Day 31: Palas de Rei to Arzúa

[Under 40km to go to Santiago after today's effort of 29km, it feels very close]

My first photo for this post is a doorway just along from my last night's dinner café - I like it!
Knowing I had a relatively longer walk today and with forecast hot weather, I got away by 6:30am for a change. Surprise surprise there were plenty of peregrinos already walking

I keep seeing these (presumably) water towers, of various shapes and sizes, this one from yesterday. It's not completely clear to me what they do (if anything?!)
Most of today was off-road, but did still have plenty of ups and downs
The pretty Ponte de Furelos originally built in the 12th century
Restored from derelict...
A not-so-pretty small stone bridge for peregrinos, with vehicle access for M&K's motorhome
If Homer Simpson can do it....
The smell of eucalyptus is increasingly common here, with large areas of land in Galicia dedicated to eucalyptus trees, originally imported from Australia in the 19th century. The trees are eventually cut down for use as timber and paper
The Ponte de Ribadiso, where peregrinos were cooling their feet before their push to Arzúa
Did I mention less than 40km to go?
Arzúa
And this is another way of getting here
Yes, there are bus tours that "allow you to experience the major cultural highlights of the Camino while traveling comfortably by private bus". Not quite my thing

Comments

  1. NicolaMay 23, 2026 at 9:28 PM

    Fav photo is door hole ... how can I build (let's be honest ... Mark build) one of those at Kumara 😉 Less than 40 km ... I can sense the end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. allanmMay 24, 2026 at 5:15 AM

      It truly was an amazing door, the craftsmanship was incredible

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The start of the way

Not long now before I put my pilgrim hat on and start walking. Overweight and under-trained, which is a bit of a worry as I shortly start an 800km walk along the Camino Frances from St Jean-Pied-de-Port in the south of France, over the Pyrenees, and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela.  If all goes well, I'll continue on to the end of the earth (a place called Finisterre, where the Romans thought the world ended) on the west coast of Spain - all up close to 900km Somewhat daunted by the prospect, not just by walking 25-30km day after day after day in the Spanish heat, but by the extended time away from family My flight leaves Wellington next Monday, 20 April
Read more

Day 7: Logroño to Nájera

Image
I had an early start today; some kind person got up and started packing at 4:45 am, and thought the rest of us would like to join him. I lay awake for long enough to know that I wasn't going back to sleep, so decided to pack up my bed and walk I had planned to take a short or maybe even a zero day, but the early start in the rain persuaded me to just keep moving (it was quite cold). A bit of manual navigation required in the dark added to the fun, since a pedestrian bridge on The Way was closed I quite like the stylised camino shell used in this region First village,  Navarrete: Just before my morning coffee and tortilla de patata, I had my gold fix for the day at the Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción in Navarrete. I'm in three minds about this one: is it gaudy or godly or just goldy? [Sorry, not sure if that needs to be rotated on your screen. The video looks impressive, but I can't work out how to embed it...
Read more

Border controls

Image
It's not quite so much fun traveling to the other side of the world without my favorite traveling partner, Sue. Apart from everything else, she probably would have solved my navigation problems at the airport in Paris. I got through arrivals security ok using the new automated passport controls. Then missed a turn and went through departures security (oops), and then got stuck - the automated passport machines refused my re-entry. So I had to go in another long queue to go through the manual border control. All's well that ends well, so I had a day wandering the Paris streets... ... and a lot of waiting around, before boarding the overnight train to Bayonne, with just a short train ride in the morning to St Jean Pied-de-Port
Read more