Portomarín to Palas de Rei

Thursday, May 19, 2016

A Walk in the country from Portomarín to Palas de Rei    Walking Day #28

Today was another very good day for walking: cool but not cold, cloudy with no oppressive sun and no rain, just a pleasant day. And for the most part, the Camino path was in the farm country, not far from roads, but seldom on the road or by the road, so there was little noise that the road can bring.

Leaving Portomarín, the old city is quiet and peaceful.

One of the bright Camino way marks in the sidewalk in part of Portomarín. Typically, when Camino way markers are in or on the sidewalk, they are more subtle. This series was quite bright. Not easy to get lost here.

The first part of the walk today was up a long, fairly steep hill mostly in this light forest. This shade would be very helpful on a sunny summer day.

Then for a stretch, we were close to the road, but it is not a busy road, so this was not bad. The path here was good and little mud to deal with.

One of the things I considered and did not really know about is the effect of this much walking, some difficult, day after day after day. Many of us can go out and walk 15-20 miles. But when doing it every day, for 6 to 7 hours or even more on the more difficult days, and then the next day, too, there is a the possibility of a gradual, or even sudden deterioration of something. For some people it is their feet,  where they start getting blisters, or tendonitis, or shinsplints, or other problems. 

I feel very fortunate. I have had only two small, and easily managed blisters on toes in my right foot. My knees were hurting badly the first and second days, and gradually, by using my hiking poles more effectively, my knees are much better, with no pain at all each day, even on the downhills where the stress on the knees is most evident. [Using the hiking poles effectively does make use of upper-body muscles, and I have had days when that part of me was more tired than my feet and legs.]

I most notice the fatigue after walking for the day, getting a shower, changing into clean clothes, and resting. It is hard to get going again, many joints are just tired. But often, after a rest, I want to explore the town a bit, so I get up and get moving, and after a little warm-up, I generally feel pretty good.

After dinner, by 8:30 PM, I am quite tired. This is when I update my blog if I have the energy, and I try to even when I do not have much energy.

For every picture I post on the blog, I probably took 5 or 6. I have a process of selection each evening where I select the pictures to post, crop them, resize them smaller, upload them, and write the text. Some days the text is not particularly creative, but that is the fatigue. I do sleep very well here, even being in a different bed each night. So back to our regularly scheduled program, the Camino on walking day #28...a very good day for walking on the Camino de Santiago.

Sometimes the path was in a forested area, dark and cool. (With the darkness and coolness of the shade, the mud stays around longer, so there was plenty of mud to negotiate today.)

And sometimes the path took us by fields of might have been farm crops, but looked more like wildflowers.

There are many more people on the Camino since we passed Sarria (a common starting point for people who only have time to walk the last 100 kilometers, still qualifying for a Compostela, the certificate of completion). 

I walked a good part of the day with Karen and John from Indiana (the part of Indiana near Louisville, Kentucky). We walked together and separately, talked sometimes, and walked silently sometimes. We stopped at churches, but most were closed in the very small farm communities.

This is a very old Camino way marker. Too bad for the graffiti, but the elegance of the tablet in the stone is still clear.

At times, the path took us by fields that had recently been mowed. It is unclear what the crop was, and it just might be hay for the cattle. There are many cattle in this area of Galicia.

It is hard to read, but this Camino way marker indicates 69.403 kilometers to Santiago. This is the first under 70. We are all getting closer to Santiago. For me, it will be three days more of walking:

• Tomorrow May 20, 28 kilometers to Arzúa
• Friday May 21, 23 kilometers to Amenal
• Saturday May 22, a short 14 kilometers to Santiago de Compostela,
  so hopefully I will arrive before the pilgrim's mass at 11:00 AM.

Then I'll walk four more days to Finisterre (the end of the earth):

•  Sunday May 23, 22 kilometers to Negreira
• Monday May 24, 25 kilometers to Albeiros
• Tuesday, May 25, 25 kilometers to Cee
• Wednesday, May 26, 14 kilometers to Finisterre

then on May 27th I take a bus to Santiago de Compostela, stay overnight in the same hotel as the 22nd, and on May 28th I'll fly to Madrid, then connect to a flight to Paris, and on May 30 be on a flight from Paris, France to Los Angeles, California and back in the USA.

And here is my hotel, just before reaching the small town of Palas de Rei.

 Next: A longer walk to Arzúa possibly in the rain.