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Published: June 11th 2018
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Today's the day we start the walk, our pilgrimage even, along the Camino Way to Santiago de Compostela. Down for breakfast at eight, bags ready in reception for the transport company and a target of getting away by nine. Breakfast was very good (albeit continental) and although it was 'drama-free', we did get the opportunity to experience Tim's mastery of foreign language - no Sue, it wasn't the 'International Sign' for asking for the bill, ha ha! The waitress had simply asked Tim a question, to which he had responded 'coffee please'; a perfectly reasonable response, if the question had been 'tea or coffe sir'. Unfortunately, the poor girl had actually asked for his room number!! The Brits strike again!
The first leg of the Camino is about 17 km and follows the coastal edge from Ferrol to the town of Neda; it is pretty flat and should be a fairly comfortable intro to the walk. Having said this, as we passed the bus station and saw the Neda bus pull out, the temptation to jump on board really was, pretty strong! However, you will be pleased to know that your intrepid band manfully and womanfully (is that a word??)
resisted the temptation and walked on by (as the wonderful Dionne Warwick might have said!).
But avoiding the 'bus temptation' wasn't the only 'Peril in Ferrol'............finding the correct route out of town was equally challenging! The route actually looked pretty straightforward, but we needed to take a slight detour to go to a recommended sandwich shop to get lunch and that seemed to put a spanner in the works. In actual fact, we've always had trouble finding the correct start point of most of our walks and this turned out to be no different.........where were the flipping marker signs?! However, after a huddle around the maps and Tim's iPad and a lot of umming and aahhing, we finally worked it out and we were on our way, perils behind us.......hopefully!
As we hoped, this first leg was relatively comfortable and on the whole, pretty flat, with the main sights being the shipyard cranes which always seemed to be in view, both commercial cranes and military versions. There really wasn't too much of interest on the trek to report with most of the route edging around the town of Ferrol and its suburbs. Having said that, once we were
out of the town centre, the marker posts were very good, with the exact distance to Santiago shown on most of them and, it seems, very little chance of going wrong.
We were able to collect the stamps for our Pilgrims' Passport without any difficulty, but picking them up from the numerous churches around, was a problem - they were all closed!! Pretty ironic for a supposed pilgrimage!! However, whilst the churches themselves weren't showing a great deal of Camino Spirit by being open, the people we are meeting on the walk (either doing the Camino, or simply passers by) were far more Christian, with a cheery Buenos Dias, Ola or Buen Camino as we passed by most people. And, in the towns/villages in particular, there always seems to be someone around, to make sure we are going in the right direction. We met a chap as we neared Neda, who was walking the Camino Ingles along with his neighbour from West London. This was his fifth Camino (but, his first on the Camino Ingles) and he also seems to have walked most of the canal towpaths across the UK - a serious walker, who put us to shame!
As we neared Neda itself, we could see the town in the distance on the other side of the water. But before we got there, we passed a fair that was being set up and a marquee where the local version of Status Quo seemed to be doing a sound check. It was a Saturday in Spain and it was almost certainly being set up to celebrate a fiesta of some sort, as was confirmed when some massive fireworks were being set off most of that evening after we arrived at the hotel! To get to the town and after we passed the fair, we were due to cross over a modern looking bridge, which was a failure because it turned out to be closed for repairs - probably the Neda version of London's Millennium Bridge!!
However, there was a much older bridge to use (more likely to be the original Pilgrims' bridge in any event) and soon after crossing it, fortunately for us, Tim remembered that our hotel was coming up very soon (we would have gaily carried on into the town centre if he hadn't said!!) and there it was, the Pension Maragoto, a small place,
but pretty comfortable. The boys had two twin rooms and the girls, two singles (the latter with dual aspect windows, with a great view looking down the water). We quickly settled in, and then met up for a beer in the bar, before going for a wander towards the town (another 5km there and back, as it happens!) in the direction of a particular church, which we found but was closed yet again! We consoled ourselves with a visit to a lovely little cafe/Churreria, where we all tucked into a cup of chocolate, with churros on the side, washed down by a beer afterwards - delicious and incredibly cheap at less than €25!!
Then, it was back to the hotel for a snooze, before the set dinner at 7.30 consisting of vegetable soup or spaghetti bolognese, pork and chips or calamari and chips, followed by creme caramel or ice cream. I forgot to mention that on our walking days, we have half board accommodation, and so far the food has been absolutely fine. After dinner, we could have popped back to the fair/live music over the bridge, or even up to a dance in a local church, but to
be honest, we were exhausted!! Instead, we borrowed a pack of Uno and played a few hands, before retiring to bed - the Simple Six really know how to live!!
So that's it. The first leg is over and the feet are ok, so far. Tomorrow is a similar distance, but quite a bit hillier - bring it on!!
Buen Camino!
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