Dates: June 14-24, 2018
Route: Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Distance: 305.2 kms
Walking Days: 11
Average Distance/Day: 27.7 kms/day
Longest Day: 39 kms
Shortest Day: 20.2 kms
Oviedo to San Juan de Villapanafa – 29.5 km
Quick primer on this Camino: The Camino Primitivo is the oldest of the Camino pilgrimage routes. In the 9th Century, the hermit, Paio, had a dream that angels led him to the remains of Saint James in a field where Santiago de Compostela is now.
The King of Spain at the time, Alfonso II, took a pilgrimage from the capital city, Oviedo, to confirm that the remains were indeed those of Saint James. Satisfied that they were, he ordered a modest church to be built around the tomb.
The Camino Primitivo loosely follows that original pilgrimage route from Alfonso II.
San Juan de Villapanafa to Bodenaya – 24.5 km
The highlight of the day was meeting David and Celia, a couple of warm and friendly pilgrims who own and run the Albergue de Peregrinos in Bodenaya. David is 39 and comes from Madrid. Celia (pronounced ‘Thelia’) met David three years ago after he had bought the albergue. She had been working in an albergue in the next town.
I arrived early at the albergue, at about 12:30, but the albergue didn’t open until 14:00. I was reading my guidebook to see what was coming next on the route, thinking there was no way I was going to wait for 90 minutes out in the rain, and wondering how I might leave a note for Julia, another pilgrim I had met on the route today, and who expected to see me again at this albergue, when David stepped out of the albergue. He was getting ready to drive to town to pick up food for the evening’s pilgrim meal. He put my pack inside and drove me 800 meters to the village of La Espina, where I had lunch in a restaurant to wait out the rain.
The albergue is similar to Ernesto’s famous albergue in Guemes on the Camino del Norte, except that David’s albergue is much smaller, with only 21 beds. The theme is the same though – Camino of Life. There is a communal dinner that everyone attends, at which time the group decides when everyone will be woken up in the morning. “We are a family,” David says. “We eat together and we wake up together.” We all agree to be woken up at 6:30, to the sound of David’s gentle music.
There’s nothing to do in Bodenaya, and there’s no WiFi at the albergue, so we pilgrims entertained ourselves with conversation and card games. While we ate dessert after supper, David told us stories about the Camino. “In the Middle Ages,” he said, “a series of hospitals was built to support the growing number of pilgrims.” They weren’t hospitals as we know them today. They were refuges where pilgrims could find food and shelter for a night. He said that, frequently, French convicts were given the option to take the pilgrimage to Santiago because so few of them ever survived it. And if they did survive it and returned home, then they deserved to be absolved of their sins.
David says there are several pilgrim cemeteries near Santiago. It was common for pilgrims to die from disease, infection, or exposure on their journey. And when they arrived in Santiago, they still had to make it back home. There were no buses, trains, or planes to assist them in that endeavour.
David smiles when he says, “Pilgrims today complain about the mud, but there are hospitals and pharmacies along the way, and we have Goretex and every other advantage that pilgrims from the Middle Ages never had.” I smiled too, promising myself that I won’t complain so much about the mud in the future.
We had 18 pilgrims at David’s little albergue, representing 12 countries. So cool.
Bodenaya to Campiello – 24.5 km
At 0635, we were greeted with the sweet sound of Ave Maria. The coffee was ready. It was time for the 18 pilgrims at the Albergue in Bodenaya to wake up.
When we went downstairs, our hosts, David and Celia, had laid out all of our clothes – washed, dried, and folded. It was lovely.
I lingered at the albergue until a little after 8:00, drinking a third cup of cafe con leche, which is unusual for me. Usually, I like to get out onto the trail early.
After some terrific hugs from our hosts, I stepped out into an overcast morning and climbed the slope out of Campiello.
There was a lot of mud on the trail today, but after David’s fireside talk yesterday about the trials and tribulations faced by pilgrims in the Middle Ages, I didn’t complain much. If this was the worst thing I had to deal with today, it wasn’t so bad.
In fact, the day turned out to be perfect for hiking – warm, but not hot, with sunshine, nice trails, and excellent views. And I was thoroughly delighted that there was an absence of biting insects.
Campiello to La Mesa – 31.5 km
There were a couple of options out of Campiello this morning, but both involved hills. One option was a little longer and a little easier, going through a town called Pola de Allande, where one can find all the amenities – bed, restaurants, and grocery store.
The other option, which I think of as the Hospital Route, climbs nearly a vertical kilometer, passing three medieval hospital ruins. This route provides no support for pilgrims. There isn’t even water available for nearly 20 kilometers. As you can imagine, I took the hospital option, primarily because all the guidebooks promised incredible views in good weather. And once the clouds cleared by mid-morning, I could see that the guidebooks were correct. The views really were beautiful, so much so that I took nearly a full hour’s break near the summit.
