Distance: 43.4km (43.4km / 1184.0km).
Weather: Nice, then overcast, then rain.
I wake up feeling uncertain again, in doubt whether to go or not. The idea of spending too much time trying to locate the way in really bad weather is not that tempting. And I am very satisfied with the three Caminos that I have done, maybe it is time to be happy with that and spend the next two days in Santiago and A Coruña. Taking some time off in a(nother) way, a vacation from the walking.
Praza da Inmaculada in the morning.
The Camino Inglés is the way that the pilgrims from the British Isles used to go when they were walking to Santiago de Compostela. Hence the name, the British Way. Of old they were sailing to A Coruña to start their pilgrimage in Spain from that seaport, but in the latter days the pilgrims has changed to use Ferrol as their starting point. This is mostly due to the rules regarding getting the Compostela. In order to be eligible for the Compostela, pilgrims must at least walk 100km (they also need to have at least two stamps in their pilgrims passports too). A Coruña is only about 73km from Santiago, making it less attractive for pilgrims, opting instead to begin from Ferrol (119km).
Walking through Rúa de San Francisco after having begun the Camino Inglés towards A Coruña.
In 2016, I walked the Camino Inglés from Ferrol together with my cousin, so I have done the Camino. It is a short and pleasant one. When I made up my plan for this journey, I wanted to see how the Camino between A Coruña and Hospital de Bruma (where the two routes joins) was. Not wanting to travel too much by bus (especially for such a short Camino, two days), I decided to walk it in the opposite direction if I was to do it. And it would not matter at all regarding the Compostela. The only problem, there would be no waymarking in the direction I would be going, but I considered it to be a nice little challenge.
The Camino goes past this old medieval bridge in Santiago.
And a challenge I have got, I decide to go. The weather outside is not bad at all, in fact, it is rather good. As befits, I start my fourth Camino in a row at the Praza do Obraidoiro. From the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela to the Santiago church in A Coruña.
View of Santiago de Compostela from the entrance to the city on the Camino Inglés (my exit).
Walking through and out of Santiago I have few problems with finding my way. It also helps that I have walked the route before, although there are places that eludes my memory. The walk through the city is also nice, but I know that the boring parts will arrive later on. After passing by the medieval bridge and walking upwards on a road, there is a little sideway that you can take to get a view of Santiago and the cathedral from. There are clouds on the sky, but the morning light from the sun over the city is nice.
A tipping milestone, this one looks even more lopsided than it did when I walked past it a couple of years ago.
The first wrong turn of the day (I assume I will do some more later) I make just before I get to the boring industrial area in the outskirts of Santiago. It was a fifty-fifty chance of taking the correct turn at a junction, I made the wrong choice. Ironically there is moment of walking bliss just after I have passed through the industrial area, where the Camino goes on a gravel track next to the walls of the last buildings of the area. Through the trees hanging over the path, the filtered sunlight is making a magic display of light. And shortly afterwards, the Camino throws you out on next to the busy highway next to a huge factory spewing out smoke, such contrasts.
Cemiterio de Boisaca.
I remember this part from when I walked the Camino Inglés, walking next to the busy road, but I do not remember where we came down to the road from, and no places I pass by sparks any memory in me. Thankfully someone must have been doing the same thing before, as I find a yellow arrow pointing me to where I will find the Camino again. When walking in the opposite direction, I can only use the waymarks and the yellow arrows to confirm that I am on the correct way. Necessitating that I turn my head and look back ever so often.
Filtered sunrays on the Camino Inglés.
Camino Inglés between Sigüero and Santiago has some pleasant wooden paths, but also goes through places next to busy roads. After going underneath the highway, the Camino goes into a forest and the only way I can know where to go, is to follow the map in my guidebook. The scallops and arrows are so few through this forest, that I can do nothing but trust myself. Taking the correct route or not, I find my way into Sigüero, not yet halfway to Hospital de Bruma, my destination for today.
A small bridge in the small park in Sigüero.
The walk here from Santiago has gone fairly flawlessly, with a few exceptions. And the weather has been nothing at all as predicted. I am glad that I made the decision to go. Lunch is taken in a café in Sigüero, before I walk out of the tiny town through a small and nice park. Not many pilgrims has come in the opposite direction, but there are a few when I pass by the short industrial area outside the town.
