Ourense - Cea 24 km

We were all up early because the two bags that were being transported to the albergue in Cea had to be delivered to a bar by 0730 and it was 20 minutes walk away. While we were there we had some breakfast then doubled back a little to join the right-hand route out of Ourense. The walk was very good but the first hour or so was slower going due to the unending steepness of the path, the city sits at the bottom of a valley that we had to climb out of. Thanks to Ougo I found the walking uphill ok but I was finding that my breathing was laboured and my heart rate was too high. Fortunately Anita, (medical scientist), talked me through how to breathe on the uphill and that made a huge difference - my heart rate dropped by 20 points for the rest of the hill. Eventually the path began to level out and we reached the 100 km marker.

The Galicians really don't want you to get lost on the camino and since arriving in Galicia we had noted the abundance of unmissable granite markers that also gave the distance from Santiago. Disputes about the distance aside, these way markers gave the distance to three decimal points, I didn't know if it was someone being pedantic or if the Galicians subtle way of saying they did it better than all the other autonomous regions, probably the latter.

Walking with Meg, Kathleen and Anita was a joy, there was plenty of mutual encouragement and support, some banter (as we say in Scotland) and a lot of laughter. It made the time pass very quickly and soon enough we were in Cea.

We arrived at the albergue in Cea to find it open but with no one there. It was dark and dingy and would turn out to be one of the worst albergues we stayed in, it was not very clean and it was a little bit smelly, but we were given fresh disposable sheets and pillowcases. The toilets and showers were acceptable rather than good, but at night some of the lights would not go off. I don't think any of us got a great sleep.

Anyway, Meg and I were sitting in the dark dingy reception area waiting for the hospitalero when Kathleen arrived, and suddenly it was like the sun had come out, she transformed the space just by walking into it. I realised right then that I had not spent a single moment on the camino with her that had not been a joy. She was and is a ray of sunshine, and when we went out for a walk I told her so.

When the hospitalero arrived he was very excited to discover that I was from Scotland and he went into another office and came back with some photographs that looked about 30+ years old, he was still recognisable in them at events in Edinburgh and the Wallace Monument in Stirling, and at a highland games somewhere, meeting Prince Charles. I told him that the Wallace Monument was not far from where I lived, in fact you can just about see it from my house.

Cea was another unremarkable town with little to recommend it, however we did have a fabulous dinner at a nearby restaurant/bar/grill. As we were eating who should turn up on his bike but Guillermo, it was great to see him again, as he cycled off, we all agreed that we would try and find a needle and some black thread for him....you had to be there.

The next section of the camino was another one where there were problems regarding accommodation. Since the covid pandemic many albergues had closed and some of them had not yet reopened, and some were closed permanently. That was the case in the next section. The albergue in Castro Dozón was closed leaving a 35 km trek to A Laxe. Having considered all our options, we agreed that we would get a bus to Castro Dozón (14.6 km) and then walk from there to A Laxe. A quick online search revealed that there was a bus at 0630 and the lady in the shop said the bus stop was next to a bar, but we had been given conflicting times for the bus. So, in the evening I went out for a walk to find it and also how long it would take to get there, and the lovely barmaid pointed out the bus stop to me and confirmed that it would be there at 0630. It was 10 minutes walk. Over my camino I had taken a couple of taxis and buses and whilst this was not ideal, I think in each case it was forced on us by external circumstances. Some of the issues were personal matters of health and injuries but some were the fallout from covid and would require some long-term solutions by the regional camino associations. Not everyone walking the camino can walk 35 -45 Km in a day, especially when the temperatures are reaching the highest on record. Scientists have been warning us about a climate crisis for decades. It's here.

With that organised, there was nothing to do but get to bed and try and sleep...but you already know how that went.

I got word that Mirjam had arrived safely in A Laxe, our next stop. I could not help but think about her and Anne and Julia, like little birds having flown the nest, on their own each one following their own path. Much as we all missed them terribly, everything was as it should be, for everyone must walk their own camino, and as Sting famously sang, "if you love somebody, set them free."Read more