I especially liked climbing above the clouds early in the morning, seeing the sun for the first time in the day, and thinking that the distant Cantabrian mountain peaks poking up through the clouds looked like fork tines sticking up through a big marshmallow.
On the descent, I caught up with Daniela, a friendly 34-year-old from Slovakia, who I had initially met at the albergue in Bodenaya a couple of days ago. She walks quickly, so we hiked the remainder of the way into Berducedo, where most of the pilgrims were expected to finish for the day.
We grabbed a cold beer on this hot day and then, not having seen any of our friends come by in an hour, decided to buy some groceries and carry on for another hour of walking to La Mesa. We’ll make some pasta and veggie sauce in our albergue kitchen. But not until the Germany-Mexico World Cup game ends.
La Mesa to Castro – 21.9 km
Well, it’s finally happened to me after years of hostelling and after several months of living in albergues on the caminos of Saint James. I’ve finally been attacked by bed bugs, with bites all over my right leg. I can’t even be sure which albergue it happened at because sometimes it can take several days for the bites to cause symptoms. It’s a bummer because I am usually very careful checking the mattresses before I use them.
I’ve looked through my kit and it doesn’t appear that I’ve transported any of the little buggers with me. I admit that the thought of bed bugs crawling over me, excreting some anesthesia on a juicy part of my exposed skin to prevent me from feeling their bites, gives me the heebie jeebies. The good news, though, is that the bed bugs don’t transmit disease, so it’s more of an annoyance than a medical concern.
There was more great hiking today. I was delighted to see the sunrise for the first time in a few weeks, and I was blessed again with views of a cloud-filled valley from above. When I met up with my new friend, Daniela, she commented that the only time she had ever looked down onto the clouds was from a plane. And here she was now hiking above them. She was in awe.
Not far from the village of Buspol, a sign had been posted asking pilgrims to kindly take a longer alternate route around an area that had been devastated in a forest fire last year. I opted to take the alternate route – they were so darned polite in their request after all – and thoroughly enjoyed walking along a forested road, singing oldies songs out loud into the silence, until I eventually caught up with Daniela at the Salime Reservoir dam.
The village adjacent to the dam appears to be abandoned, with severely damaged white-washed buildings scattered along the hillside, their roofs caving in. The buildings probably housed the dam workers in the 1950s. The only sign of civilization is a beautiful hotel and bar sitting majestically on the rocks above the reservoir.
I stopped there for a cafe con leche, and still enjoying the heat of the sun as I sat on the patio, I bought myself an ice cream cone to make the moment even more delightful. I could have stayed there all day because of the intense beauty and silence.
Near one of the abandoned buildings, Daniela found a wild cherry tree, with fruit ripe for the eating. I was hesitant at first because they didn’t look like cherries I might find in Canada, but Daniela was insistent, showing me how safe they were by gobbling down a handful. Since she didn’t fall to the ground in spasms, I decided to try a few of the berries myself, and, sure enough, they tasted just like cherries. After ten minutes of picking and eating, I had pretty much consumed my fruit requirement for the week.
When we arrived in the tiny village of Castro at about 12:30, it was decision time. We stopped at the albergue for a coffee with cheese and bread and consulted our respective guidebooks. Daniela, although limping slightly from an injured knee, felt that she still had lots of walking left in her for the day and she was hoping to gain a day or two before arriving in Santiago so that she could fit in the Camino Ingles before her flight back to Slovakia. We had already walked about 22 kilometers and would still have another 20 kilometers to go to the next albergue.
For myself, I always seem to have more walking left in me, but continuing would mean I would gain a day that I would have to figure out how to use in Santiago. I had promised myself that I would temper my enthusiasm and use the Camino to do some thinking instead of trying to do big distances every day. After some discussion, I decided to stay in Castro.
So, I say farewell to my new Slovakian friend. We hugged and bid each other a heartfelt Buen Camino. Daniela is a good friend and good company, but as all pilgrims discover who venture on a Camino de Santiago, everyone must walk their own Camino.
Castro to A Fonsagrada – 20.2 km
I’m continuing to enjoy the rain-free weather and hiking above the clouds. It’s mesmerizing to stand high on a hillside, looking down at a valley fully engulfed in a drifting river of white. It reminds me of German Romanticism, in particular the 1818 painting by Caspar David Friedrich – Wanderer Above the Mist.
Hiking to the top of a mountain for the sheer enjoyment of it was a new thing in the early 19th century. Standing above the clouds myself, I think of how worthwhile today’s hike, indeed the entire Camino adventure as a whole, has been for me. Here, I am at peace.
I unceremoniously walked across the border from Asturias into Galicia, marked with a small sign and a line of pebbles across the path.
After walking, I spent my time doing what brings the greatest joy to many people on the Camino – hanging out with other pilgrims, new friends from different cultures, here with a shared purpose.
