Distance: 30.8km (186.6km), time spent: 9:18 (53:40).
Weather: Sunny, some clouds later in the day.
To follow in your own footsteps is easy; you know where to go and what you will get to see. Luckily, we stop following my footsteps during this day, so I will be back again to what I like, walking with the excitement of not knowing what awaits me around the next corner. When we come to Hospital later today, we will turn right towards Muxia where I before have been led to the left beneath a grey sky without any contrasts at all. There is just one albergue between Hospital and Muxia, so we go there today.
A Camino waymarker-stone at a scenic location between Cornado and Maronas.
Last year, the area after Vilaserio looked desolate and remote, with the weather being the obvious reason, which I knew then as well. Now that the weather is fine, the sky is blue and the sun shines, the impression is something else entirely. Green lush meadows and fields, a culture landscape, and visible farms and small villages. They were there the last time also, but almost made a disappearing act in the desolate weather. It is almost like experiencing two different places, although they are the same.
The road to Vilar do Castro, a worn information board told us that there was an old castle or fortress on the top of the hill behind the village. We tried to get up, but was waved down by some local farmers.
We are off again at eight o'clock in the morning; I had breakfast in the restaurant, while Kjetil chose to wait. Walking on tarmac in the beginning, before the sun enters the stage, later the surface changes to various forest roads towards Santa Mariña. We are puzzled by a coat of arms that we see on a signpost, where a bridge is split in two by rays from a red star, on one side of the bridge stands a black night, on the other side there is a red cross. It is a pleasant walk in the morning hours. Water is flowing unceasingly from the fountain in Cornado.
A girl went past the bar in Vilaserio during breakfast, now we pass her while she take a break in the sunshine. She was up early, as she enjoy the time she get to herself when walking alone. From where she sit, the view is a pleasant cultural landscape. Last year it was grey here, now it is green. The biggest problem for my part on the walk now, is really my own feeling that I take too much pictures. Kjetil has to wait several times for me as I take pictures of almost everything, life through a lens, while I quite ridiculous becomes slightly annoyed by always getting a yellow backpack in the frame. Taking pictures of the routes I go, documenting, has nevertheless been an important part of my walks and something I will struggle to stop doing.
Mirador do Corzón, view back towards the hill the Camino goes around (Vilar do Castro is just on the other side of the hill). To get up here, you have to leave the Camino after passing through the village of Lago. There is a nice view in all directions from the viewpoint.
In Santa Mariña, I have to persuade Kjetil to eat breakfast, so we go down to Casa Pepa for him to eat and to get a coffee for me. There are no places to get food after Santa Mariña until you get do Ponte Olveira (Casa Pepa is not the only place in the village, but the albergue is situated in a more quiet spot than the two places that are located next to the road. In Vilar do Castro, we find out that it must have been an old stone fortress or castle on the hill above the village, we make an effort to get up, but are met by two local farmers who shepherds us down and insist that we cannot get up from here. This part of the route is nice and pleasant, but we would have preferred that the route crossed over the hill instead (for the views).
San Cristovo de Corzón.
We make another attempt to get us up to higher ground afterwards, but give up when the road we tries is beginning to bear downwards again. When we later look across to the road we tried, we see that we gave up just before a dirt road takes off from the road, which leads upwards to the cliffs on the top of the hill. As a remedy, we go up to the same ridge that I climbed up to last year. Clouds have begun to populate the sky now, and it feels a little bit as last year, except that there are no rain in the horizon. We are still both pleased by this excursion to the Mirador de Corzón. I wonder if there are other pilgrims that are heading up here, most seem too busy just to follow where the yellow arrows leads. That may probably be more than enough for many people though, any additional detours requires too much perhaps.
When we arrive in Olveiroa, it is time for lunch, so we take a break. Next time I walk the Camino Finisterre, I have to stay here, it is a pleasant small village and the municipal albergue looks nice. I had a great time when I walked between Olveiroa and Logoso last year, when the weather was grey and I had the feeling that I was wandering in a wasteland. Brighter weather today, the walk is different, but still great. Kjetil has however picked up his pace and I am struggling to keep up with him, he hurries past the wind turbines, the river below and the modern bridge and then suddenly we are in Logoso.
