Brucey bonus, I miscalculated. It was a 34km day! The route was an undulating mix of road and forest trails.
I didn’t sleep so well last night, just couldn’t get comfortable. At 5.40am I decided to get up and go. I had done Most of my packing last night, so I could get away early with it being another long day.
It had just gone 6 when I began the day’s walk. For the first 10km it was purely road, walking at a gentle incline. As dawn broke I was almost at the highest point of this stage.
By 9am I was in O Castro, the stage end where there was no room at the albergue. I had breakfast at a cafe then moved on.
I was making good time, passing through woodlands in full birdsong and following small fields of crops surrounding little farming hamlets.
The road walking wasn’t too bad having it broken up with the soft gravel paths – the feet weren’t complaining like the last few days.
At 21km I stopped at one such hamlet to rest on the green. It was a hot day requiring more water breaks. I just relaxed listening to the birds and the crickets chirping away.
I lost myself in the quietness and before I knew it I was in Boto – just in time for lunch. I thought it was 10km more from there, and decided last night, if my feet had had enough at this point I would stay at the hostel there.
After a bocadillo, I felt ready to hit the last 2hrs of the day. But I had a bit of Camino magic – or just my bad arithmetic. I was in A Laxe an hour later. It was only another 6km away!
First in the albergue. I did my chores then wondered up the road to the bar for a couple of beers. When I returned there were two new faces; Matthew from California and Luis from Salamanca, Spain.
I met them back at the bar for some food. Luis is cycling and will be zooming off tomorrow, however Matthew is a fellow walker and hasn’t decided whether he is going to aim for Santiago Friday or Saturday – potentially I have someone to share the trail with. But we all agreed to have breakfast together in the morning.
Stu's Camino 