A Fonsagrada to Cadavo Baleira – 24.1 km
I’m part of a little band of pilgrims now, with Daniel and Juliane from Germany, Shenja from Russia, Cairon from Ireland, Kim from Switzerland, and a few others from Spain, Latvia, and Slovakia. We overindulged in drink last night after our lovely communal pilgrim meal, ending up sitting along a fence in a public garden watching the sun set.
I suffered a bit this morning from last night’s drink while climbing hills for the first hour. But then my head cleared and my hiking stride was strong. Once again, I was blessed with views from the hills of the valley covered in cloud. On one descent, I stopped for a coffee at a small place not marked on my map and thought, “I am literally having my coffee inside a cloud.”
There were a couple of killer hills today that left me wondering once again if the Spanish trail designers have ever heard of switchbacks. Perhaps the hills wouldn’t have been so difficult if it wasn’t for the heat. It’s been a scorcher today. Not that I’m complaining, of course, especially after having spent 19 straight days walking in the rain and cold. It’s just that the sun can sap one’s energy.
This is the first day in a long time where we had multiple opportunities to stop for coffee along the Way. Some days, we would have one opportunity at best, but today it seemed that nearly every village had a cafe or bar open.
I caught up with a Canadian couple, Joanne and Wayne, from Kamloops, and a German fellow, Rudy, who I had met a few days ago. We walked the last kilometer or so into Cadavo Baliera, where we booked into a new, clean albergue, hosted by the charming Mare, who brought us a plate of cherries she had just picked and washed. What a nice treat!
I cooked my own supper for a change and chatted with a young couple from Russia, who had come to the Camino to escape the insanity in Moscow because of the World Cup. They informed me that Canada has now fully legalized marijuana, which they had learned from the Russian news network.
Cadavo Baleira to Lugo – 30.5 km
It was relatively easy walking today. After one challenging uphill out of Cadavo Baleira, it was mostly flat all the way to Lugo.
I made a stop in Gondar, a small village filled with houses made of stone. I wandered the quiet streets looking for the Fontina de Valinas. Legend has it that those who drink from the fountain will fall in love. But after walking through the entire village, I couldn’t find it. Exiting the village, I met up with Cairon from Ireland. He’s a lawyer with a bald head, a full beard, and a good sense of humour. “Fontina de Valinas? Isn’t that the one where, if you drink from it, you get a creepy crush on someone?” Haha, what a romantic.
We finally found the fountain along the Camino just outside of town. I made a big ceremony of it by untying my shell from my pack, filling it with fountain water, toasting the romance gods, and taking a sip. Well, it’s six hours later and the only thing I seem to have fallen in love with is the Camino lifestyle – walking, sleeping in albergues, and having dinner and conversation with new friends who come from every part of the world. Such civilized hiking!
I’m in a bar now in the city of Lugo, a Celtic name, since Lug means Sun God or Sacred Forest. The old part of the city is surrounded by massive walls, built as a defence during the Roman years. The walls are still in pretty good shape and are the world’s largest surviving Roman walls. Despite this defence, though, the town has been turned over a number of times, first to the Suevi, then to the Visgoths in 585, and to the Moors in the eighth century. This is now quite a lively town, great for people watching. At the moment, I’m in a bar with seven pilgrims from six countries watching World Cup football.
Lugo to As Siexas – 31.5 km
I started my walk from Lugo, 100 kilometers from Santiago de Compostela, under perfect hiking conditions – overcast with no rain and no sun. There isn’t much to see for the 30 kilometers between Lugo and As Seixas. The walking was relatively easy, mostly flat on asphalt and gravel roads. The kilometers went by quickly.
In the tiny hamlet of As Siexas, we discovered that the owners of the hamlet’s only bar were unwilling to prepare food or even to open the kitchen if we couldn’t guarantee a large group, which unfortunately we couldn’t. And the promised food truck that is mentioned in many of the guidebooks is no longer making stops in As Seixas.
The albergue has a well-stocked kitchen with pots, pans, and dishes, so Sandra, an English woman who works as an English-Spanish-Portuguese interpreter and translator, discussed the problem with her Spanish pilgrim friends. One of them, Valentin, phoned a taxi in a village 13 kilometers away. The taxi driver took our grocery order for eight people, bought the food in the supermarket, and then drove it out to us for only 26 Euros. Wow! I love the Spanish people.
I was delighted to see my friends, Daniel, Juliane, and Shenja arrive. They had intended on taking the northern Primitivo route out of Lugo, which is a bit longer and connects with the Camino Frances closer to Santiago, but they changed their minds at the last minute and headed south. They arrived late in the day and had also neglected to buy groceries in Lugo, so Valentin cooked them dinner. Pilgrims helping pilgrims. Such a great community!
