Camino : Ventas de Narón to A Calle de Ferreiros

Knowing that I was at least 10 km behind Aaron, I got up before 5 AM and was walking on the path by 5:15AM. The Argentinian fast walker had also been up and I left while he was still getting ready.

The path was dark, my headlamp battery was fading, and soon I was almost in a ditch by the roadside. As I righted myself, I saw the Argentinian walk steadily behind me with his headlamp shining brightly.

Aaron was up and had texted me that he would start a little bit later in the day. I was walking diligently and in two and a half hours, I reached Palas de Rei, where he was. I found a good breakfast place and Aaron showed up there.

Around 8:15 AM, we both started walking together and agreed on stopping at Melide for lunch. I had planned to stop for the day after walking 40km, in a town called Arzúa.

Passing the church of San Tirso, which was in Palas de Rei, I continued traversing the remaining route for the day.

There were many signs on the road to guide the pilgrims.

Aaron had told me a couple of days ago that he was in an Albergue where the person on the bottom bunk was playing video games all through the night and keeping him awake.

As we walked, we found a person named Richard who recognized Aaron. It happened to be the same person who was playing the video games all night.

As we talked more with Richard, we found that he had walked through the night for 61 km and then slept through the day. He was awake the next night. He was originally from Brazilia near the Pantanal and was walking the whole Camino.

I had talked to a German pilgrim 15 days ago who was very apprehensive about continuing walking after Sarria. In her opinion, many people walk the last few days from Sarria to Santiago, covering the distance in a matter of five or six days. Subsequently, they quote this accomplishment on their résumé thereby impressing prospective employers. The German pilgrim did not fancy seeing too many people on the Camino.

Today, I was seeing many people in front of me, but it posed no misgivings for me, as I liked chatting with them while passing by them. Each of them had a unique story which got them to the Camino.

I walked by an interestingly named town called Casanova.

A Spanish pilgrim had told me to go to a specific Pulperia in Melide named as Ezequiel. I remembered her suggestion and was looking forward to going there.

Soon Melide was in the offing. Richard, Aaron and I decided to go to the same Pulperia.

There were many Pulperias on the way, which were handing out samples of their octopus dishes.

We found the one we wanted to go to, the Ezequiel, and it was a very good one.

The massive mural they had depicting the whole path of the Camino Frances was very interesting.

Besides the octopus, I also had their scallops dish, which was fantastic.

Aaron wanted to walk 40 km such that tomorrow the burden to finish the hike would only be 30 km. I had started nearly 12 km before Aaron and an additional 40 km would result in a 52 km walk for me, which I wanted to avoid.

As we walked through the day, Aaron was showing signs of fatigue. He finally came around to the idea of stopping at Arzúa and walking 30 km for the day.

Reflecting on the idea of walking a bit more today, which would mean reaching Santiago a little earlier in the day tomorrow, was beginning to appeal to me.

We agreed to stop at Arzúa at about 4 PM and have a meal. After that, we would walk another 10 km so. We would reach a place located comfortably a short distance from Santiago.

It was quite a long haul, but there were more people around. I came across another bar with lots of people sitting outside and took another stop for coffee and cake.

Aaron, who was faster and ahead, texted me that there was a spot further up on the road, with a steep and circuitous road to get to. But one could just cross the road and walk up straight there, skipping a lot of effort.

A talk and fast Dutch person walked next to me about that point in the hike. I took the shortcut. After 20 minutes later, the Dutch guy walked next to me and was surprised that I was ahead of him. I joked that I walked smarter, not faster.

We passed through the O Retiro town close to our destination.

I always like to see these displays of how far are different cities from where I am. Santiago is only 39km per this board.

The huge murals I saw all along the Camino continue to amaze me.

Finally, at about 6:30 pm, we reached the Albergue for the evening which had an attached restaurant offering a variety of good food. It was a good evening to relax and I did not feel tired even with the 48km we had covered today. Probably the excitement of finishing tomorrow had something to do with it.