Mallecín

I may be biased, but I have found pilgrims to be a delightful bunch, on the whole. There are two major age groups- under 30 (no kids, free and easy) and over 60 (I've met two people celebrating retirement and one celebrating the last child leaving the house). I was hoping that I would get senior privilege and respect but I am one of the younger of the older people so I don't get anything I don't deserve. I have met pilgrims from all over the world. The Germans certainly are the majority but I have encountered people from France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovenia. I have only met one Asian pilgrim, from South Korea. There are not very many Americans on this Camino, which is good. Not that I have anything against Americans; some of my best friends are Americans. But I didn't come over to Spain to hang out with people from the US. Some are doing long distances. A woman I met from France did 500 km in France alone, and will do another 1000 km in Spain. Others are doing shorter distances. There is no competition about how many kilometers you've walked; people respect that everybody's Camino is different. I met one older man who has a bad back and he was pulling his possessions behind him in a little trolley (see below). That day was so wet and muddy that I think he eventually had to take to the road.

I am coming to the end of my time as a solo traveler. I will finish this part of the Primitivo today, and tomorrow get transportation to Lugo to meet my team (sister Janet, niece Seikah, friend Chris). The walking has been beautiful these last few days. I've left the coast and the walking is definitely much hillier but the scenery is very interesting. It's been in the 80s the last couple days so when you're walking on the road under the blazing sun it gets very hot, but in the shade it's quite pleasant.Read more