Day 5 walking - Lavacolla to Santiago

We set off shortly after 9 am with a view to arriving at the Cathedral by 12 on Sunday morning, as on the previous days it was cool but bright and sunny initially. Monte Gozo seemed to be further away than on my previous visit but never the less we were still on schedule and had just enough time for a brief drink and photostop. By now the path was very busy with many walkers aiming to arrive in the square for midday. You are not permitted to bring rucksacks and walking poles into the Cathedral and this proved a bit of a problem as we did not have sufficient time to deposit our bags so not all of us made it into the cathedral for the pilgrims service and decided we would return to the cathedral later after checking in to our hotel, getting dried off and getting some food. We returned later to collect our certificates and had to queue for ages in pouring rain and hailstones!

getting near MonteGozo

Almost there

Monte Gozo

 

my children, partners and my friend as we were about to complete the very last stage to Santiago

The walking pole

entering the city

 

 

 

the flying botafumeiro

all of us outside the cathedral in the Praza Obradeiro

sheltering from the pouring rain!

 

but eventually the sun came out once again

and we had a lovely evening overlooking the Alameda park

Day 4 walking - Arzua to Lavacolla

Today we decided as it was our last day of long walking we would make frequent stops for coffee, drinks and snacks with a lunch break at Santa Irene. This worked very well and the walking on this day was all within my comfort zone so I even managed to get ahead at a couple of points. My training in Ireland was well suited to the terrain of the day whereas some of the group were now struggling with knees and ankles and my daughter even succumbed to using a walking pole.

leaving Arzua

rest break!

hooray sunshine!

groupie at the morning rest stop

beautiful flowers near Salceda

got myself a sun hat

sampling the local beer

 

happy walkers

getting ever closer

trekking around the airport

 

Having taken so many little stops on the route our final rest stop, quite late in the day,  was at Amenal. It was at this point I recalled the long uphill and the trudge around the airport was still ahead before our stop for the night at the Xan Xordo just beyond Lavacolla. So my daughter and myself  set off ahead of the others to complete the journey. The long trudge around the airport provoked many questions about St James 's way and the route around the airport perimeter and took much longer than we had anticipated so we decided we would stop at the San Paio at Lavacolla for our evening meal The boys were all keen to watch the "big" football match after dinner. As previously the meal at the San Paio was superb and the football enthusiasts stayed on for a while to watch the match whilst the rest of us walked back to the hotel. It was a lovely evening but surprisingly cold for the time of year.

Day 3 walking - Palas de Rei to Arzua

Having enjoyed a delicious family meal in Palas de Rei the previous evening we awoke to serious heavy rain on Friday morning. First stop was breakfast at the Bar Britania where we planned our proposed rest stops throughout the day. It is  around 20 miles to Arzua so we decided our main lunch stop would be at Melide. My youngest saw a weather forecast that suggested the rain might stop by mid afternoon and thankfully this proved to be true. Much of the walk on this day is through woods which is lovely, however the rain was at its heaviest when we were on the very exposed path before Melide and combined with the low temperatures it was tough going for a while. As always the short stops for coffee, cake and the great hospitality of the local people made it all doable. After lunch our little group set off again and those who had stuck with me in the morning sped ahead and left some of the others to keep me company for the second part of the day.

setting out after breakfast in Palas de Rei

following the shells!

outside the church of Santa Maria

sun has came out at last

crossing the stream

exhaustion!

onwards

walking in the woods

getting closer

Onwards from Melide in drier weather through the woods and eventually intersecting the main road again near the really lovely little church of Santiago at Boente. Another delightful walk through the woods with some steep uphills before eventually entering Ribadiso. The scenery around this area is very beautiful indeed and is good compensation for the long ccontinual climb upwards to the town of Arzua where we were stopping for the night. It is safe to say we were all absolutely exhausted and had barely enough energy to eat that evening.

The last uphill of the day into Arzua

beautiful scenery all around

We are there!

arriving in Arzua

 

Day 2 walking - Portomarin to Palas de Rei

We decided to split this day into 3 parts taking the first stop at Gonzar where those who skipped breakfast could eat and those who had breakfast could indulge in some café con leche and cake! followed by a lunch stop in Eirexe and another cake stop at Portos especially for those of us who were partial to the tarta Santiago.

