El Camino (Levante) Xunquiera de Arubia to the Poligono in Ourense and thence onto our Hotel which was right on the Camino route into central Ourense (approx 17 km).  Final full day - Friday 20th April, 2018

Watch out for the slight diversion to take you off the busier
road and sharp bend.  It takes a nice little detour on a prettier
route - go to the left of the barrier here and head down the hill

The detoured route off the main road

And so to the last full day of this particular section to the Camino.  It stared with a beautiful and cool morning.  The sun was due out but a haze kept the heat off, certainly for the first part of the morning.  This was one of those sections that was a bit daunting for me as I really do not like waking on the road, especially if it is likely to be busy.  Tar walking is very tiring on the feet and body and pretty demoralising.  Despite this, the walk was actually remarkably peaceful.

 The road was not busy all the time and although quite a few lorries use it - still all in relation to the railway construction - they were noisome but supportive - hooting loudly with thumbs up to all those walking the Camino.  This is what the Camino is all about - or at least in part.  There is a connection between people, a warmth and support - it feels nurturing even when walking alone.  This echoed the sentiments offered by the elderly lady in the mountains earlier on the trip when she asked me the equivalent of was I walking "by myself" which is different (to her) from walking it "alone" saying "you are never alone, God is always with you".

About half way along the route is a fabulous little cafe where they also do sellos.  On weather like the day held it was nice to sit outside and relax.  The coffee was good and it provided some cool shade as the day heated up.  Look out for Cafe Bar Manuel (no not that one!!)... A Peregrina was coming up behind me but she must have decided to stop as she never passed me.  I seem to be first out today and stayed ahead - unusual for a change as usually I get overtaken which always amuses me as people thing I walk fast!  I don't see the point of rushing - there are too many fascinating things to see and amazing views to take in, scenes to record and photographic memories to record.

Despite the routes starting to converge on Santiago, there are still not lots of pilgrims.  Apart from spying the one near the cafe, I walked totally on my own today.

Love these wonderfully cold fountains for both refreshment and cooling off - sweet and delicious spring water

One diversion (which I added to the map) was to "San Xillou" (like Saint Gillou - the namesake or our favourite French character in Spiral)... It did have more wet and mud, but this time I managed to keep my shoes dry!  I passed the East Tunnel Mouth and then a km later the West Tunnel Mouth of the new high speed rail link to Ourense.

There were some beautiful watering holes - such as that in the photograph above, with icy cold refreshing water.  As I entered the outskirts of the city and countryside turned to town, the shell markers were laid as tiles in the centre of the pavements.  Large yellow arrows were painted along walls or in the middle of roundabouts.  The markers in Ourense, or certainly on the entry when heading to Santiago, are very clear - much better than many other cities I have passed through.  Maybe this is because it is a main entry point for many who walk only the last 100km of the Camino and the fact that many routes converge here.

Life size cow statues - painted ceramics (?)

There was one weird moment before reading the poligono - a house with a large field attached to it that had decided to go a bit "Milton Keynes" on the Spanish countryside...  The cows you see in the picture are statues!  Initially I had looked at them and not taken much heed, but as I passed I thought, that's weird, they seem remarkably still. Then.. hmm, they don't seem to have moved since I first noticed them?!

Our favourite pulperia!

By the time I reached the industrial estate it was hot, hot hot and I did start to feel tired, flagging as my feet pounded the pavement and tarmac.  On reaching the final hill up to the hotel the thermometer hit 31C, I much prefer walking in temperatures that do not exceed 28C!  I couldn't believe that as I got closer the route actually passed right by our favourite restaurant - the pulperia!  There, were the arrows and markers, clear when walking but which we has missed when visiting the bar to eat!

Opposite the road where
we turn to our hotel and
starting point for the last 5km
into Ourense. 

Outside the hotel - passport stamped
and Robertson Male with me

To note, there is a great bar on the right just after the big round-a-bout just before you head up the hill toward the Pulperia (if you are in time to go in for lunch - do so!)... The bar sells caña for only €1.00 and provides sellos for Pilgrims.  Missed that!  I had decided to just do one at the hotel as it is only 200m from the Camino.  After one last hot push, I reached the top and headed to our hotel - a quick change and then out to another of our local cafes for white wine, lunch and calamares.

