El Camino (Levante) Just above Botos to Silleda (just 15.5km) - Thursday 3rd October, 2019.  

The 13th Century Cross

Well, we were blessed with another amazing day and good weather although it started very chilly.  I was slightly unnerved heading into deep forest, downhill into the dark... what was I thinking?!  However, as the dawn broke and the mist rose, the peace of the village with the 13th Century cross surrounded me.  Wow - this is what it is all about and that feeling of the past reaching out to shake hands with me enveloped me again.

Santiago over the door of the church

The cross itself was amazing - really special to see one so old and still in such good condition with such carvings on it.  It was such a special place, the church, the little village bar and the whole ambience was perfect.  With not another pilgrim in sight - I had the whole place to myself with the odd dog barking as I passed by and a few stray cars heading out to work.  There was a great frieze of Santiago himself, on the church standing over the door with his scallop shell.

Loved this little bar on the side of the road - it is on the left,
just before the 13th Century cross, which will appear on your
right as you head toward Santiago

This lane gives the general feel for the day.  

The new albergue being constructed
after Botos

There were lovely lanes and little villages along this route.   There is a new albergue touistica being built just after Botos.  This is well worth knowing as once finished, this is an ideal location to stop for the night with the next stop at Silleda.  It would have been perfect for me.  It is so nice to see that there is a call for more to be built.  I'm not sure when it will be finished but for anyone walking this post 2019... or now post 2020, keep an eye out for it.  Of course, in the current economic climate and with the Camino abandoned during these spring and summer months, I feel for all those who make a living along the route as they will lose out and head into winter with nothing.  Buildings such as this may end up being abandoned - who knows if these businesses will survive.  I hope that pilgrims will be able to confidently make their way to Santiago again - I am sure it must seem strange there right now, deserted and without the many pilgrims that arrive each day into the city.  In 2018 (the year before I completed my Camino) 300,000 made it with the busiest time being July and August.

The actual arrow is behind you!  

They have some very fancy "squiggly" arrows
in this part of Galicia - we were not sure why

As I headed into Bendoiro there was a mastin on a broken chain.  Highly unnerving!  I was not at all sure if it would be friendly and I was exceedingly glad that I wasn't still walking with one of our dogs!  I just kept my eyes away and walking as nonchalantly as possible, it ignored me and I crossed the road, following the arrows which, annoyingly, took me around to the albergue!  I didn't want the albergue - although it is a lovely building and very modern, with apparently a new extension to it.  It appeared to be currently closed though... anyway, the arrows appeared to point on past it and up a slight incline, but as I reached the top and headed under a road bridge, the route suggested it was the equestrian route and was pointing "back" the way I had come... I wandered around for a bit and felt frustrated.

Messaged M to see if he could drive back and find arrows on the other side of the town and where I should be from where I should emerge... and as I did, there they were, hidden "around the corner" that I had come and heading on past the albergue the other side and up a hill, back to the town and the road I had just crossed only a few metres from where I had started out... very annoyed.  The arrow, for those of you who follow on, will be "behind you" as you come toward the albergue - what you need to do is actually turn left when you see it ahead... although actually it is much easier to just turn left up the road as you arrive in the town!  You will end up in exactly the same place.

View from the track that runs to the left of the N-525
and around the back of the houses in Bendoiro

I continued on, the camino winding back and forth a little across the N 525.  I had thought it might end up being a road walk along it, but it doesn't and it is a really lovely stretch. I came into Prado and ahead M had parked with a delicious bocadillo and coffee, right outside the Taberna de Prado.  However, the camino takes a left here around the back of the houses and so I didn't see him or our meeting point.  I was busy admiring a scallop shaped manhole cover and taking a photo when dogs started barking as someone whistled loudly.  I didn't take any notice until I realised the whistle was meant for me - it was M trying to attract my attention to collect breakfast!  I backtracked the few metres and found a bench (thank you Jayne) outside a feretería (ironmongers) and enjoyed a nice little break in the chilly morning air full of the pleasant sunshine that promised warmth later.  

Who can't admire a scallop
themed manhole cover!  

Co-operative for cheese
that offers sellos, just up
from the bridge.  

Two or there pilgrims passed me today - mostly at a brisk pace in the town of Prado.  I still have no idea why they all walk so fast!  From here M and I intended to meet at the medieval bridge of "Ponte de Taboada".  The guidebook promised it to be worthwhile and a good one - so although this meant M parking up and taking a reasonable hike back to the bridge, we both wanted to see it and it is off the beaten track and not accessible by vehicle.  Wow - what an incredible and fabulous find!  It was totally worth it - so much so, that if you are in the region and not even walking the camino, it is worth parking up and walking to it either from Prado, or from the Silleda side.


This amazing bridge was built in the 10th Century - 912 AD to be precise and the route takes advantage of the old Roman road that also came this way.  There is no trace of the Roman road, but there is a lot of the medieval one left.  It was like stepping into the past, because the road and bridge are in such good condition.  Parts were rebuilt in the 16th Century, but that's still 500 years ago!

