Sigüeiro, Santiago de Compostela

Sigüeiro, Santiago de Compostela  

It was such a nice change to wake up, walk out of the hotel and not to face a long steep hill the first thing after breakfast. I had left the mountains behind and it was gently rolling countryside. Yes, there were some ascents but none as steep or as long as before.

It was another three kilometres back to El Camino. I didn't walk back the way I had come, I walked an oblique back to El Camino. I had missed three kilometres of the official route but I had walked twice the distance, two sides of a triangle to get to my hotel and then to return to El Camino. 

It was a pleasant walk through rural countryside, some fields, some forests, plantations of eucalyptus trees and more corredoiros, the sunken lanes so common in this region.

The numbers on the granite pylons were counting down to zero at the end of the route in front of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. 

I made a point of taking more photos than yesterday and checking that the camera had actually recorded them.

There were fields, sometimes with planations nearby, and natural forest of open woodland.

After a long trudge through peaceful forest on logging tracks, there was the sound of traffic. The trail comes out of the forest, under a motorway and then runs alongside it for the last five kilometres of the days walk. There was still beautiful scenery off to my left, but the enjoyment of the views was rather spoiled by the constant traffic noise just to my right. 

After the last line of trees on a ridge, the town suddenly begins. There was no transition from rural to urban. It was as if the developers had gained planning permission up to the municipal boundary but the next municipality had refused any planning permission. It was an abrupt change from fields and forest to industrial estates and residential areas.

I walked down the hill to the town of Sigüeiro and its bridge across the river, wondering if I had jinxed the next day's start by mentioning the lack of a hill climb to start the day.