Today was, in fact, my first day on this camino, having missed the departure from Ferrol yesterday.
And what a day of ups and downs it was! If I hadn't known better, I'd have sworn we were in Asturias, such were the 5 inclines we had to do today - under a blazing sun and a midday temperature of 30 degrees or more. At least 2 of these were described - pretty accurately - as 'brutal'. And the rest were hardly a cake-walk. Worst of all, the first - and the longest - began 30 metres from the hotel entrance. A nice gentle start to the day.
Such was the gradient, I felt it necessary to advise my colleagues there were 4 sachets of soluble aspirin my rucksack, and they should administer them PDQ, if I succumbed to a heart attack.
Here's the route and its profile, to give you some idea of what we had to tackle:
After a hearty breakfast, our plan was to eschew midday tapas/raciones and arrive at a restaurant after Ponte de Porco (Pig Bridge) for a
menú del día around 3 o'clock. We arrived on the dot, to find the place closed and shuttered. So we continued on our way to Betanzos, where we revenously enjoyed a large plate of
jamón at the entrance to the town, before making our way to our hotel. Which naturally involved a 1-in-2 gradient of more than 50 metres en route.
Three large shandies (
un bok de clara) were consumed along the way, of course. By me at least.
FOTO GALLERY
The petrol station next to the hotel, with its own little shrine:
Our hotel in Pontedeume:
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Straight out out the 60s |
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Separate taps, British style. Which the modern Spanish laugh at, as they all have mixer taps. |
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A key that weighed at list a kilo. |
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But a room as large as anything in a Parador. And with much the same furniture. Note the armchair. |
Scenes from the walk
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Looking down on Pontedeume after some of our early climb |
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Rebekah and a medieval bridge. Possibly crossed by George Borrow before us. |
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Grafitti (or graffiti) on the stanchions of an autopista |
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Looking back towards the sea |
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The pig, with the Pig Bridge in the background. Just before a 'brutal' climb. |
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An estuary . . . . |
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Yet another failed attempt to demonstrate how steep a climb was |
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A chapel where we might have seen Andrade's tomb if we'd been able to find the person with the key |
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Unexpected topiary |
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The church in the main aquare of the rather lovely town of Betanzos. Famous for its tortillas. |
Finally . . . . This is not a proud boast but I might well have the ugliest feet in the world. When I was 19 and teaching kids in the Seychelles, they caused a great deal of amusement to my pupils when we all played badminton barefoot. Here's a foto of them to prove my contention. Would any woman want to be seen in the same bed as these?
I mention this just to tell you to be aware of taking on board advice that you should wear 2 pairs of socks when walking - one thick and one thin. I find this overly restricts my feet and makes by toes numb. Despite their somewhat odd configuration, if I revert to one pair they give me no trouble whatsoever. But it's a personal choice.
The bunions are inherited, by the way. I didn't get them by wearing high heels during the evenings. Honest.
Technical Note: It's taken me more than a week to realise why my battery always dies just as I enter a town and need the phone to try to find where the hotel is. As soon as I get near the place, I switch on Google Maps and this is so voracious that it soon consumes whatever battery I have left. So, not really the coincidence I thought it was. More of an inevitability, really. I bought a mobile battery last week but this only gives my phone a charge of 25% and this is just a tidbit to Google Maps. Gone in a flash.
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