Saturday, July 18: Cadavo Baliera to Lugo (20 mi)

CC: We started at daybreak, no breakfast. The route leaves the mountains today and heads for the lower hills, where we will remain for the rest of the trip. But first we had to climb our last significant hill shortly after we started. And of course, that heated us up quickly requiring the obligatory stop to take off outer layers. Now, I always start out in my merino wool t shirt. Yes, it’s a little chilly at first but only until we start climbing, which is usually within 5 minutes. But not the girls. They come out like we’re in the arctic, and then we have to stop right away to change. Just keeping you up on some of the issues 😉

We made good time out of Cadavo. All business. The weather dropped a few degrees after a couple hours due to fog setting in. Towns were spread far apart, so we decided to take advantage of a bar in Castroverde. We had some breakfast and stocked up on cokes. As we were leaving the town, we came across this fountain.

Shortly thereafter, we were passing a small farm, and a man gestured for us to follow him into what looked like a small barn. We followed and found wall-to-wall tables displacing hundreds of whittled objects.

We weren’t sure if he just wanted to look, or if he wanted us to buy a few of them. After a few minutes, we thanked him and moved on.

A few miles farther, and we came upon a woman carrying a bag with vegetables. She was great. Spoke no English, but indicated we should follow her. So we did. She led us into a large garden with a cloth greenhouse in the middle. Then she pointed at the grove of trees and pointed to the fruit on them. The fruit was a type of plum. Some of the higher branches had very ripe ones. She grabbed a pole and knocked a few down, handing them to us. They were delicious. We ate them on the spot. Then she knocked down some more, and had us do the same. I took this photo of her, and she thought it was funny.

She pulled her dress aside and showed her leg, just as you see it in the photo, and just shook her head laughing. After we each had several plums, she took us into her greenhouse. It was chock full of different plants with ripening peppers, cucumbers, melons, and several other vegetable. She was very proud of her garden. A few more minutes, and we had to go. The next town, Santa Maria de Gondar, was still a few miles away. As we approached this small hamlet, we were greeted by these guys.

Their owner, a young woman, watched us pet them and waited just up the road. She was trying to move her cows and couldn’t do so until we left. So we moved on. The next few hours were a little monotonous, as we meandered the country roads. Around noon, we had been at it for five and a half hours. The day before had been tough, and now it was showing up. But we still had over five miles remaining. Carola made the comment that at least it was a nice day. Yudi replied, “Yeah, it’s a good thing the sun isn’t out.” Thanks, Yudi. Right then the sun came out, the clouds cleared away, and it started warming up. You have to be very careful with your comments on the camino. Our pace was subtlely slowing as fatigue set in. We took another break. Another couple miles and the city appeared.

As we approached, the route took us downhill a ways and then back up even more. Finally we saw the famous Roman wall that rings the original city, built two thousand years ago. This is a photo of us arriving outside the wall. Ana will provide much better photos tomorrow when we walk on top.

Another twenty mile day in the books.