25/06/2024 – On the Camino Finisterra 2

Day 41 – The patron saint of Galicia is John the Baptist. Today is/was his nativity day. We didn’t know this. When we started hearing artillery fire late morning, about 20km out from our rest stop (A Picota), we assumed we were near a military training range.

The way was long, (over 32km), hilly (over 700m climbed) and hot (a high of 29 degrees C), but we enjoyed being on the quiet trail, with blue skies. The Camino Finisterra is poorly served for amenities. 21km in we finally stumbled across an open bar/restaurant and gratefully stopped in for shade and a cool drink. We can attest it was the only bar for 8km in both directions.

There are/were, again, banks of wind turbines on the hilltops. Carey took the opportunity to fly in their vicinity. Meanwhile, I pottered about as usual, taking unsuccessful pictures of plants and bugs with my mobile.

We were about 6km out when we heard the music. In Negreira, we arrived to find 3 coachfuls of elderly people at a dance/party in our hotel. We heard that from down the street. They were gone by 7pm. We arrived into A Picota to a giant stage in the town square, right beside our hotel. The munitions were firecrackers, on a table in the street for anyone to “enjoy” (?). Only one major scuffle broke out as far as we could tell (beer, heat and music at arrhythmia-inducing volume will do that). Things quietened down around 4:30/5pm. Overall, it was fun.

The problem, for weary pilgrims, was when it started BACK UP AGAIN at 9:30pm. Amplified, Karaoke-style, live music from local talent broken up by driving DJ sets. They unleashed the municipal-size firecrackers. It finally ended (with a final 4-cracker tattoo) at 3:45am.

We are grumpy today.

Day 42 – You could call today “cloud walking”. Marching along ridges and mountaintops, there were no views. Often visibility was down to under 100m. Fortunately, the path was well marked, if longer than we expected. Despite the sign outside our hotel, it was a 27km day, not a 23km one. We got our first glimpse of the sea as we strolled into Cee. The clouds were at sea-level by then, but we saw flashes of a pretty harbour and heard the screeching of seagulls.

There is a laundromat very close to our hostel, so we have done a wash/dry and have no remaining stinky clothes to repack. Joy! We also acquired a picnic, because dinner is not until 8pm. Early for the locals. Challenging for us!

We are settling in for a quiet evening and an early night, after the festivities yesterday. There are mixed feelings that tomorrow is our last walk. There is completion (and lie ins) to look forward to, but it is the end of a special journey. It’s hard to put into words, perhaps “melancholy” is the right word: sense of a precious time ending with no corresponding sense of a start.