Advertisement
Published: June 12th 2018
Edit Blog Post
There are some amazing 'Derby Match' rivalries in sport you know, such as Liverpool v Everton, Manchester City v Manchester United, Barcelona v Real Madrid, Spurs v Arsenal and Lancashire v Yorkshire. But as it happens, it seems that all of these pale into insignificance compared to the major rivalry between the towns of Neda and Ferrol! This much became clear as we were walking through Neda today on the second leg of the Camino and were accosted by a elderly Neda resident keen to make our acquaintance. He asked if we were English and then proceeded to rant away in Spanish! Luckily, two of our team Spanish speakers, Tina and Jim, were able to interpret and it turns out that, in his opinion, we had effectively been conned! In his view, the English pilgrims actually came across by boat to the port of Neda and NOT Ferrol! And his justification for this statement is simply that.......Ferrol didn't exist at the time and that the English Way had been extended to Ferrol in recent times, solely to ensure that the route exceeded the 100 km needed to obtain the Compostela on reaching Santiago!! This was clearly controversial and our Nedarite's passion
was so strong, it was hard to disbelieve him! His disdain for those Ferrolinos was so palpable that, it was hard to envisage any Neda v Ferrol sporting event, ending in anything less than a complete bloodbath, ha ha!!! So, in his view we didn't Neda go to Ferrol, if you know what I mean!
Today's walk was actually a similar distance as day one, being from Neda to Pontedeueme. However, it was a walk that involved a lot more ups and downs, so was much more testing than yesterday. Having said this, there wasn't a great deal to report. There were a few nice views back towards Neda, but little to inspire and what's more despite the distance we have walked already, we still seemed to have a view back to those damned cranes in Ferrol! We passed plenty of churches once more, but yet again none were open - Marie even pulled a cord outside one church which rang the main bell, but still nobody came!
We passed through the village of Fene and to emphasise how little there was to report, Steve and I resorted to humour to get us through; Fene does of course,
rhyme with 'Rene' and before you know it, it was 'Allo 'Allo all over Fene........the drug is in the jug, the pill is in the till, the candle with the handle, etc, etc,- you had to be there and also had to be of a certain age, I suppose!
We arrived in Pontedeueme early afternoon and stopped in a bar on the opposite side of the river Eume from our hotel for a drink and possible lunch, but the poor girl who was serving us was so rushed off her feet, that we had a drink, but decided to skip the food - however, we did still get a stamp for our passport! We crossed the lovely bridge (although the walls on each side were worryingly low, so low that I had to walk away from the edge!) and our accommodation the Hotel Eumesa was just on the other side. Once again, it was a functional place that served our needs well and after checking in, we popped to a cafe up the road for lunch; Jim and I went for the spicy sausage and chips (delicious), while the others chose bacon, egg and chips or omelette and chips,
which were equally good. Washed down by a beer, cider or coke, it was great value and really hit the spot.
Then, it was back to the hotel for a snooze, before dinner at 8.00pm. Steve and I got showered and changed and decided to go for a beer before dinner and found the excellent Bar Freixo. We texted Tim and Jim who joined (although complained because we hadn't invited them earlier!), while the ladies decided to check out the culture and sights in the town! Nine bottles of beer later (for under €17!!), we went back to the hotel for dinner. It was the Menu del Dia once again, which was absolutely fine, with enough wine to sink a battleship! We were the only ones in the restaurant to start with, but Jonathan and Marie (a couple doing the same trip as us and also using CaminoWays) arrived soon after, before a coach party arrived a little later. The staff serving us were excellent and if we wanted 'more', we only had to ask! We had a real laugh, especially doing our level best to drink all the wine, before we retired to bed at about 11pm.
So that's leg two of the walk and it doesn't bode well for tomorrow because it's chucking it down tonight! So much for 'Sunny Spain'!!
But before I finish, here's the promised quiz question:
What do Leapy Lee, Bryan Adams, ABC and Ted Hanky have in common with the Camino?? Easy eh?
Buen Camino!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.171s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 31; dbt: 0.1123s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb