Day 62 Silleda - Outeiro

Today we woke up a little later and left Silleda at 0745 after (expensive) breakfast at one of the local bars.  Initially we followed the N525 and later the path took us cross-country.  The countryside again was very similar to Surrey and we felt quite at home.

Narrow country lanes, gravel paths, stony paths etc etc., following a similar pattern to the day before.  Some stunning views of rivers, viaducts, the odd cow or two causing a traffic jam, old stone bridges and a new motorway bridge under construction came and went, and still the path went on heading ever closer top Santiago.


There are more villages en route now and one can sense the proximity of a major town nearby by the proliferation of industrial estates and built up areas.  One thing that was very pleasing today was to see dozens of day trippers walking this stretch of the Camino.  When we got to Puente Ulla the coaches were waiting there to take them home.  All right for some!

Another pleasing thing today was meeting up again with our friend Karl, whose foot has recovered sufficiently to allow him to carry on walking.  Tomorrow we hope to reach Santiago together - or as he put it "I only waited for you to catch up so that you can take my picture coming into Santiago! Seriously, he has become a close friend and we will miss him when he leaves for Portugal, where he has a flat, although we have threatened to visit him in Cologne later this year!

Today we were also able to catch up with our weekly live interview with Brooklands FM Radio, which we missed last week because of poor communications problems.  A reminder that you can listen to all the radio interviews by clicking the link on the left of the blog.

Finally a message for Roberto and Lisa - where are you?  We have lost contact and hope to meet up with you in Santiago.  Same goes for Johan and Karin who last we heard were a few days behind us.  We hope that you too will catch up with us in Santiago.  A reminder to all that our email address is look4gomez@gmail.com

Our Albergue tonight is near the village of Outeiro, surrounded by woods.  Very peaceful setting.  It is 8.30p.m. and pilgrims are still arriving!  Some people have emailed us asking if all the people are really pilgrims.  The answer is quite simple. No!  On this blog we tend to call everyone a pilgrim to simplify matters.  We take the view that anyone doing the Camino de Santiago and carrying a pilgrim "Credencial" should rightfully be called a pilgrim.

However, people walk for different reasons; some religious, some spiritual, some because of the physical challenge, some because they simply like walking.  Contrary to popular belief, many of the people walking the Camino are not even Catholic.  For example, the last couple of days we have been meeting two Russian girls one of whom at least is Jewish.  

Tonight we have been booking somewhere to stay in Santiago.  We are told that the city is heaving with pilgrims.  There are 3000 beds available for pilgrims in various Albergues in the city but we have booked ourselves into a nice hotel for a change.


On Monday I have to have my foot looked at as it is becoming very painful at all times, making walking difficult.