Camino: Melide to Calzada

The forecast promises today to be really rainy, so I am planning for a minimal pack and a full rain suit -- with gloves.  I’ll leave everything else, including water, back in the hotel today.  Those who walked from Melide to the hotel yesterday, including Carl, are taking a late start and meeting us for lunch in Arzúa. 

I’m surprised that for a rural pazo, basically a small but very well furnished country inn or B&B like this, they don’t prepare much of a breakfast.  We had a bunch of cold, hard boiled eggs yesterday, but today there are no more. There is no muesli or other cereals, just containers of yogurt and a plate of cheese and sliced meat – one of each.  There is coffee and orange juice, but not much else for visitors who are here for a day or a weekend. In fact, Alex brings a bunch of cereals and milk at his own expense because he knows that his customers will want more. Alex puts it down to Spaniards not expecting much breakfast in general.

"Here lives a Real Madrid fan1"

We – Joe Fleig and I – had a good long (13.1 miles) walk today, mostly in the pouring rain.  Well, it started off pretty dry, but by about the time we got to the Stone Bridge or Boente, the real rain had begun in earnest.  Basically, we had pouring rain the entire rest of the way.

My rain suit works perfectly in these temperatures --- I wore a red long-sleeve Reston Runners technical shirt, my blue fishing shirt, and shorts, with the rain pants and green jacket on top.  My Tilley hat is not really water-proof in this amount of rain, so I put the hood up under the hat -- that way the water does not run down my ears.  I had the camera in a Fresco rope backpack, and sometimes even inside a plastic bag. When the rain got serious I put that on my back and put the jacket on over it.  I believe this was successful in protecting the camera, but you don't get many pictures that way. It is too hard to get it out.

Boente's cross, fount, and church

The little village of Boente was noteworthy because of the Iglesia de Santiago that is featured there with its double bell tower and its double clock – two exterior clocks driven by one single mechanism located inside the upper part of the church.  The town also featured a cruceiro (the stone cross that signifies the Camino) and a fountain for pilgrims to drink from.

Altar in Boente

Stamp desk inside

Most of the day it seems we walk through forests for a while, and then we walk through relatively open farm country, festooned with Gallega rubia and Holstein cows.  There are a few sheep, and we hear roosters crowing from time to time. We approached the little town of Ribadiso (Rio de Iso) over an arched stone bridge which gave nice views of the quaint grey stone walls and blue trim on the windows.  But everything was shut tight, and I remember thinking that if I were a real perregrino walking all the way from St. Jean Pied de Port, and I faced a day as rainy as this, I would simply stay over one more day in the albergue and read a book.

Joe and Brian in a dry moment

It was a long climb up to Arzúa, the town famous for its Arzúa Ulloa cheese that is sometimes referred to as "queixo do pays," meaning "cheese from the land."   Our team was gathering in Casa Teodoro, waiting for it to be one o’clock and time for lunch. We had at that point walked 9.05 miles.  

 There was a certain amount of getting sorted out from a long damp morning, using the “aseos,” and putting wet clothes in the drying room. Lunch was really very tasty or maybe I was just really hungry; I had lentil soup, followed by hake fish, and then ice cream.  We always have water and wine on the tables too.

At the end of lunch, it was really pouring buckets.  The water just poured down the flagstone sidewalk as we descended from Arzúa town.  In the restaurant, Pat Brown quietly put on his rain clothing and tried to slip away before John Nusbaum noticed him leaving.  John later accused Pat of crawling out under the table to get a head start, and he quickly readied himself and set out.  It turned out, however, that Pat went in a store across the street, turned the wrong way, got lost and headed in the wrong direction for about fifteen minutes.  So he returned to the Casa Teodoro and joined up with me, just as I was setting off.  Meanwhile John is racing down the trail, thinking Pat is in front of him.  Of course, John got to the bus long before anyone else.

In fact, Pat and I walked right past the bus.  It was parked back on the left, out of view behind some bushes, at the Casa Calzada bar (which was not open).  With our heads down against the rain and walking briskly, we went right on by and would not have found it but for some Spanish walkers who called out to us.

Galician Magic: Fire and Orujo

Back at the Pazo de Sedor now, having showered and dressed in dry clothing.  Carl is napping, which he often does after the walk. Our shoes are outside the main door with newspaper stuffed in them to help the drying process.  Several of us are in the main room using the wifi and comparing pictures.  

 Dinner is here in the Pazo tonight, and the challenge will be to see if they can possibly top the dinner two nights ago with the pork tenderloin and the white cheese sauce.