Waymarker outside Olveiroa.
Outside the small and cosy albergue, there are already several pilgrims sitting and relaxing, including one from Austria that we met in Vilaserio. In the end, we do not let the chance to sit down and enjoy the sun and a few cold beers get away from us. I can now see the hill with the windmills on the top from here, where last year all I could see was a grey wall. We spend some time talking with the Austrian, before we head off again; we still have about ten kilometres left to go.
Murals in Olveiroa.
Walking in this part is more exciting now, as I now can look further into the horizon. Up by Hospital, I notice a quite distinct mountain ridge that clearly stands out from the rest of the landscape to the south of us. With the better visibility, some ugly buildings that looks like a factory of a kind appears and spoils the walk a tiny bit. Then we come to where the routes split up and we will go to the right and Muxia. If I change my mind now and decide to go to Finisterre instead, we will have to go all the way to Cee to get a place to stay for night, but then I would get to see the ocean view that I missed last year.
To Dumbria, the Camino follows the road for a while, through an open landscape with little vegetation, before a waymarker-stone directs us off the road and into the undergrowth. Now I am back to wondering what awaits me around the next corner. The trail is a pleasant walk until As Carizas, where we pass by two pilgrims that has clearly found something in common on the Camino. There were also in Vilaserio when we got there yesterday, but continued further. I suppose they are a little bit more free-spirited according to where they spend the nights, nothing wrong by that. I wonder if we should not arrive in Dumbria soon and then we are suddenly there.
At Hospital, the landscape is more open, in the background you can see a distinct mountain ridge that stands out from the rest of the landscape.
The albergue is the first building you come to when you arrive in Dumbria and I knew in an instant that we had arrived when I saw the building, not only by the appearance, the laundry outside the building gives away a lot. The building is of an architecture that looks quite fresh and modern when it is new, but feels worn out after a few years of use, with different colours on the different parts of the building. There is no hospitalero at the albergue, outside there is a note where it is written that we can just find ourselves a bed and arrange the formalities later. There are more pilgrims here than expected, but there is no problem finding a free bed for the night, we share the dormitory with a mother and son from Korea. Otherwise, the albergue looks nice and modern inside.
The waymarker-stone indicating where the Camino Finisterre splits and the routes to either Finisterre or Muxia is going. Oddly enough, the scallops points in the same direction for both the alternatives. We are now taking the right turn towards Dumbria and Muxia.
When we later go through Dumbria to find a place to get food, it looks like an almost deserted village. It is absolutely quiet in the streets (more like the only street). All the bars we see and pass by are closed. A strange mood. Is the village in the process of being abandoned? Are the villagers hiding from the scary pilgrims? Outside the school, the fence posts are dyed in the colours of the rainbow, children of the rainbow and there are no one there (though it is school holiday). We finally find the local store, thinking that we can buy some food to cook in the albergue, but struggles to find something suitable and easy to make.
The Camino towards Dumbria and Muxia.
It turns out that there is also a restaurant attached to the store (Meson O'Argentino) and when we asked about dinner, we are ushered into a small and hidden part of the place. Here we learns the whereabouts of the pilgrims that we could not account for at the albergue, they are here eating. The dinner we are served is actually not bad, it is actually quite good and it is a lot of food. Two large cutlets each with a lot of potato chips, after we have eaten a large portion of sopa de gallego.
In Dumbria, the Santa Eulalia church in the village.
Clouds have unnoticed taken over the sky. Back at the albergue, there is still no sign of the hospitalero. We sit outside in one of the terraces in the albergue and relax with a couple of beers. Outside, the wind has begun to blow, howling half-heartedly through the trees. It has been a good walk from Vilaserio today. Dumbria feels a little odd, but that may also very well be the reason why I like it here, these small and strange places my walks brings me to. While the trees sways in the wind, the last night on the Camino slowly comes closer. Still no one has showed up when we go to bed.
<- VilaserioMuxia ->
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