To think that his bridge was carrying pilgrims across the river and on to Santiago de Compostela, 430 years before Richard III was born and 470 year before his coronation!  It would have seen the decline of pilgrims after the Black Death and probably helped carry the plague to other villages - it was in existence 336 years before the Black Death arrived in June 1348.

Medieval road before
meeting the bridge

We stopped to enjoy the wonder of the place and to take photos and soak up the history.








It was wonderful and truly one of the highlights of my trip.  Probably second only to arriving in Santiago itself - so forgive the indulgence in photographs at this point.

Looking back toward the direction of Prado

The way to Silleda

It is really quite "pointy" on top!

View from the apex

Heading toward the next village - Carballeda and on to
Silleda - pretty much medieval road now all the way
to Silleda, including as you arrive into the outskirts
of the town  

"Spanish" chestnuts
gathered on the way

It was nice to be able to walk together for a bit and enjoy the scenery on this lovely day.  It was getting warm as expected and we saw the odd pilgrim or two ahead, checking the route or stopping to photograph things along the way.  A few more were appreciating what surrounded them and it was nice to see.  We stopped to gather chestnuts - as previously noted, what a crop this year, fat, swollen kernels of deliciousness - yum (!)  We had some to eat on our journey and in the hostel.  We even managed to take some home to share with Uz.

This was a lovely part of the walk.  On the top of a wall someone had left a basket of apples saying that pilgrims could help themselves.  There were lots of lovely shells and shrines along the way and fountains for refreshments.  It was one of the most relaxing "strolls" along the Camino I have done!

Pilgrims - help yourselves

Michael and I separated ways at the water fountain, he had to go a slightly different route to find the car as he hadn't quite got the location right and couldn't find the arrows initially - so he had walked in from a different direction.  I continued on toward Silleda and would meet him as I entered the town.  He was going to park up at the hostal and walk down to meet me.  The albergue actually had a private garage below - with an interesting electric door where you had to kind of sprint round after pressing in order to get back to open the back door and get out or vice versa to get in.  You had to be quick if there were other cars behind and you were blocking the street!

These really were enormous!

I headed on through more beautiful woodlands to Silleda.  Another long stretch of medieval road scattered with little shrines, with crosses made under tree trunks.  A sign with a home drawn pilgrim wearing a backpack, telling friends where they are staying in Silleda and sad, half starved but beautiful cows lining the way.  The sweet smell of haulage hung over the paddocks and I found a grove of HUGE fairy toadstools, one giant one in particular, on the side of the Camino.  






As I approached Deza (I think it was here anyway) there was an albergue more like a casa rural and I could have stayed along the route each day without any additional travel.  I only wish I had known that at the time, but the guidebook does not mention half these albergues.  Some may of course be new and I guess some are private, and the guidebook is no doubt getting a bit old and out of date now - yet when I researched to see if there is a new one available (as it was still 2 years since my last Camino when I last walked and 6.5 since I walked my first section) there had been no updates.

The tree stump shrines

What is it with these curly arrows?  I have no idea but
I do like them.

It was getting hot again and I was grateful that the last several km into Silleda were in the cool of the woodland.  I could take it steady as we were already booked into the albergue (Hostal-albergue Touristica) and it wasn't late.  It was uphill but I was in no rush and again it was more like a stroll on the final leg, still on the medieval paved road.  On entering the town a painfully thin mastin barked half heartedly at me and his female (recently bereft of her puppies) trotted to me wagging.  So sad, although they have a job - living in the field with goats and a horse - this doesn't replace the social interaction with humans that dogs crave and need.

View from our room - "busy" Silleda
street at siesta!  

Michael met me and had found a lovely organic coffee bar on the way to the albergue.  He had also tracked down a rate postcard for my friend Paula.  Wow, who would have thought buying postcards would be such a challenge these days - I guess it shows how things have gone since the arrival of FB and email!  We popped in for coffee and a beer and also got provided with lovely tapas AND a taster of cake!

The albergue was cute - small double room in a sort of converted old town house with a balcony and bathroom which was clean, but there was no gas with high to cook in the cocina!  Good job we weren't self catering.  It also had clean towels, bath mat and hot shower, but there were a few other things lacking, like finding the bin for toilet paper was full to overflowing!  Not pleasant.

M had found a couple of nice restaurantes and then discovered they weren't open or weren't doing what we wanted.  We faffed and debated - having planned on doing a take away and to eat on our balcony - but in the end decided to head back yet again to the Casas Novas as the food had been so delicious every day.  It was again - wow, langoustinas, pulpo fiera (paprika sizzling octopus) and patatas fritas with a divine ensalada verte with delicious but simple olive oil and vinegar dressing.  Yum!

Hostal Casasnovas - give them a call... you won't regret it!