Camino Primitivo: Poco a Poco

17 May 2022 Thom Camino Primitivo, Pilgrim Reports

Short day today. Francine has some pretty awful blisters, so we thought we would break up what would’ve been today’s 30 km death-march to Lugo. Instead, we will walk two shorter days of about 15 km each, and then take our planned rest day in the Cathedral city of Lugo.

This meant we had to bid a fond farewell to Enrique from Dallas, who had been our constant companion since way back in Casita Mandala on our second day of walking. He has been a great person to walk with on this journey, and we will miss him. He is pressed for time and it must make it to Lugo today. Such is the Way.

We left the albergue about a quarter past seven and saw a rainbow in the sky amidst the dawn clouds. An easy morning walk along farm roads in the cool misty air.

We came to fork in the road. On the left, the modern marked Camino path. On the right, the original Camino route past the great church of Santa María in Vilabade, considered one of the best examples of 15th century Spanish Gothic architecture and today a national monument.

Needless to say, we chose the right fork.

An easy, wide gravel road through forests of oak and pine. At some point, the gravel ran out and the road was a mix of packed earth and bare rocks, covered with a thin layer of pine needles. Somewhere off to the left was a broad, wide valley. We could catch glimpses of it through the thinning trees and scrub.

I could hear the rushing of the wind, though the trees mostly sheltered us from feeling it despite the width of the roadway. The clouds danced above us as the skies cleared up. Observation: the Spanish sunscreen I picked up the other day smells of roses.

As we were leaving the forest, on its very edge, we came upon a substantial stone church, possibly romanesque, but certainly reconstructed in the last centuries. It was locked tight with steel doors. There was a single grave around the side of the church, and a wide area with stone picnic tables in the front. What it was, I have no idea.

After this, the road was asphalt, and it snaked down through some woods into the town of Vilabade. We got there about 9 o’clock, and it was overcast again.

The church of Santa María Is beautiful, but it Is definitely in need of some restoration. Unfortunately, the doors were locked tight, as are the doors of so many churches in Spain, and we were unable to see the glories within.

Roadwalking straight through to Castroverde, primarily on asphalt. Not as bad as concrete but still not great. Stopped in town briefly for second breakfast, which in my case was just a café con Leche, and then back to forest roadwalking in the cool morning air.

The asphalt soon turned to gravel, and then to a dirt track through open fallow fields and on into the mystical forest. It was an absolutely beautiful walk.

Fell in with Nathan from Australia (and more recently the UK) for a while. We took a brief detour to see what a sign indicated was a 12th century church. When we actually got there, though, it looked much more like 15th or 16th century. Perhaps the original building had fallen down and they had rebuilt it later?

Francine and I got a private room at our albergue. Time to take a little break from dormitory sleeping arrangements. It’s a tiny village, and as far as I can tell, the only café or restaurant is in the albergue itself.

After showers and settling in, we spent some hours over beers with the Double-A’s just chatting and laughing, with some much needed Catholic geekery thrown in

We will have a communal pilgrims’ dinner this evening.