Camino 2013 - Day 42: Olveiroa To Cee

I'd gone to sleep hoping for cooperative weather and woke up to some nasty wind driven drizzle.  Despite this we left the albergue fairly early and headed on our way to Fisterra.

We'd shared our room in the albergue with some biking pilgrims.  They passed us just outside of town and, for once, I did not envy the bikers.  The wind must have been brutal for them this morning.

The river down below us not obscured by fog this time.

While the skies were overcast and the the drizzle was fairly constant I could still see better than the last time I walked through here.  Last time the fog obscured the river running through the valley below the trail.

The Camino reached it's peak of the day near the town of Hospital (I wonder how many towns in Spain are named Hospital - the Camino passes through several).  They are building a Pilgrim's office in Hospital but it wasn't complete yet when we passed through.  We did stop at the cafe.  The cafe is the last place to get food and drink on the way to Cee which is some 15 km (9.3 miles) away.

The lady who ran the cafe was awesome.  She was nice and had a smile on her face.  She made us feel welcome.  We ordered food (croissants, bananas, and a slice of biscocho for me) and some orange juice.  V_n was here (he'd left before us) and we chatted a bit.  As we ate the drizzle became rain and the rain became a downpour.

A Camino arrow under an inch of running rain water.

We headed out into the rain hoping it would die down but it didn't.  The wind we'd fought all morning continued to blow.  I was soaked to the skin before we even left Hospital. As the Camino weaved it's way along fields and hills, we turned a different side towards the wind blown rain.  I felt rain in my face, rain from the right, rain from the left, and even rain at my back.  I was thoroughly drenched.

We stopped briefly at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows to try to get out of the rain but there was only room for five or six people with packs under the small roof.  We left and the rain and wind continued to pummel us.  At times I just turned around and laughed at G_v who laughed back at me - there was nothing to do but laugh at the situation.  (In the video below the couple up ahead is the Korean couple.  I think you can hear how I feel at the end.)


I was carefully walking around huge mud puddles when I thought to myself "What's the point?"  Why was I walking around the puddles?  I was already soaked and my shoes were completely full of water and squished each time I took a step.  What was the point in walking around them?  I still found myself walking around the puddles though - I couldn't help it.

A small puddle to walk around.

A few kilometers outside of Cee we decided that we would not be continuing on to Fisterra that day.  I think it was G_v who said it out loud first but we were both thinking it for several kilometers already.  The rain and wind were just so demoralizing.  We reached the last hill before you dropped down into Cee.  This is where you see the ocean for the first time.  Sadly, with the rain the ocean was not visible.

While we didn't see the ocean at the top of the hill,

it did come into view as we approached Cee.

We reached Cee and stopped at an albergue.  It wasn't open yet so we waiting under the awning out of the rain and waited ... and waited.  The opening time came and went and I grew impatient.  Not far up the street was a hotel.  Hotel Larry.  Yes, the hotel was named Hotel Larry.  We walked back to the hotel and got rooms.  We asked about laundry and the guy running the hotel said they had laundry services and they were included with the room - no extra charge.  Wow.  That was a first.

We went up to our rooms and changed into something dry.  All I have to say is thank you to the guy who invented the dry sack.  I had a large dry sack in my pack where I put all my clothes in.  They stayed nice and dry.

The night lights of Cee.

By late afternoon the rain started to diminish and became a light drizzle.  It slowed down enough for us to go walk around Cee.  We saw the ocean through a thin haze.  We ate some lunch, found an internet cafe and sent out emails, and stopped at a grocery store for supplies.  Back to the rooms for naps and then we went back out for dinner.  By early evening the rain had finally stopped altogether and the city streets, which had been empty in the afternoon, filled up with people going out to eat, shop, and enjoy the evening.

Our home for the night - Hotel Larry.

This day had been a truly miserable walking day even though it did seem to go by fast.  The albergue did finally open but I think I was happier in my real bed with a real bathroom with a real shower and real towels at the Hotel Larry.

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

Total Distance on Day 42: 20 km ( 12.43 Miles) Total Distance Walked: 975 km (605.84 Miles)

Approximate Track of the day's hike.

[Click on map for a larger version]