Made it to Monforte de Lemos

Well, those who said this is a hard day are absolutely right. It´s 35 kms, but the kicker is that there are three ups and downs, which add to the fun. But it was fine. The owner of the hostal where I spent last night very nicely agreed to leave a thermos of boiling water outside my room when she went to bed. That meant that at 6 in the morning it was still very warm, just perfect for my envelope of nescafé and a few squirts of condensed milk in a tube.

I was on the road by 6:15, and checked in to my lodging for the evening at 3:15 or 3:30, so it was a very long day. I did rest, once after the second up and down, but there were flies everywhere so it was a quick stop. Then a few kms along, there was a bar in the town that´s 23 km from the starting point and 12 from the end. A perfect place to stop. I had a good café con leche, in a bar that is located on a street that is (still) named Avenida de José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Wow, he´s one of those early fascist Franco guys. But I didn´t stand on principle, and had a very nice rest with boots and socks off in an outdoor café.

The walk went through many rural Galicia spots, some incredibly beautiful hamlets, paths by several rivers (the Lor and the Saa), and those are the absolute best because there are green tunnels of native growth and you just walk along in an enchanted forest.

Luckily, the ascents went from worst to bad to not so bad, but even so, I was dragging by the time I got into the outskirts of Monforte de Lemos. This is a pretty big town, it even has a Spanish parador in it. On the way in, I was thinking, gee, Joe and I have a lot of points on the Parador system, I know because I got an email last December telling me they were expiring. Well, this is Spain, and maybe expiration is a fluid concept. So I schlepped up to the parador, which is in an old palacio and next to the remaining castle tower (another 35 or 40 hot minutes from my entry into Monforte near the train tracks). It was hot and sunny, but I made it. I explained my situation to the very nice woman at the reception. She called Madrid, to the mother lode of the Amigos de Paradores, and voilà, those expired points were reinstated and I was able to stay in the parador for free! It´s beautiful, furnished in a traditional way (unlike some of the newer paradores, which are done sleek and minimalist -- what is sleek and minimalist doing in a 14th century palace??).

But while some might enjoy the architecture, others the service, still others the food, the best part of a parador for anyone walking to Santiago is that it means having a big bathtub, lots of soap, and those huge body-size thick parador towels to wash and wring out clothes. In my exuberance for the luxury of today´s clothes-washing, I dropped my pants into the tub and only later realized that stuck in the pocket were my printed camino de invierno guide and all the many notes I had scribbled today on the way. Grrrrrr. Well, those pages are now laid out on the floor, hopefully drying, so that I can salvage something.

I have 5 or 6 days walking left, I can´t believe it. I am so glad I took this route, it is really spectacular and un-visited. If anyone wants a guided tour, I will volunteer to walk you through it.