Camino 2013 - Day 41: Negreira To Olveiroa

We got a late start this morning, leaving the albergue at around 9:00 AM, and walked to a restaurant/cafe and had some breakfast before we left Negreira.  The weather was mixed.  We would see overcast, drizzle, and a little sun throughout the day.  We would be joined by V_n who walked with us most of the day.

The first twelve kilometers were tough for me.  I was tired and it just felt like a long hard slog though I suspect it wasn't that hard.  I was just tired after walking forty days.  We stopped at a couple places along the way to get food and drink.  At each one we ran into pilgrims we'd met along the way and had mini reunions.

Raindrops on spider webs.

Along the way we walked through forests, up and down hills, and past rain bejeweled spider webs.  Along one road I was chewed out by a guy for walking on the wrong side of the road.  This happened to me last Camino too.  An old lady offered us apples and pears from her orchard as we passed by.  I passed on the offer but V_n took one.

I took a lot of these trail shots because ... I like them.

At our last rest stop of the day I'd had enough.  I was pooped so I bought a tube of principes and drank a coke zero.  I finished the soda in the bar and I finished the tube of cookies before I even left town - yeah, some sixteen cookies in less than a mile.  I inhaled those cookies.  The combination of caffeine and sugar was what my body needed.  Before I knew it I was a ways ahead of G_v and V_n.   I even passed a few people on the uphill parts.

One of  pilgrim couples we passed was the Korean couple we'd met way back in Villamayor de Manjardin and again in Fonfria.  The Korean woman had changed the most this Camino I think. She went from hating it to liking it.  Her children and husband were proud of her and you could see how she felt about that by how she carried herself.

After a very long day ... the longest so far I think ... we made it to Olveiroa.  I was glad to get there as my caffeine and sugar were starting to run out of steam.  We decided to stay in the municipal albergue.  It was an interesting setup.  Instead of one building it was a group of building an both sides of a side street off the main drag of the town.  Two buildings on one side had dorms and bathrooms.  Buildings on the other side had a lounge, hospitalera desk and a kitchen.  It was quite nice.

The municipal albergue in Olveiroa with the blue doors and windows.

Olveiroa had changed a bit since I was here last time.  The private albergue I'd stayed at had expanded and a restaurant/bar/store was next door.  There were more pilgrim support in the town now.  We spent some time in the bar and shopping in the store.  There was a large map on the wall showing the route of the Camino and the locations of albergues, hotels, and other places to stay.  I ate an ice cream bar and studied the map.  We'd been thinking about stopping in Cee like I did last time but we had changed our minds a bit and were thinking about doing a really long stage and walking straight to Fisterra the next day.  The map made it look not so bad.  I didn't remember it being that difficult either.  We also looked at the route from Fisterra to Muxia which we were thinking about walking.

That night G_v made dinner.  I remember it being a bit cold that night as the wind started to pick back up and there wasn't much sun to keep things warm.  I was glad to have my base layer and half-zip to sleep in.  It was hard to believe that we were almost done.  Just a few more days.  I fell asleep hoping the weather would cooperate for a few more days.

Pictures can be found in my 2013 Camino de Santiago Google Photos album.

Total Distance on Day 41: 33 km ( 20.50 Miles) Total Distance Walked: 955 km (593.41 Miles)

Approximate Track of the day's hike.

[Click on map for a larger version]