Pontedeume

 Pontedeume 

After a great night's sleep only spoiled by the sound of waves lapping at the stones walls and steps down to the beach, I rejoined El Camino, with the typical uphill start to the day. To rejoin the main route, I walked up from the shore, over the railway line and up to the main road. El Camino takes the backroads, so it was anotehr climb up to reach the back road that runs parallel to the main N651.

And there was a new sign, still blue and yellow but with the words Ultreia et Suseia, meaning Onward and Upward. I passed a young couple and wished them a Buen Camino. They had a long weekend to walk half of El Camino Ingles with a plan to do the second half on another long weekend in a few weeks time. 

I passed a bus stop with a bus parked there where the furtherest extent of its route finshed before returning to Pontedeume. I had only just left the young couple but looking around as I crossed the road, they were nowhere to be seen. I can only imagine that the lure of the bus to skip ahead was too tempting and they had caught the bus. 

A mural on a building in Fene. 

Another sign for a pilgrim with a difference, made from scallop shells. 

I had seen the Banco Peregrino sponsored bench before but the drinking fountain to the left with its concrete sculptured scallop shell was a new twist on a theme.

A chain link fence where pilgrims had weaved twigs into the mesh to represent crosses.  

A view of the bridge into Pontedeume across the Rio Eume and the original site of an ancient bridge that boasted 78 arches to get the road across the estuary...

...and a view of the estuary and out to sea. 

Neda

 Neda 

I walked out of the hotel and joined El Camino to follow the signs through the town. Down near the waterfront I passed a bandstand and next to it was...

...another local chartacter, this time a gentleman made of bronze standing on the pavement. There was a theme here but without any guide or information board, I was still none the wiser. 

I walked on past the main entrance to the shipyards, now operated by Navantia. 

There was a lot walking past shipyards, docks, military areas and restricted areas. The rising sun lit up many of the buildings as I made my way around the estuary following the yellow arrows and the granite pylon waymarkers. Ny guide suggested that the distance was 119 kilometres but the pylons were counting down from 113 kilometres from the passenger terminal in Ferrol. 

Eventually, the route leaves all the industrial areas and follows the waterfront alongside sandy beaches. Despite being a major industrial area and a major port, the beaches are clean and surprisingly empty except for some joggers and dog walkers.

Near Narón. there is a short diversion from El Camino to view the former Aceas flour mill. It was a mill powered by the tide to drive the machinery. It was part of King Charles IV's Royal Factories in the 18th century. 

It was just a short walk to start El Camino Ingles at just 16 kilometres long from Ferrol to Neda but the route went along the estuary, across a bridge at Xubia before following the far side of the estuary. I could see my hotel on the foreshore across the water, but it would be another hour of walking reaching it. 

There is some scrambling through thick undergrowth after Gandara, and had I known, I would have taken the road option. I had checked the map and it was clear that the route followed the foreshore. It didn't look right after a lot of waymarker and wide paths but there was a yellow arrow pointing this direction and I didn't see any alternative options. 

It was overgrown and had it rained recently, it would have been slippery and dangerous and it reminded me of my experiences near Playa Berria. There were also stretches alongside an unfenced railway although judging by the rust on the rails, no train had come this way for a while. 

The route comes past the Monastery of San Martino de Xuvia, a Benedictine monastery, built in the 9th century in a Romanesque style with some interesting stone carvings and corbels.

For those that want to take a short cut, there is a pedestrain footbridge and path alongside the railway crossing across the estuary but the official route continues up the estuary to cross the river before going through Xubia and down the far side.

In Neda, I left El Camino to follow the AC115 to my hotel. 

It was an old stone building right on the seashore with a few steps down to the beach. 

The view down the estuary wasn't great as there was a massive shipyard there with tall cranes and lots of warehouses and fabrication workshops.

The view up the estuary wasn't much better with a tall viaduct taking the motorway across teh estuary and in front of it, the railway bridge and a long embankment cutting across the slatflats.

The building was an eclectic mix of styles with some of the original stone ranges carefully restored...

...hilst teh original main structure had been restored but had had an extension added on the landward side and another storey added. Inside, there waas still a wealth of detail and bare stone walls but the refurbichment had required some structural  reinforcement and where the roof would have been supported by  thick wooden beams, there were steel girders. Normally I would hate this mix of styles but somehow, it had been sensitively completed and it didn't jarr on my nerves and eyes.

A view of the main house from the beach. 

And views from later in the day when the tide had turned, looking over the water to the motorway and railway bridges...

...down the estuary towards the shipyard...

...and directly across the estuary towards the monastery. 

Ferrol and the start of El Camino Anglais

 Ferrol and the start of El Camino Anglais  

I took a taxi from Santiago de Compostela to Ferrol. It was an expensive option as there are both trains and buses, both of which are cheap but I would be carrying everything with several travsfers and the taxi was hotel door to hotel door.