A tree in a field.
It is from here that the fun begins. If you walk towards Santiago de Compostela, you will walk through this section just before Sigüero. Here the Camino goes in a straight line for 5km, at least that is how it was when I walked it three years ago. At the end, the path turns left and crosses the highway again. Should be easy to find my way. Quite pleasant at the beginning, then you get a little bit tired after walking through the relative same scenery.
The long and not winding road.
After some while I arrive at a junction. Believing it to be where I should leave the straight gravel path, I turn left and continue further on another track. Problem is, there are no more yellow arrows or any other Camino waymarkers to be found any longer. And after walking down a hill to a bridge, with still no waymarkers to see, I am pretty much sure that I have gone the wrong way. So I walk back to the junction and continue on the straight line. Having walked for quite some time, it becomes perfectly clear that this was a wrong choice. I realize that I actually had made the correct decision earlier, and turn back again. In accordance with my now sour mood, dark clouds are gathering rapidly on the sky.
Farmers working.
In fact, I had made the correct decision when I turned left the first time. After crossing the bridge I finally see a yellow arrow again. Where did the trust in myself go? In fact, I should have left the straight path long before I did. Because shortly afterwards I pass by some waymarkers that makes it clear that the Camino either has been rerouted or that my guidebook does not show the correct route on the map. Whatever the reason is, the Camino does not go where the map in my guidebook says it is going.
A chapel seen from the Camino.
Grateful to be on the right way, but still annoyed of the loss of time and spent energy. Another thing I am grateful for, is that there now is only quiet countryside between me and Hospital de Bruma. There are also more pleasant forest paths on this part of the Camino, it soothes my nerves.
Cute mural on the wall of a passageway under a road.
I have no more mishaps in finding the way, but the long distance I have to cover today and the loss of time has made me walk faster than I want. And my serious wrong turn sure did not make the distance any shorter. The result is that I feel my ankles are starting to hurt. At slower speed, I arrive at the curious village of the sculpturer, Cabeza de Lobo. Now the dinosaur is standing out on a lawn, having a mannequin doll for dinner. And there are even more of the strange statues and sculptures standing around. Even a bar has opened here.
Through autumn woods before Buscas.
Rain finally arrives when I walk into Hospital de Bruma and I feel happy to get here. All good things come in threes, but for me, today it is more like all bad things come in threes. You can count my long wrong turn as the first, my hurting ankle the second. The third is that the bar and café here is closed (every Monday). And I do not have anything to eat with me, except for five pieces of churros, but they do not last long as dinner. The hospitalero at the nice albergue is also not present when I arrive.
One of the more grotescue cruceiros.
There are however several other pilgrims here. A German pilgrim tells me that there is a store about 2km away, but I feel too tired to walk there now. Eventually I have to persuade myself that I have to get food, so I wrap myself into my raingear and heads out into the now heavy rain. It has also become dark and I am not sure of the way. Tired I find the place, seeing that there is also a hotel and a café there too. If I had known, I had probably just taken my backpack with me and checked into the hotel. I buy some food, then decide to just have dinner at the café while I am here. They do not serve any food.
A winding forest track.
I try my luck at the restaurant in the hotel, but they do not start serving dinner until later, a little bit crestfallen I return to the tiny store of the gas station and buy some more food. Then I venture out into the dark and rain again. There is however a saying that the Camino provides. And it does. Because the hospitalero had heard news of my arrival and walk to get food, and on the way down he comes driving past me and picks me up. He had taken his car to drive and look out for me. I am so grateful.
Dinosaur and ship in Cabeza de Lobo.
So it all ends very well. I have dinner in the cosy kitchen together with the other pilgrims, all of course walking in the opposite direction. Our dinner is what may be called quite meagre, but we all share what we have got. After walking all the way here against the 'tide' and quite alone, it is nice to spend the evening together with other people. One more day and I am finished with my walk for this time.
In Hospital de Bruma.
<< Santiago de CompostelaA Coruña >>
No comments:
Post a Comment