Via Podiensis: Penultimate

22 October 2023 Thom Pilgrim Reports, Via Podiensis

Today I left the albergue just after 8:00 AM. My shoes were still wet, but I had a couple of plastic bags that I hoped would keep my feet dry. The route out of town took me past the church, but at this early morning hour it was safely locked up. It looks like market day is today – there are various vendors setting up tables and booths throughout the plaza.

I stopped in the first likely place for breakfast.

It was cold and overcast, and the forecast called for intermittent rain throughout the day. In the end, I would have very little rain.

The Way out of the city began with walking down back alleys, passing a closed church and the cemetery, and one of the greatest pieces of graffiti to be found on the Camino.

From here, it was sidewalks along a broad avenue lined with large houses and empty lots given over to gardens and, bafflingly, cornfields.

A turn, and its past a Cruceiro and another locked church with its graveyard. The town just sort of suddenly ends, and there’s a tall stone wall to one side of the asphalt road, and fields and trees on the other. Eventually, the wall ends, and I’m out in the countryside.

The Camino bridged small streams, and went past a weird mixture of rural and suburban buildings. There were horses and cows. Within just a few kilometers, the landscape evolved into a cycle of forest and field. The road was mostly dirt (or mud), sometimes with gravel or stones, sometimes even with a little section of asphalt or concrete.

Huge chunks of today were just a pleasant walk in the woods.

I ran into Jordan from Kansas, who I had met last night coming out of the Vigil Mass. She and I fell to talking about our faith journeys, and we walked and talked together for the rest of the morning.

My major disappointment of the day was one of my favorite little churches on the Camino, the Church of Santiago de Boente, was closed and locked. This is the fifth time I have been to this church, and the first time it was not open. Even last year, with Covid protocols in place, it was possible to get in the door. Even if you couldn’t quite get into the nave, you could still see it through plexiglass. Now, they had simply locked the door.

The image of Santiago in the altar of this church is one of my favorite on the whole Camino. Yes, it’s not a sophisticated statue, more like folk art. But for whatever reason, there is a simplicity and earnestness about it that just speaks to me. I was disappointed to have missed this year.

Jordan and I had second breakfast in Ribadiso at the 12 km mark at about 11 AM, far later than I had planned. The modern bridge for pilgrims over the river here replaces many earlier incarnations; there has been a bridge here since at least AD 572.

Next stop: the great city of Arzúa!

It was mostly sidewalks up to the center of the city. I had originally planned to have lunch here, but since second breakfast had been so late, I decided to put it off a bit. Well, that, and the fact that my favorite pizza place on the whole of the Camino was not yet open for the day.

Here’s where I took my leave of Jordan – she is staying in the city tonight, and I was pushing on. I admit I did briefly consider ending the day here as well. I’ve stayed in the city I believe on every Camino I’ve walked, but it was just too short today for how good I was feeling.

On my way out of town, I visited the kitschy and homey parish church of Santiago. It was built in the early 20th century, on the site of a succession of earlier churches. I prayed here for the intentions of the Camino as the community gathered for Mass. It was about 12:20 PM when I left, with many kilometers yet to go.

The way out of town is considerably shorter than the way in. Within minutes I was on the old familiar gravel and dirt road through the countryside and into the woods.

Some portions of this path were through holloways – great semicircular grooves worn into the very earth by hundreds of generations of pilgrim feet. It’s in these moments that the full weight and import of the Camino bubble to the surface. This path was carved into the earth by the very body of Christ, marching together toward the city of His apostle.

About 1 PM, I took a photo across the valley of Arzúa in the distance, and I started thinking about where I might have lunch. It was also getting warm enough that I was considering taking off my fleece. Yesterday been the first day on the Camino where I had worn the fleece all day.

I stopped at a place in or near the village of Ferreiros that might have been called Heidi’s Place, though the stamp said Taberna Nova. Anyway, the 1906 beer and the cheese sandwich were great. As I was finishing up, David from Montana turned up, and we had a bit of a conversation before I left.

I left there at about 2:10 PM, moving pretty slowly until I got warmed up. The temperature had cooled down, so in the end the fleece stayed on.

The Camino took a bridge over a divided highway, and for a short time we had some spitting rain. I was soon back under tree cover, though. During the course of the afternoon, the Camino did leave the forest occasionally, mostly to pass through tiny villages, many of which had no posted names.

There were even some farms.

At about 3:20 PM, I arrived in the village of Salceda. This has been one of my possibilities for stopping today, but I was still feeling strong and thought I had a couple of more kilometers in me. There was some side-of-the-road walking through the village, which is bisected by busy two-lane road.

Then it was back to the woods.

Shortly after this, I passed a memorial to fall in program, Guillermo Watt. Although there are many such memorials on the Camino, for some reason I find this one particularly affecting.

The Camino soon returned to the road and crossed over it. After a couple of kilometers in the woods and even some farms, again the Camino crossed the road, this time under it through a short tunnel.

And this brought me to the extremely dispersed village of A Brea. The last bed was taken at the place I had planned to stay. Rather than walk another 5 km, I sprung €30 for a room.

Tomorrow, God willing, I will arrive in Santiago.