Ferrol has a great harbour with few equals in Europe as it has depth, capacity and security as it has a narrow entrance commanded by two forts which could also be made secure by a boom to prevent entry by enemy ships. 

Ferrol has been a major shipbuilding centre for much of its history and hosts the Spanish navy's Maritime Department of the North since the time of the early BOurbons. In the 17th century, Ferrol held the largest arsenal in Europe. It is still a major shipbuilding centre today.

Ferrol was the birthplace of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1892

Overlooking part of teh military port.

A navy vessel moored in the docks with some cranes...

...and there are a lot of cranes.

One of the locals in the park ovelooking the docks, but no information board to advise anything about him.

The Ferrol sign down in teh docks at the start of El Camino Anglais...

...and opposite, the pilgrim and tourist information entre and the first concha sign.

Although it is very much an industrial city, there are pleasant plazas to be found.

Another local dressed like a Ku Klux Klan member but again, no information board to advise the inquisitive visitor but he might predate the KKK and represent the Spanish Inquisition. 

 

The town hall on one side of the Plaza Armas.

Santiago de Compostela

 Santiago de Compostela  

I was so excited after walking officially 782 kilometres of El Camino del Norte, that I was up early for my last day on El Camino del Norte. I had actually much more due to errors of navigation and doubling back, walking to a hotel set away from El Camino and walks around churches and museums in the afternoon and around towns and cities in the evening looking for an evening meal when it wasn't included in the room booking. 

I set off half an hour before dawn, and there were still pilgrims on the route ahead of me. There was never a quiet moment as the last 100 kilometres into Santiago de Compostela is choked with pilgrims. I passed several entrepreneurs who were selling jewellery, pastries, or cold drinks. There were also some musicians who had set up a stall to collect coins, or sell CDs of their music. It is surprising how far music can carry in the cool of the morning through the forest, including one who was playing Galician bag pipes. 

A view of some farmland, a rare sight along the last section as there is a lot of forest. The route climbs a hill and skirts the perimeter of the airport before dipping towards the city of Santiago de Compostela. It is a large city and there are glimpses of it through the trees. 

There is a large welcome to Santiago de Compostela sign at the city perimeter. I would have taken a photo of it or a selfie but there was a queue of pilgrims all wanting to do the same thing. I didn't wait but continued. 

Although the sign welcomes visitor to the city, there is still a lot of uninteresting urban sprawl before passing into the old city where the pilgrim reaches their ultimate goal of standing in the Praza do Obradoiro in front of the west facade of the cathedral.

It was approaching midday so the sun was behind one side of the building. 

I walked around the centre but some of the well known buildings were being renovated and were not the photo opportunty that you might have hoped for...

A better photo of teh cathedral wen the sun had moved around in the afternoon. 

O Pino, Galicia

 O Pino, Galicia  

I left Arzua more than half an hour before dawn...along with a lot of other pilgrims perhaps all with the same idea to get ahead of the crowds. I remembered the route from an earlier Camino when I had walked the majority of El Camino Frances but had riden a horse for the last 270 kilometres. The main road runs parallel to the Camino route, but given the numbers of pilgrims, the back street is much more crowded. 

After leaving the urban area, it was dark, especially as the route is under the shelter of trees but there were plenty of pilgrims with head torches and mobiles lighting the route with a string of pinpricks of light bobbing up and down ahead of me. The pylons with the distance and the yellow arrow were hard to read in the dark but there was no need as there were so many people all going in the same direction.

When I was walking El Camino del Norte, there were only a few pilgrims with long stretches when I might see nobody, or just a pilgrim or a couple a long way ahead of me. Here on El Camino Frances, it was crowded. It was like comparing a quiet rural road with a major motorway. 

Now that the route was out of the mountains, the total ascent and descent of the route in metres for this section seemed modeest at 250? and 250? so I was surprised when the route climbed up a steep slope as I thought that I had left all those leg jarring, lung bursting ascents behind me in the mountains.  Luckily it wasn't a long ascent and it came out of the trees and there views aover fields in grey of dawn. Overhead, there were aircraft contrails lit up in red as the sun rose in an otherwise clear sky. 

Contrails in the sky. 

El Camino Frances is an old route to Santiago de Compostela, and the most popular route by far. This section is also part of the minimum 100 kilometres (for walkers) that need to be completed in order to obtain that important piece of paper to proce that you have completed a Camino. 

The rules vary from year to year, and there has been a recent alteration. Pilgrims no longer have to complete the last minimum 100 kilometres but can complete any authorised route of 100 kilometres on any Camino and be credited with a Compostela. 

That is a good idea to try to reduce congestion near Santiago de Compostela, and it helps to spread the largesse of pilgrims to other areas but a pilgrim must still take his pilgrims passport to the pilgrim's office in Santiago de Compostela in order to have his Credential checked and to be issued with his Compostela. It will take a few years to see whether this change in rules has any effect. 

Nearly half a million pilgrims gained a Compostela in 2024 but that figure excludes those who walked a Camino but didn't take up the offer of obtaining a Compostela. The most popular route is El Camino Frances as it is the least challenging with more than half a million pilgrims completing this route. 

