El Camino (Levante) A Gudiña (12.0km) to A Venda de Teresa (just beyond) Saturday 14th April, 2018

Cross with the camino diversion
options behind

Having done a few extra km yesterday, the plan was to push on to do a few more today - around 14km, and thus reduce the 16.2km day originally planned for Sunday.  It was clear in A Gudiña but soon turned foggy on the ascent into the surrounding hills.  I love the art/sculptures on this part of the route - it's lovely to discover them on different stages.  It always feels a bit like a treasure hunt.

With my pilgrim stamp from the bar - the only food/drink/rest stop for
a few km!  Stock up before heading out.

We initially drove around the old part of the village courtesy of Google so I knew the route out!  Old cobbles and crosses and way markers were clear and when I walked back it was interesting to see that this is one of the points where there are options of which camino to take.   One by way of Verin and the other by way of Laza.  The Laza route is the official "Levante" choice.

It is important to keep an eye out on these routes for this reason.  It would be easy to accidentally take the wrong way or even miss the route all together if you skipping sections... as we noticed a few pilgrims do this time around.

Make sure you take the right route - depending on the Camino
of your choice!

I really love the way that the local people who live along the route go to so much trouble to decorate the signage or put out flowers or little Camino symbols.  Often there are shells or even planted up hiking boots, various arrows or pictures of St James.  I captured a few along the route this time and will include the photos on the relevant days.

Fog on the climb to Venda de Teresa

I stopped to put on my fluorescent
tabard as although the photograph
doesn't show it well, it was actually
quite misty here!  Some "muy crujente"
nuts were a welcome snack here too!

With tired, aching and stiff legs I entered Bar Peregrino in A Gudiña were a very nice man made up a bocadillo con jamon which we shared for lunch and issues my first sello of the trip.  From here on they will be harder to find as there are fewer ayuntamientos and bars!  There are some pilgrim hostels and some cute little bar/coffee stops, some with their special shell stamps and we were lucky enough to be able to keep up with the stamping.  The barman then pointed me in the right direction, warning that there are no more food stops for some time and to the point where the camino divides in two - one heading to Laza (the route I needed to take to stay true to the Levante) and the other to Verin, which I think is also a rider's route.

The climb is not hard on the road, but it does continue up a long way.  Due to it being tar the going is quite fast and I covered a lot of ground in a much shorter time frame.  As the fog cleared the views were spectacular over the Encore das Portas reservoir and on the maps the word "alto" appears frequently!  We know we are in for a lot of up and down over the next few days.  I thought that Cebreros was going to be the hardest part of the route, but Galicia is much more strenuous.  It is mostly made up of mountains, whereas the Cebreros crossing was really just a belt of mountains to cross.

Abandoned bus stop and pilgrim fountain at Venta da Copela

Track beyond Venta da Copela

Eventually we turn off the road and take a track to Venda de Teresa.  Wow, these really are forgotten villages with only a small handful of people.  There were a few younger ladies with children, but I feel for them and wonder how much longer places like this will survive.

Fascinated at the old dilapidated houses and then one, all
alone, perfectly renovated in the middle!  I'm astonished
that some of the modern generations still live here - but
maybe it is affordable, or a family home?

As usual there was the varied assortment of campo dogs, all wary eyed or barking out a warning that someone was on the road.  Some slept or turned one eye to watch me pass.  It was on this part of the walk that I met a very friendly Spanish lady, possibly she had never been much further than this village (the one beyond V de Teresa - Venta da Copela) who asked why I didn't have a walking stick.  I initially did not know the word and she patted at hers enthusiastically.  I laughed and showed her my modern telescopic walking pole hooked onto my backpack.  She in turn roared with laughter in return.  She was very pleased to know that I did at least have a stick!  One of moving things she said when she asked me if I walked with a companion and I replied that I walk alone was - that one is never alone on the Camino, nature and everyone we meet is part of our journey and all those who have gone before are with us... I assumed from this exchange and by her gestures that she basically meant "God is all around us".

One of the many campo dogs

The sun came out to greet me as I neared the "Alto" and I was fascinated at how every now and again, amidst the dilapidated houses, one would be totally renovated with modern windows, pristine walls and doors and a new car outside.  I'm amazed that modern generations still choose to live here... there is nothing here, but maybe they are family homes, or it is cheap and the commute not to tedious, although having done a commute from the top of a mountain to a town regularly from one of our homes in South Africa, I know I would get fed up with it after some time!

Linéa Velocidad just below Venta da Copela

Where I met up with Michael the new Linéa Velocidad workings stretched below.  The engineering never ceases to fascinate me.  It isn't effecting the Camino here yet, and may not... it will depend where the route goes.  For now, they are building the main tunnels, bridges and "complicated" parts, I hadn't realised they did it that way... it then appears they will join it all together, linking them together with the rail tracks.  At some point it will mean that someone could walk the various sections of the camino as I did in the beginning from Valencia to Canals - taking the train out to different points and walking back or walking out and taking the train back.  The line will join Madrid - Zamora - Puebla de Sanabria - Lubían - Ourense and on into Galicia.  I could have done the whole of the Zamora to Ourense section by train, had it been open.

We drove back to A Gudiña where Michael had found good coffee and tapas to end the day with an ice cold beer - Estrella, perfect Spanish style.  I wasn't keen on the tuna empanada but welcomed the sit down.  My legs and body were aching and tired, still trying to recover from the late night and lack of sleep on the first day followed by being thrown in at the deep end climbing mountains, quite a shock after living in Norfolk for two years!  Despite stretching, muscles seize up really fast!  Between getting in the car and arriving at the bar - maybe 15 minutes, I could hardly get out of it let alone walk down the 3 steps to the door!  I must have looked about 306!  I certainly felt it in that moment.  However, once moving it's not so bad, but I always dread the getting up and getting going again.  That is until around day 4 when everything becomes easy and flowing again and one walks through the barrier and gets into walking mode.  By day 10 I always feel like I could walk forever - always just in time to come home!