At the top of the hill - 200m from the hotel - the Eurostars Auriense

El Camino (Levante) Hotel Eurostars Auriense to the Cathedral (the last 5km to the centre).  Saturday 21st April, 2018

The feet were definitely a tad sore when I woke up in the morning - I think that 17km of pounding tar was a km too far, but I made it and today M joined me for his first walk since the first day after resting his foot.  Also, the first time we have walked a committed distance together, deciding to take a taxi back to the hotel from the Cathedral.

It was beautifully cool and dry with an astonishingly pretty walk into the city.  Unexpected and therefore even more special.  One of the "unexpected" delights was that of "Sex-Elbow" - actually Siexalbo and it's Panadería Roberto with a friendly and delightful baker - maybe Roberto?!  He invites peregrinos in for their sello and no doubt realises that his pastries will be too enticing to resist!

Panadería Roberto welcomes pilgrims

The aforementioned "divine"
pastry!

The pastries are to die for!  I had a little twist with chocolate on the outside and stuffed with a sort of caramel. Divine!  Siexalbo itself is a beautiful old town, mostly restored to former glory and absolutely a place I would love to have a town house if I won the lottery!  The area of Galicia, the food and Ourense itself are impressive and a real find, a little bit of relatively unexplored Spain perhaps, certainly by British tourists.

A frieze on one of the walls is of pilgrims pointing along the Camino showing the way into Ourense and then on, beyond to Santiago.

Frieze pointing Pilgrims onward toward Santiago

We passed by more huge and magnificent houses.  One very imposing building had a "fuentes" of St James and a statue of Santiago himself.  We thought the owners must be very pro-Camino and the house itself overlooks the route.

Be very careful around Santa Agueda!  It is very easy to get lost here.  As soon as you leave the main road, there is a left to take you down and then under a railway bridge.  It goes behind the houses and the marker can be rather over grown.  We ended up going some distance out of our way - and because markers can be a little more elusive in towns, we didn't question the fact we hadn't seen one for a while.  We had to backtrack some distance in order to find it.

St James in the cathedral
in Ourense.  

The cathedral was magnificent with many references to St James.  They are also one of the most welcoming cathedrals so far with concessions for pilgrims and happy to stamp the passport - €3.50 rather than €5.00 and that is still much less than the other cathedrals which, like the UK, charge more than one might expect!


The statue of St James in the cathedral is the "only" one to show him triumphing over evil with his sword.  The portico (with St James) is apparently second only to the one in Santiago.

With my sello and the
Robertson Mala outside
the cathedral

The taxi back to the Eurostars was only €11.00 in April 2019 and the Eurostars Auriense was excellent value - allowing us to use one central location to walk this entire section and stay in comfort - only €465 for 10 nights for 2 people.  The room was spacious and clean and very comfortable.

From the cathedral we decided to walk up to the Monastery of San Francisco which has an albergue.  It has the most magnificent cloister (the third panorama below) but finding it can be confusing as the signs are not entirely clear and it is quite a hike from the cathedral!  The sign seems to suggest you go all the way around the round-a-bout and exit eg as though leaving at 3 O'Clock if you enter at 6 O'Clock but in reality it is more like "go straight across"!

The first two panoramas that follow show the magnificence of Ourense Cathedral

Cloister of San Francisco Monastery - Ourense

The end of this section of
the Camino - mala and sello
outside Ourense Cathedral

Treating ourselves to a special meal out to celebrate - in
the lovely town of Allariz

 

View from the restaurant in Allariz

With a few hours to spare before our flight, we took lunch
out at the Faro (lighthouse) at A Coruńa.  The ONLY
redeeming feature in this carbuncle of a town!  

The beach just outside A Coruńa - about the only pretty sight
in this dreadful and godforsaken buboe of a town

Before heading home we had some time to kill and went out to the lighthouse at A Coruńa on our way to the airport.  Oh my word - what a horrendous town!  I am sure it must have a high suicide rate - the buildings are depressing and just awful!  Talk about concrete jungle with no character... I couldn't even bring myself to photograph it, it was so horrendous.  The little bit of beach we found was the only redeeming feature!

Anyway, we did manage to find a pretty part of spend our last few hours before heading back to the UK and to plan for the final stage of the Camino.  I really want to complete it in the autumn - my favourite time - so it's likely to be a whole year away (and a bit more) before we return to this beautiful province in Spain.

See you in Santiago!