Pilgrims on the Way

Because sometimes, you just need a group photo. I didn’t take nearly enough of these on any of our Caminos. That’s Alicia and Rebecca on the left, and Francine and I on the right. Date: 29 April 2016 Place: Portos (Galicia, Spain) Map of the Day:

Francine is taking no guff from the giant ants of Portos. This place, A Paso de Formiga, is famous all along the Camino. It always reminds me of that 50s monster movie, Them! There are several of these giant ants here, which really gets the place noticed. The food here is great, the proprietor friendly and garrulous, and there’s an […]

After a 19 kilometer “morning”, we finally grabbed a much-needed lunch at “the place with the ants”. We’re barely tucked in to lunch here, and it’s about two o’clock in the afternoon. In the background, you can see one of the giant ants that give this place its peculiar charm. More on them tomorrow. Date: 29 April 2016Place: Portos (Galicia, […]

Ligonde is actually two villages, separated by the better part of a kilometer. The “second half” of the village is properly named Airexe de Ligonde, as this is the bit with the church in it. Even the modern Galician word for “church” is “irexia”, so in this place name you can see a little bit of the word’s evolution. It’s […]

In Ligonde, there’s a lovely little rest spot for pilgrims. We actually had plans to spend the night there in 2018 but thought the better of it and pushed on. Today, however, we’re here about lunch time. We grabbed some fresh water, some fruit, and rested our weary bones. This sign is next to the door, and of course I […]

The sidewalk Camino continued after Ventas de Narón through woodland and scrubland with the occasional pasture full of cows. When the trees were thin enough, in the distance you could see rolling farmland trailing off to the horizon. It was, as the kids say, “super cruisey”, and we made great time. We walked through several tiny farming communities before arriving […]

After Hospital de la Cruz, the Camino crosses a busy highway and takes the form of a sidewalk next to a rural road. This little section is lovely mix of forest, farm, and pasture. This section of Galicia reminds me of early days on the Camino in Navarra. Date: 29 April 2016 Place: Between Hospital de la Cruz and Ventas […]

I got nothing. You see stuff like this from time to time in the older, half-falling-down stone buildings in Camino villages. Why? I’m sure every stage of this, probably separated by decades or centuries, made perfect sense at the time. It kind of reminds me of an inuksuk. Date: 29 April 2016 Place: Hospital de la Cruz, probably (Galicia, Spain) […]

The Spanish, and perhaps specifically the Galicians, certainly enjoy their coats of arms. These are on the side of a building in the village of Hospital de la Cruz, I believe. They are those of the Province of Lugo, an administrative region within Galicia. They seem to be a mixture of those of Galicia on top and Castile y León […]