Peter Camino

Scenic day on the trail. June 7 Today's been a good one. I slept until the 6.30am alarm went off, which is very unusual. It may have had to do with the air conditioning, so I could drop the temperature to about 17 degrees, but in any case I slept well from before 9pm. The four star hotel in Sarria made me sorry I wasn't young, when it came to breakfast. I just can't manage all that food any more. I did the compulsory (for me) cereal, fruit and yoghurt, as well as fruit juice and a couple of coffees, but struggled with a bit of tortilla. Wishing I could manage more, I wandered off soon after 7.30am. I met up with three Australians - Belinda, Christine and Natalie (I think I've got that right). They were a little lost and confused as their luggage had been lost as they flew in. They'd been looking for somewhere to get new pilgrim passports, as their flight from Australia had been inconveniently disrupted by someone dying en route and then the plane breaking ...

One misty moisty morning July 5 It was a pity about my bad experience over the washing line in Triacastela, as in every other respect it was a nice stopover, with a nice meal and company from Tom and Beth.  I was asleep by 9pm, but an hour later was woken by the most deafening thunder - the loudest and longest I've ever heard. It was the continuation of the storm that had started at 3pm and it had never really stopped rumbling round the hills in all that time. However, I didn't feel comfortable in my accommodation, so when I heard people stirring at 5.30am I got up and packed. I wasn't even going to have breakfast there, but the bar opened at 6am, so I paused for a coffee and juice (couldn't face more meat and cheese with crusty toast). I met a Canadian woman called Minique, who had taken a year off work to travel (and was selling her house to finance it), then set off into the dark. After the thunderstorm, the air was perfectly still, with a thick mist. ...

July 4 No fireworks, but a huge thunderstorm. with heavy rain, which as been going on for a couple of hours,  starting soon after 3pm. I had a most unsettling arrival in the village of Triacastella. I got here before 1pm - before my suitcase - so I went to a very friendly bar and had a beer and lots of free nibbles and nuts, which they kept pressing on me. That was nice and I came back to my room happy, grabbed my suitcase and had a shower and did some washing. There's a sort of sunroom just outside my door, so I slung up my clothesline and hung out the washing. The next thing I knew, a large, loud Spaniard was shouting and gesticulating and taking my line down. I saw red and there were some loud raised voices, including my own, giving him some choice abuse in English. He was extremely rude and I wasn't happy about it. It turned out there was a clothesline in the garden, and he was directing me there - but doing it as if I was an imbecile, so I took my washing down...

July 3 Maybe the second shortest day so far - after day 3 from Akeretta to Pamplona. On that day I arrived in a big city, staying at a fancy hotel and the wifi connection was no good. Today I walked just over 14km and arrived in O Cebreiro, a tiny village nestled in the mountains at more than 1300m, and again I have no usable wifi (although it may be better late tonight or in the early morning). For the first 6km, it was an easy wander along paved surfaces. From the village of Herrieras, I began to climb and the surface deteriorated. At about the 9km mark I stopped at another small village – La Faba for a coffee and a chocolate biscuit. Along the way I couldn't help but notice some of the many huge motorway bridge projects. Apparently they're funded by the EU to help the Spanish economy. I hardly knew the end of the day was close until I suddenly came out at O Cebreira after a total climb for the day of just on 700m. It wasn’t yet noon. It had been cool ...

Dawn on the Camino. July 2 Just completed day 27, so just eight walking days left (and no rest days). Going back to last night – I’d booked in for dinner at the hotel I was staying at. It had a very good reputation, with a proper chef, so I thought it was a good chance to have a meal that was a step up from the normal pilgrim meal in the town square. I went into the square and sat around having a glass of wine – didn’t want too much beer occupying my stomach – then went back to the hotel promptly to be ready at 7pm. It wasn’t to be. The chef’s car had broken down was the story, although I suspect I was the only person booked in and they decided it wasn’t worth it. So off I went back to Plaza Mayor and had a really good pilgrim meal. I had a very hearty Galician soup, followed by a pig’s knuckle with lashings of chips (which seem to go with everything). I refrained from the normal ice cream or similar and had a coffee – in addition to a half bottle of wine and was tucke...

A panorama of Villafranca July 1 I didn't really feel that I needed a rest day, but the company that did all my bookings had placed one here and it turned out to be a good thing. I'd had some rough nights of sleeping and some very long, hot days of walking and my body has spoken up. I slept long and well last night, had a late morning siesta and about to have a post-prandial nap. As well, I've had a huge breakfast, mid-morning coffee, a very satisfying lunch with a large beer and I'm booked in for dinner tonight. I much preferred my rest day here over the days off in the big cities of Logrono, Burgos and Leon. There are many churches here, but I get more of a sense of history and character of the place by looking at the very old buildings and the way that they merge with the new. While I was having coffee this morning in the Plaza Mayor, I saw this old house, which had been partly demolished. Why hadn't the room been emptied? I've bec...

The historic castle at Ponferrada. June 30 Yesterday may have been the hardest, but today was the longest - and the hottest. When I passed through a small town at noon, the pharmacy clock was saying 33 degrees and it got much hotter than that before I arrived at my destination four hours later. But to backtrack a bit. I woke up very grumpy because of the stratospheric noise I'd endured from soon after 9pm to nearly 1am. It was Saturday night in Molinaseca and directly below my window was a live rock band playing at unbelievable volume. It was a fairly classy hotel and I was very disappointed that they wouldn't have thought to at least mention it. I couldn't find and air conditioning in the room. It was very hot when I went to bed and I'd opened the window, but that wasn't possible once the music started. Added to that disappointment, they didn't start breakfast until 7.30am, when I had a very long day ahead and just wanted to get away early. I was d...