic has increased with our systematic reopening. Our Conservation Officers are on the prowl looking for them, and they will then tranquillize them and return to a more suitable habitat. There's lots to choose from as Vancouver Island has one of the largest black bear populations in the world.

We continued on with our walk and found our way down to the ocean. It was nice to walk in this direction as it had been a week since we ventured in this direction. We also found a new route for much of the walk which is always a treat.

The Canada Geese were as usual congregating to discuss all the news. As we walked along there were flotillas of geese with their young charges strung out behind them, but too far away to photograph meaningfully.

An unusually calm morning. We have had loads of wind this spring, probably 30% more than is usual.

The reefs were exposed with the slack tide.

The sun was doing interesting things today as the clouds spun past. I wonder if that bear was watching?


This last section into Santiago de Compostela is fairly hilly as is most of Galicia. There's a general sloping towards the Atlantic to the west, but the route today is very hilly with a decent 300m climb before the descent.

I took these two photos as I walked out of Portomarin in 2018. This one is the iconic staircase at the end of the bridge from the side.

A final glance and off we go for a fairly long stage. In 2013 we'd made a reservation at a casa rurale which is often a farm or rural property in Spain. So we knew that dinner would be ready and things would be relatively simple at the end of the day.



Finally the true sunrise.

Lots more pilgrims in 2018 walking the last 100 kms. Funny how the backpacks seem to be bigger with this group? Or they are very small as is the case with the woman carrying the small lime green pack who would have sent her bag ahead by transport. There is a lot of this process in the final 100.

I took a photo of this house with the traditional granary beside it in 2013 and I was surprised to see that I took another photo of the same house in...

2018. Things always look better in the sun, but the property does seem to be a bit in need of a spruce up 5 years later.

This was fairly typical morning weather along this stretch of road. In 2018.

And of course in 2013.

The climbs are sometimes a bit subtle depending on how many kilometres it's spread over, but a look our to the right shows how much climbing has actually occurred.



Still lots of weekend hunting underway.



We are getting very close to our destination after all these weeks!

In 2018 the farms were preparing pork. A bit of a gruesome process, but having enjoyed the jamon a few times...

Funny what catches my eye. In 2016 I took two photos as I walked down this country road.

In 2018 I took the same two photos, both almost identical!

We stopped for an energy snack in a small bar. Must have been a good place as they have Galician beer on tap!

Pulpo y patatas! This must have been in Palas del Rei in 2013 as we walked on from here another 6 kms.

Ken stopped here that night and his recollections from the day;

Palais de Rey:

It didn’t rain much today--it stopped early on when I put my coat on, and it rained a bit as I came into Palais de Rey. Not a bad day at all. Cool enough this morning to wear my sweater. Very nice all around.

Grateful that my shoulder is doing better. Grateful for the fun conversation with the Danish father and son.

This place is new and clean(ish) which is good--but with it had drying racks. Wonder if it’s heated and, if so, if the sweaty clothes and wet towel will dry overnight. 

Three days left. How is that possible?

Grateful I ran out of water in a village with a bar--bought some mineral water which was nice.

So many different stories about the Camino. Everyone has such unique experiences. The Danish guys and the story about the singing. Geoff and Annemarie and the national entertainment. For me, the dinner at the parish albergue [where] Julia cooked, the dinner we made at the place with the nuns—those would be my peak experiences.

I too stayed here in 2018 in a tiny little room at the back of a bar that was clean and ok for one night. I went across the street to eat octopus for a late lunch and I shared the back of the small restaurant with a loud group of locals while I wrote my blog post. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of may favourite Galician wine.

My second glass of Albariño has just arrived. Hey, it’s now 15:15 and I passed on dessert. Besides at $2 a glass it’s a steal here and I’ll soon be back at home in the land of the $12 glass of wine. 

That night I met up with Lou at the same bar for beers and raciones. It was a nice way to spend the evening;

Last night I stayed in back of a bar where there were two rooms. As I wrote yesterday, to keep out of the room I spent the afternoon in a pulpo bar eating, writing this blog and searching for a way home. After all those thing were done I was invited to sit up at the bar with the Spanish fellow, Lou from Valencia who I’d taken a photo of with the rainbow above him a few days ago. He was so pleased when I sent him the photo that he invited me to share a plate of pulpo and a couple of beers as well. While we were sitting there trying to talk in two different languages about the various walks we’d both enjoyed he also helped me to book a train ticket for Madrid online as they are cheaper than at the station.

In 2013 we continued onwards to the casa rural.









We arrived. 60-65 kms left.

We were served a really good meal at the casa rurale that night. Annemarie has just confirmed this! With it we had our very first bottle of Albariño! We've been sampling it ever since having now found it in southern California as well.

Neil contributed a wildlife photo this week of roos just chilling! This to a great memory from our visit with Neil and Sarah in early 2015.


Buen Camino!