This worked very well as it gave every one in our small family group a chance to walk at a comfortable pace for at least a part of the day. I had found this day extremely challenging on my previous camino as there are a lot of long hills, not a lot of shade from the sun, no real problem with sun this time!. At the best of times I am a slow walker and struggle to keep going at a slower and steadier pace. My walking style apparently leaves much to be desired but it seems to work for me!!
It took a while for my sons who had not walked with me previously to catch on to my style which is stop and start stop again take a minute to catch my breath and start off again but they soon realised that if they kept going I kept catching them up again.
It was lovely though that each of my adult children and their partners spent time walking at my pace so I always had company. I really enjoyed being able to chat to each of them as we went along.

Leaving Portomarin in the morning

 

Decided we needed rain ponchos!

 

Portomarin was a very pretty town with a lovely square and a beautiful Romanesque church

 

 

 

Following the signs and markers on the way to Palas de Rei and the sun even came out briefly

day 1 walking- Sarria to Portomarin

All dressed up and ready to go outside our little hotel in Sarria

Pausing already on the first hill in Sarria!

We awoke next morning to more rain, typical of what we would call a "soft day" here in Ireland! We decided we would start off together with a view to stopping at Barbadelo for some coffee (for those of us not quite ready for breakfast at 8) and then take a lunch break at Morgade,

leaving Sarria

 just a little short of the half way mark to Portomarin. The walk to Portomarin is very scenic and the sun even came out for a while. The main advantage of the cooler temperatures was that it made walking a little easier however once you stopped and sat down you became really cold very quickly especially if you removed the backpack!
I had memories from my previous camino in hot weather in 2012 of being absolutely exhausted on arriving at the bridge in Portomarin only to be confronted by the famous "steps" into the town.
The long downhill stretch into Portomarin challenges the strongest of knees but this time I had enough energy to climb the steps, even though I was the last of our family group to arrive there.
We all checked in to our delightful accommodation where I decided to check my phone and lo and behold there was a message from my friend who had walked ahead earlier in the day to let me know she had left a small package for me at the foot of the steps in a blue bag.
On our last camino she had done me a great kindness by bringing me water to the steps when I was severely  dehydrated. This time I was able to return to the foot of the steps, collect the package with the water and her lovely message and then walk back up again. I am very fortunate to have such a good friend.

arriving at the Portomarin bridge with second son

the "steps"

the steps first time around with my youngest son

the steps, back for a second go with my oldest son, after collecting my "parcel" left for me by my friend!

Our arrival in Spain

The Gatwick Plane arrived in Santiago just after mid-day and my son, daughter and their  partners decided that as it was so very wet they would head into the city by bus to eat while awaiting the arrival of the Dublin plane so we could all travel to Sarria together later in the day.

By the time we arrived from Dublin it was still pouring rain and there was no sign of them outside the airport door where we had hoped to catch the 1610 bus to Lugo. Our friend who had also travelled from  Dublin was planning to walk a bit immediately after arrival with another friend (as she had less time to complete her journey) So we took their bags and they set off in lashing rain to clock up some miles and said we would see them later on.

Meanwhile several frantic phonecalls and text messages later, the four arrived back out

waiting at Dublin with my friend clearly hoping for sunny weather in Spain!!

 

My family-3 sons 1 daughter and 2 partners kitted out for the rain

 from the city just in time for us all to catch the Lugo bus from the airport. We were all exhausted, as we  had  virtually no sleep the previous night because of our travel plan and some of us had to stand for a large part of the bus journey. The connection to Sarria from Lugo worked ok but by the time we finally arrived in Sarria with our luggage, the extra bags  and the rain

 

 

we felt like we had already competed a marathon and we hadn't even walked a step yet!!

We arrived safely at our accommodation and after a brief rest went out to eat and await the later arrival of our other friend. The pizzas were the very best we have ever eaten and we relaxed and planned for our next morning departure whilst we spent time along the river side in Sarria.

final training!

The final training never quite happened as planned but consisted , for me and one of my sons, of one ten mile walk in each of the 3 weeks before our departure with a couple of 2/3 milers now and again-all on fairly flat terrain. I knew from the last time I walked in 2012 that the hills would be problematic but I was reasonably OK on the endurance part!

The weather reverted to the usual Atlantic westerly type with intermittent rain and  coolish temperatures but was, with hindsight, good preparation for the similarly variable Galician tiempo.

Our final few days consisted of a trip to the northwest of England for a family gathering with loads of hot sunshine and very little in the way of training. Some of our family group had had long practice walks from Liverpool to Southport (about 18 miles) and some us had none at all. So it was we set off to Spain, half of us from Gatwick and half of us from Dublin on the morning of the 20th May to begin our "Camino" starting from Sarria the following day.

My daughter and I at the family gathering in England before going our separate ways to meet up again in Spain

 

The Foyle bridge-Derry viewed from St. Columb's park