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Camino wrap up

October 2023
  • Uncle Woully
A short but fine adventure by Uncle Woully Read more
  • Uncle Woully

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  • Portugal Portugal
  • Spain Spain
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Backpacking, Bicycle, Friendship, Self discovery, Spirituality
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  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up

    Lugo nightlife

    October 1, 2023 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Keeping up the start of a new trip with a solid nightlife scene, this time in Lugo a large city in Galicia. The warm weather and the upcoming festival helps bring out people into the streets. Next week will be the start of the Frõlian festival and this place will be insanely busy. Already the lights are hanging in the streets and it promises to be a major affair stretching two weeks. I might have to come back to Lugo for it some time.

    Once again there's not much of a live music scene, there's one rock band in the bar but it isn't even drawing a crowd. Mostly the Spaniards like to sit eat or stand and eat and drink of course. Starting time is typically around 10:00 p.m. and I bet they go well past my bedtime something like two or three in the morning. I think they are a little bit wilder in Portugal though.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up
    1Monkey bars, I slipped right on through because I had to.

    Lazy in Lugo

    Oct 1–2, 2023 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    It was not a whole lot of sleep last night. Sally, as I later found out her name, was on the top bunk and she was pretty restless. In the morning I say hello and I find out she's from Boulder Colorado, sort of in my backyard, worldly speaking that is.

    We got a great Camino conversation going right away. She is dealing with some ADHD issues that she has mostly conquered and she has made positive changes in her life. Still she is here on the Camino Primitivo on a 3 week vacation from her structural engineering job. Her knee hurts so we have time to chat until I go for my mtb ride. We get really deep and connected. Another good soul who showed me an aspect of myself that I never knew how to deal with and that she had done a lot of work on. Had a good laugh when I showed her the move I had to make when I got locked out yesterday with the wrong entry code. I slipped through the 4 inch wide bars sideways. They give just enough for it to work. She took the bus to Arzua and is renting a bike there to get to Santiago and save her knee. So now I am not the only switcheroo.

    Komoot proposed an expert mtb ride that turns out to be a couple of backcountry paved roads with a little bit of gravel track and a path that is fully grown over. But it gets hot fast today so I roll on back and grab some food from the highway store. That's all that's open and I roll into town for a good surprise of some live music at a bar so I lay down in the grass in the shade.

    Back at the albergue, I'm pooped so take a little nap, take a shower and then come out into the big square where there's more live music going on. This time it is a classic Galician group and the people in the street start dancing to the Celtic inspired music, that was quite a nice locals scene.

    I am still too stuffed from lunch to eat anything, even a salad, but I might have to make an effort. Some yogurt and a peach, perfect. And a chat with Sally about traveling in Bolivia. Nice.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up

    Lugo to O Obrigadoiro

    October 2, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    An early start out of Lugo over to ancient Roman bridge other pilgrims are walking the primitivo and it feels like being on the Camino again is great after a day off. It stays dark for well over an hour and it adds to the ambiance.

    I'm able to stay on the primitivo for a good hour and that really helps out the navigating. After I get off I get lost into tiny little farm roads that led to incredible looking farms as the sun was rising it really was very cool way to see landscapes that you would never see in any other manner.

    I reached lagonda and was able to get on the terrace and start consuming cafes and one croissant. It was a productive time with The Inner Work. Eric and Mike show up and the fun begins. The whole terrace lights up with Eric recognizing the Israeli group and others. And after a few conversations and beers we set off. It's great to meet Mike.

    There is mix and match on the trail and a weird guy who hasn't slept in two days. Left arm extended he walks, runs, slows down and makes a bit of a scene. I'm not sure what is up with him.

    We reach Palas del Rei and settle into a fantastic restaurant for an incredible meal. Best one on the Camino. Another few km and e reach one of the jewels of albergues on the Camino. Fantastic everything. Eric is in heaven.

    A great new Camino day as I am in my wrap up stage and reconnecting with the Eric's energy on the Frances.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up
    Step road in farmer talk

    O Obrigatoiro to Casa

    October 3, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    At breakfast Eric unpacked a hapless Dave, retired postal worker. Dave had a tough first day over hydrating on electrolytes. But I saw him walk later and he had a fast pace going. So he recovered rather well.

    What is a US mailbox doing on the Camino in Spain? Did Dave see it? Good picture of Eric and Mike.
    I started rolling on the Camino but it wasn't right to be there with the walkers. I buzzed over to Melide and ensconced myself in a cafe with a 6 pack of yogurts and some fruit. Time to stop eating all those croissants, but I did have the coffees.

    I finished my inner work digitization and I'm going to be a pound lighter, and maybe a pound smarter.

    In the afternoon I played "let's see where I end up" by randomly turning into small county lanes to see where they would lead me. I kept a general direction going and hoped I wasn't going to get caught in some labyrinth with one exit back out the way I came in and have it be for miles and miles. All in all it was fairly successful and yielded a great cycling day with lots of climbing.

