THE FINAL STRETCH
DAY 27: 31 km to Lugo
A cool, dry morning greets us and the terrain is now softer, less steep and more hilly. There is more intensive agriculture with corn, clover, alfalfa and lots of dairy cows in the fields. I see three hawks today. It is a holiday so most everything is closed. I feel like a squirrel with stashes of food tucked in my pack so I don’t end up hungry and out of energy.
I walk mostly alone as I’m feeling more reflective. Later, I catch up with Peter and Siegfried and we walk into the town of Lugo together. It’s been a long day and we are very happy that as soon as we get into the old walled in section of town, the hostel is right there.
DAY 28: 18 km to San Roman da Retorta
Today is mostly pavement walking, so I’m glad it’s a short day. I’m also glad to find a restaurant, after ten kilometers, that offers an omelet and coffee. I also find Peter and Siegfried at the restaurant and we end up walking on together. From Lugo, it’s 100 kilometers to Santiago de Compostela. Then it's 92 km... I’m now fascinated with doors, gates and openings, so I have to take a picture of every interesting architectural detail I run into! The easy walking lends itself to photographing everything and I have fun taking photos of my shadow on different surfaces.
We end the day at a very small hostel. The building is old and the beams and rafters are whole rough logs. On the inside, they added more modern walls to accommodate bunk beds and a kitchen. We get in early enough to do major laundry and lay it out on a rock wall to dry. Then we even have time to read and relax in the pasture next door. This place feels so special... it feels like a Sunday. We get up from our repose only long enough to flip our drying clothes over. We are happy to have an easy day today because the next two days will require a big push. Later, a Spaniard taking a long weekend shows up, and then a pilgrim from Hungary, and an elderly couple from Mexico shows up after dark. This is a small space and we end of with exactly a full house.
DAY 29: 30 km to Melide
It’s a beautiful day! The trail starts out on an old Roman path and, yes... you can walk the Camino from Rome. At about 11 am, that the desire for breakfast sets in and no restaurants or grocery stores are listed in our guidebook. So... we decide to manifest, and sure enough we come upon a pension, that if had we blinked, we would have missed it! We get coffee with refills, and cheese sandwiches made with that nice, thick farmers bread - a real treat. I wrap up half of mine for later.
Up next is a just a lovely walk through dairy farm country. We come upon a woman doing laundry the old fashion way - in a big cement trough next to the house. Today the northern Primitivo Way meets up with the St. Francis Way in the town of Melide. We arrive just in time to secure beds in a big hostel that holds 130 pilgrims! It is such a contrast to the small hostel from last night. The big large dorm rooms on the first floor are already full, so we get beds in attic rooms on the third floor with four beds per room. Here they assign beds. I end up bunking with a Frenchman and a Spanish couple. We meet an inspiring German woman who is 76 and walking the Camino alone. She’s been trekking in Nepal for the last 15 years. She and is full of riveting stories!
We find a nice restaurant for dinner and have a lively discussion about unconditional love. Back at the hostel it turns out that all three of my roommates snore: the Spaniard is really industrial motor loud. Two times I wake him, but it does no good, so even though I’m wearing earplugs it still penetrates. I drag my mattress out into the hallway where there is an automatic light that turns on every time I turn over. I fix that by wrapping my bandana around my head and eyes. Eventually... I get a good night’s sleep.
DAY 30: 30 km to Rua
Since Melide is a big town with a big hostel, there are actually several restaurants open at 7am just for the pilgrims. After a tasty breakfast we head out on our walk where we are seeing noticeably more pilgrims and bicyclists. Now there is a place to stop for coffee and eat every couple of kilometers! We walk through the town of Arzua and which is very commercial and feels like a ski town in the winter. We are mostly walking through the woods, but the last three kilometers of the day are next to a busy road. It feels brutal. We came off the Primitivo route, which was wonderfully primitive, and now we are thrust into civilization with all its noise and pollution and people.
We get to our hostel, which is a couple of kilometers after the town (and restaurant) of Santa Irene. The hostel is right on the highway and I tell Peter and Siegfried that I can’t sleep there. It is an immediate bad vibe for me. Peter is exhausted, and doesn’t want to go on, so we agree to meet at one of the two restaurants in the next town of Rua for dinner. I literally run to Rua (another 1.5 km) because now it's late in the afternoon, and there are lots of pilgrims about, and I want to get a bed!
The first pension I get to has a single room AND a restaurant next door. I’m more hungry than tired, so I eat before I shower. I’m so glad to have a room to myself again and with sheets and towels too. After I shower and wash my top and socks for tomorrow, I hang out in the garden while I wait for Peter and Siegfried. They show up early... and with their packs - it turns out (after they showered and rested a bit) they couldn’t take the highway noise and pollution either. Unfortunately, the pension I am at is now booked up so they have to walk to the next town of Pedrouzo to get a room. The owner here calls ahead and makes a reservation for them, so I know where to meet them in the morning. I end up skipping dinner since I had such a late lunch and watch Spanish TV in the lobby instead. A way of vegging out to ignore the impending end of the Camino trail.
This way of being feels so connected - how do I reconcile the pull of that with my life on the farm…