The next most popular route is El Camino Portuguese. This route was completed by more than a quarter of pilgrims claiming a Compostela. Ignoring the dip in numbers due to COVID, the numbers of pilgrims completing a Camino has increased every year for more than the last ten years. The percentage of pilgrims completing either the Frances or Portuguese routes is declining as more pilgrims are choosing and completing some of the alternative routes. 

It seems that once a pilgrim has completed one route, they have been bitten by the bug and the numbers of pilgrims completing a second Camino is also increasing, thus increasing the numbers of pilgrims completing some of the hitherto less popular routes. Many pilgrims also walk one of the shorter routes after finishing their main route, such as the Caminos Finsiterre, Irlandais or Anglais but having gained a Compostela, they don't claim their earned next Compostela. 

On El Camino Frances, in contrast to El Camino del Norte and other options, there are so many pilgrims that many entrepreneurs have found it profitable to open cafes, alberques or set up stalls en route. Everyone has a different take such as this cafe whose perimetre walls are lined with beer bottles with peoples names on the base. 

There are plenty of rustic scenes such as small fords with an elevated side pavement for pilgrims so they don't get their feet wet.

And plenty of fine countryside views...

...and entrepreneurs with stalls at the side of the route.

A tribute to Guillermo Watt , who died en route...

...a fountain fro pilgrims, but of no use now after the road was redeveloped to provide a safe underpass for pilgrims that cut off the spring so now it is dry. 

One of many underpasses even on rural roads to give a safe passage for pilgrims. 

Another tribute to a pilgrim who died in her sleep after completing her second Camino. 

Arzúa, Galicia

 Arzúa, Galicia  

I had checked the weather forecast for the next day and there was a 70% chance of rain for most of the next day.  We didn't have far to go, just 22 kms, so Lesley and I had ordered breakfast for 8am. I rehearshed my pitch for the morning over breakfast. My proposal was to visit the monastery in Sobrado, the point where we has been picked up from El Camino del Norte and where we would be taken back to in the morning. Then, given the poor weather forecast, we could share a taxi to Arzua to keep out of the rain

In the morning, some of my clothes were still damp. My trusted white and blue check shirt had dried overnight but my walking shorts were damp and my thick pair of walking socks were still wet. I like to wear the same shirt and shorts for continuity purposes. It is a trick that some TV presenters use. When filming a show or a series, they may have two identical sets of the same outfit so that if there is any damage, downpour,  or a break in filming, the producer can cut and splice the takes as he pleases and the viewerwill not notice the changes.

I wasn't being filmed but the same clothes made it easier for identification. On an earlier Camino, I had happened to wear a blue hat, a blue shirt and blue shorts by coincidence, not by design, all of different shades but of the same primary colour. I didn't know it at the time but it makes it easier to describe and positively identify me to others.

I had been the subject of some discussion amonsgt my fellow pilgrims who didn't know my name but the description of my outfit meant that they knew that they were talking about me. I had dropped something and to attract my attention, they had shouted 'Mr Blue'. 

This time I was wearing a black peaked cap, originally black but faded by the strong sunlight, a white and blue quick dry check shirt that got washed every night and always dried overnight whatever the conditions, a pair of black fleeces and a choice of two pairs of black shorts, different brands and slightly different shades of black but not noticeable unless they were placed side by side. 

This particular morning, I would have to wear my charcoal coloured shorts and different socks. I would have to pack my still damp clothes but I only had one large plastic bag that I used to protect my laptop. I had saved some plastic bags from shopping for groceries but they weren't big enough. I rolled my wet socks inside my damp shorts and surrounded them with a nearly dry T-shirt and hoped that they wouldn't make anything else damp during the day.

I had checked the weather forecast in the morning and the bad weather had blown over during the night and there was a forecast of no rain, clear skies and warm temperatures. Our fellow guests of the night before had had breakfast at 7am and had been driven back to their morning starting point somewhere on El Camino Primitivo. I ditched my rehearsed alternative pitch. 

Lesley and I were driven back to Sobrado where we checked out the outside of the monastery.

                                        

The entrance from the village to the monastery complex.

                                        

The reverse side of the entrance. 

The north side of the main complex.

A detail of one of the towers of the western facade.

The western facade. There are some exquisite carvings but the light was poor and the picture doesn't do it justice. 

It turned out to be a marvellous morning with clear blue skies, a bright sun and without the mist and low cloud that had dogged our last few early morning starts and as we were still at a high elevation, there were sweeping views across vallies and teh surrounding countryside...

,,,with plenty of great views, such as this one and the house in the centre of the photo must have had a great uninterrupted view across the valley. 

A view along a corredoira...    

...and a house with great views...

...a poor photo of some beautiful countryside...

...and a waymarker showing that it was only a little further to my hotel in Arzua where El Camino del Norte joins El Camino Frances. Where I was in for a shock.