Today will be remembered as the day of the pizza. We officially walked 23 km only 34 to go till Santiago – total garmin km measured to date is 1052km (23.9km per day) – the total official camino distance will be 828km when we reach Santiago
We started walking at 7.30 in Lalin after a comfortable night in Hostel Caracas which in spite of the “Industrial surrounds” was neat, clean, had a great kitchen and was quiet.
Breakfast was left over supper – gluten free lasagne & peas – benefits of microwave and thermal stove.
We just started walking seeking café con leche for Jules and were coming up to a petrol station that had lights on in the shop – and it was packed – clients all male two drinking beers looking very tired – either an all nighter it just off Night Shift – rest were doing the cafe trick – so at least Jules got the first cuppa – it wasn’t very hot but still went down well
We walked on a well designed walkway alongside the river Pontiñas – it was very dark – so no pics unfortunately – the river and walk way is feature of Lalin – the walk is called very simply “Paseo Fluvial” which means “River Walk”
Our first stop of the day was at 8km – we found cafe Ma Jose open – what a great stop – the tostada was large and light & airy, the cafe was good, the marmalade was a home made apple jam or similar taste. The decor was also very pilgrim oriented.
Julie’s sharp eye caught some amazing winning pics – these are repeated here as they such great pics. Jules has posted these on Instagram – juliecoltham5681 – the following hyperlink should take you to Julie’s Instagram profile https://instagram.com/juliecoltham5681?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Something that is quite sweet to witness in the early mornings in the small villages is delivery of bread “pan”. A car will be driving far too fast in the dark then screech to a halt and blow the car hooter ( horn) . In minutes out of the house will step the mother of the house with a bag in hand and bread and a few chatty words will be exchanged before the car hurtles off to the next delivery. – Jules managed to surreptitiously catch part of the exchange in the pic below…
The Camino Viernes joins up with the Camino Sanabres/Via del plata just after A Laxe. I walked the Via del plata – Camino Sanabres option in 2018 so certain places started coming back into memory – particularly the Igrexa Romanica de Toboada ( Romanesque church of Toboada- Church is Igrexa in Galician) at the top of the hill above Toboada. I sat in the shade on the spot where the photo was taken in 2018 – strange feeling to walk it again.
Another recall were the three bridges of Toboada- the Road bridge, the Railway bridge and the old Roman bridge. Pictures don’t do justice ti the magnitude and stature of these structures
We reached Silleda at 1pm and looked for a restaurant serving food (comida) – on the forth attempt we found a pizza restaurant – Pizzeria Galega – what great pizzas and they had gluten free bases.
Today’s elevation
