Norman's Blog: Baamonde, Galicia

Baamonde, Galicia

I had an early start as the hotel opened for breakfast at 7.30am although it was quiet and a complete change from the hubbub at Casa Goas the morning before at the same time.

It was a level walk through the town centre which I had checked out the afternoon before. Then the trail dipped down to cross a river.

But of course after a down, there is always an up. After the river crossing, El Camino climbs up the other side of the valley and the first up slope of the day.

Looking out of the hotel, I thought that it was going to be a clear start, but once out of the town, the countryside was still cloaked in mist and it was damp. But the dampness in the sir did condense on everything including several large cobwebs, some the size of dinner plates.

At one junction, I saw no way markers even after checking both routes for any signs. One route turned away from the nearby motorway. I knew the route ran near teh motorway and then dipped under it. I ignored the route that turned away and followed the route that run parallel to the road. The route dipped under the motorway so I still felt that I was on the right route until I came to a junction and there were no markers.

Then I realised that I must have made the wrong decision. I had walked too far to double back but the route continued in the right direction and parallel to and between both the motorway and the N634 so as long as I continued between teh two I was still heading in the right direction. The correct El Camino route was somewhere off on the other side of the motorway but would cut underneath it, cross my trail and rejoin teh N634 just off to my left.

That plan worked well until the path I was on turned south under the N634 and there was no junction. The rural route I was on didn't connect with the N634. There were stout fences and thick vegetation and no way that I could push my way through to where I needed to be. I checked out all the alterntives, gates to fields, weaknesses in fences and stretches of woodlands.

By chance, I saw an overgrown channel that drained rain water runoff from the N634 down past the track that I had followed. It was steep but sufficiently overgrown with stout saplings that provided plenty of support to climb up the channel. I wasn't exactly back on track but I was walking along N634 and somewhere ahead of me, El Camino would join it.

I had only seen one pilgrim all morning, and I passed him on the outskirts of Vilalba, but not surprising if I had taken the wrong route. Ahead, I saw a pilgrim emerge from a junction and cross the road. I was now back on track. It was a pleasant walk through farmland and having left the mountains behind, there were only gentle slopes and no steep mountain paths to climb. And away from the road, it was a pleasant walk through rustic countryside without the sound of any traffic.

I passed plenty of buildings using locally available materials. There were a lot of stone buildings using rocks that could be quarried from anywhere. Only the doors and windows neated some masonery skills to produce a good straight surround. And one feature that was reproduced in many local buildings was not just dressed stone around the openings, but two thirds up the opening, be it a door or a window, there was a stretcher block, much longer than necessary for constructural needs, so it must have been for local asetic taste.

It was 11am and it was still misty. The air didn't seem so damp and it was warmer and brighter but visibility was still poor as the sun was till struggling to burn off the mist. Another thing that I noticed was that the flagstones set upright as field boundaries were well maintained and well built with rarely a gap between the stones.

At the end of the days walk, the route returned to the road with lots of heavy traffic as the route weaved its way into Baamonde and the end of the day's walk. I just had to sit in the local cafe for a couple of hours for Lesley to catch me up and for our hosts for the evening to come and collect us. There was a shortage of accomadation locally so our hotel for the night was over 20 kilometres away from the official El Camino route.

But the wait and the drive was worth it. We had a stone former farmhouse, renovated and modernised and a range of outbuildings all to ourselves. The outside of the farmhouse.