    Carla made it into Santiago today, with energy to spare for a good jump.

    I'm looking at returning the bike tomorrow, it's time, look at that rear tire, I burned rubber like a nascar driver.

    I'm cleaned up and am looking forward to hear the stories of Eric and Mike who is now on his 3rd day. They'll be on Eric's penguin.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up

    Casa Lucas to A Coruña

    October 4, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    At breakfast we met Jane from Philadelphia who had lost her husband to cancer. It's a very sad story for this 59-year-old who just retired from a high school counselor position. She looks remarkably young for her age and she has two daughters and a son to help her in this grief. It is yet another reminder to carpe diem.

    I head slightly north west and cross the Camino right at an excellent cafe where I get a croissant and a coffee. Oh why not? I'm about to get going and Eric and Mike walk past and they are heavily engaged in conversations, excellent.

    I dashed in a northerly direction towards A Coruña. The weather is amazing, just a perfect Indian summer day. It just doesn't get any better. Betty from Google signals lefts and rights to me as I dutifully zig and zag through farmlands so bucolic that I don't seem to be in this century. It's euphoric. What a great tour guide, how does she know all these places? Some are just a little single track connecting gravel roads.

    The road is corded off, no passage, then I see that the farm lady is transferring cows from the stalls to the field, another great locals moment.

    Then I see peregrinos, what Camino are they on? The Ingles. I got to share some stories with a group of Italians. Now I've been on portions of 5 caminos.

    I have to push it a bit towards the end as it is warming up, but the legs are there, 26 non stop days of biking on a 45 pound bike with a 10 pound pack. I smell the salt air from the Atlantic. Check in, quick shower, and off to the rocky outcropping with a few supplies to go watch the sunset which is hours away. Sweet luxury of time!

    While in the super I am looking for open outlets wondering if I can plug in for a bit to charge the phone. I see a double outlet, get ready to plug in and wonder what the other item actually is that is already plugged in. What!? It is a charging station for phones, complete with a locking door and key! That's a first. Brilliant.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up

    A Coruña to Santiago

    October 5, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    A Coruña was overcast this morning, I took my last chance to get a ride in along the coast. Only an hour but I did get all salty. Quick shower, a glass of coffee, a ride along the historic places in town and on the way to Decathlon, curious if they will indeed buy the bike back, given the wear and tear I put on it. I did pass a car wash and I think it really helped that I washed off 27 days of cow poop. They gave me 90 euros in store credit and I got a good rain coat, a fleece, vitamins and one high performance underwear. All very useful for the Azores adventure that is coming up. It's going to be a rainy one.

    Took the fast train to Santiago. As I'm walking up the street leading away from the station, who would I see? Eric and Mike of course! Perfect timing, the Camino is still working.

    It went from hanging out mellow on the luxuriant back deck, to a beer, wine, champagne snacks run and consequent imbibements to an incredible dinner in modern likely the best restaurant in Santiago. It's a great time being with Eric and his neighbor of many decades Mike. It's all so smooth and the conversation is always interesting with Eric leading the charge. I walk back to my albergue in a slight mist adding to more ambiance.    Read more

  • Uncle WoullyTravelerCamino wrap up

    Santiago - last Camino day

    October 7, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I woke up to a lot of snoring again, par for the course, only a few hours of sleep after what is easily the most drinking I have done in decades. The mist is still out and I walk down to the cathedral where I meet Eric and Mike for the 7:30 service. I have not been at a church service for a very long time but I remember being a little 8-year-old having to recite a text from the pulpit in the Netherlands. I lit a candle in that memory.

    Eric, Mike and I have a little breakfast and they get going on their planning for the coastal route. We say our goodbyes and I go to pick up my things at the albergue. There I meet fellow Pilgrim Kian, who I walked with all the way in the beginning and saw again in Burgos when I was on the bike. he speaks Dutch and is an immigrant from Turkey. We get going on catching up with each other. It's great to see him and the Camino is still doing its magic.

    I grab a small snack at the market and go sit in the park behind the church, Zuzanna's spot. She is already back in England and I also hear from Sebastian who is already back in Sweden. It's nice to stay in touch.

    Carla and Hayleen come into town and I walk 30 minutes to the place where they are having lunch. It's really hot outside I can barely move and that hangover is also still kind of there. I need to get two credentials for friends back home so they can do their caminos. So I end up in the Dutch hospitality room and I have a great time talking to the Dutch volunteers.

    I get to the bus just in time and I get to sit next to a young Spanish woman from A Coruña we talk for a bit, she's laughs a lot. The bus is hot, no air ventilation at all, I nap a bit.

    In Porto I transfer via subway and multiple stops to the airport where I set up for the night, The plane leaves at 5:00 and I need to board at 4:00 there is no point to go to a hotel since it's already 11:00.

    The Camino is all wrapped up now but the spirit continues on.    Read more

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