As Siexas is very small, barely a hamlet, but the albergue is new, modern, and well positioned along the Camino Primitivo. If it wasn’t there, the next albergue would be in Melide, nearly 15 kilometers further along the trail, which would have made for a very long walk indeed from Lugo.
As Siexas to Arzua – 28.0 km
Sixteen-year-old Victor from Venezuela, who was walking the Camino for the last 100 kilometers with his parents, set himself a goal to be in Arzua before noon. “My parents are so slow. I want to race to Arzua and wait for them at a cafe.”
I told Victor that if he could keep up with my pace, I would make sure he arrived in Arzua by noon. Sadly, the poor lad could not keep up in the +33-degree heat. It’s too bad, because I arrived at the cafe in Arzua at exactly 10 seconds before noon.
Sandra, the Spanish-Portuguese-English interpreter, and her two Spanish friends normally wake up early in the morning, usually around 5:00. But they rarely leave the albergue early. Today, they took their time eating breakfast and left at 6:20. I caught up with them about 13 kilometers into the day, just outside Melide, where the Camino Primitivo connects with the Camino Frances, which will take us the remainder of the way to Santiago.
Sandra was good company and we chatted about every topic, from our families to Galician landscapes to the process of curing cheese in the frequently seen hurrios that we passed. Sandra is a natural interpreter, explaining everything the two Spaniards were discussing, and telling them everything we were talking about.
Sandra has a lot to teach me about not using money to solve problems. She spent an hour yesterday evening sewing, making repairs to her clothing and backpack. She fixes things, whereas I would probably just replace them. Sandra also saves the grease from cooking to make soap. She jokes that she sews poorly, so she only sews when she doesn’t care about the article’s appearance afterward.
When David, Daniel, Juliane, and Shenja arrived at the albergue, we took a trip to the grocery store and bought a feast of food and alcohol for our long-awaited final communal meal on the Camino. Tomorrow will be our last day of walking, so we wanted to cook together.
And when I say we cooked together, what I mean is that I set the table, opened a beer, and watched the World Cup football game while Shenja and Juliane did the actual cooking. Terrible stereotyping, I know, but they really did want to do the cooking. It was fantastic; such good food and good company. The men did the cleanup, although we, er, waited for half-time to do so.
Arzua to Santiago de Compostela – 39.0 km
The day was forecasted to be a scorcher. And it was, reaching 40 degrees. I started walking early because it was to be a long day and I wanted to do as much of the 39 remaining kilometers as I could before the heat became oppressive.
I was thankful for the long stretches along shady forest trails with the scent of eucalyptus enveloping me. By 10:00, the heat was quite uncomfortable, and it was all I could do to stay hydrated, drinking a couple of liters of water and stopping for icy-cold drinks at cafes along the way. I knew when I was getting close to Santiago when I had to start paying airport prices for cola and Fanta. Gosh, how I miss rural Spain.
I expected the trail to be packed with pilgrims today, given that it’s summer and three different Caminos merge in Arzua, but there were surprisingly long stretches when I was walking alone. Still, I probably passed 150 pilgrims, mostly clustered in groups of 30-40. There were plenty of high-school-aged pilgrims, wearing what appeared to be team t-shirts.
This is my last day on the Camino this year, and while that might mean I would want to walk slowly and savour my last steps to Santiago, it wasn’t so today. I burned through 39 kilometers in 6.5 hours to try to beat the heat.
At 1800, I met up with my Russian friend, Shenja, at the Cathedral courtyard. We laid flat on our backs on the courtyard stones, staring up at the cathedral and the sky, soaking up the evening sun, and watching the tourists and pilgrims wander about. I especially enjoy watching pilgrims arrive for the first time to the Santiago Cathedral after their long pilgrimages. They look weary, but wear a very recognizable expression of wonder and gratitude. It’s delightful!
A gentleman from Holland chatted with Shenja and me. He and his wife had just arrived in Santiago and he noticed our packs with the shells, so he asked us about our Camino experience. He had never done one himself and was curious. We chatted for a few minutes, and then he wandered away, returning after a minute with a perplexed look on his face. “Is this all there is in Santiago?” he asked. “Is there anything else to see, or is this cathedral plaza all there is?”
Shenja and I chuckled. “No, there’s lots to see. Have you been inside the cathedral yet?” He shook his head, so I showed him how to get to the entrance. I smiled thinking how this poor fellow could have come to Santiago from such a long distance, taken a quick look at the Cathedral courtyard, shrugged, and, thinking that this was all there was to see, quietly returned to his car and drove back home.
Daniel, Juliane, Shenja, Kim, and I reunited at night for some drinks and to say our final goodbyes. We finished off the night by dancing to some traditional Spanish music, provided by a delightful and entertaining group of men dressed in the clothing of medieval monks. It was a splendid way for my pilgrim friends and me to end our Camino adventure together.
