Blogs from La Coruña, Galicia, Spain, Europe - page 2

Last night we finally had Pulpo for dinner. I had mine with Galecian soup and caramel flan for dessert. It was cheap and very filling. The albergue we stayed in had 20 beds in one room but only 2 tenants, us. I grabbed a few extra blankets from other beds and didn't use my sleeping bag; John thought this was a health risk. I think what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. We spread our gear out, locked ourselves in for the night and had a relatively early night. I turned the lights on at 6.30am for an early start. I had set the alarm for 7am but decided, rather than listen to another 30 minutes snoring, we may as well get up. By 7.20 we were seated in a local Bar having a coffee. The ... read more

"J'ai vu le bout de l'Europe et le Grand Océan" affirment les pèlerins depuis le Moyen Âge ! en effet, souvent sur notre route nous rencontrons des pèlerins que nous qualifions de bien courageux car le temps commence sérieusement à se gâter... Nous arrivons en Galice... Ce samedi 16 avril, grand soleil, mais peut-être le dernier pour quelques jours... Et pourtant, quand j'ouvre la fenêtre de Pollux tout à côté de mon lit, je trouve au loin de belles montagnes enneigées... Ce sont les Pics de l'Europe, mais il y en beaucoup d'autres sur des kilomètres... Nous prenons la route sous 11°... pour arriver dans les Asturies, pas encore trop chaud pour la nuit, il me faut parfois allumer un peu le chauffage le matin tôt, j'en profite pour tourner le bouton sur chauffage et eau ... read more

Galicia is about a quarter of the size of Pennsylvania, which doesn’t seem too big, but without a car, it’s been a bit difficult to explore the countryside and more rural areas outside of major cities. Though, I also haven’t seen a lot of other cities here yet either! Luckily, this past weekend, my roommate’s Breton friend invited us on a road trip! Before we left, our Galician roommate gave us a massive list of sights along the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death). The Costa da Morte forms basically the northwestern stretch of Galician coast. Why is it called that? It’s had a lot of shipwrecks over history. Naturally, my expectation for the scenery was a gray, stormy place, and I even half-expected to see wrecked pirate ships on the beach. As it happened, for ... read more

10 October 2015, Saturday, stage 34, Palas de Rei to Melide GPS: 8.82 miles, moving 3 hours 38 minutes. Left Hotel Casa Benilde at 0906 ( so much for an early start to beat the rain). Arrived at Hotel Carlos 96 at 1426 after 5 hours 20 minutes. Fitbit: 10.4 miles, 23804 steps,79 floors We went to bed optimistic that we would not have rain today. We awoke at 0600 to the sound of rain on the tile roof just outside our room window. After slowly packing and getting all the rain gear out for the day, the rain had stopped. Taking the bags down, the wonderfully friendly man, Francisco, at the desk said no rain until 1700 but the tropical storm would bring wet and windy weather tonight and the next two days. So at ... read more

Having had little sleep (see previous post) I was not looking forward to today but it was the last long day and is meant to be a relatively easy walk. We had yoghurt and fruit for breakfast and left at 7.30 am, with about 1 1/2 hours walking in the dark. We walked for about an hour before a bar loomed in the distance and the warm reception at the door lured us in. It was a nice old stone building with loads of character so the stop revived us and set us up for the task ahead. The paths since Sarria have been very good and I imagine are well maintained due to the increased crowds on the Camino. We walked through pine forests, gum trees and oaks, so the scenery and scents along the ... read more