12.63 miDistance
1,667 ftElevation gain
1,969 ftElevation loss
4 h 5 mTime
A full month has passed since starting this journey back in France, which feels like a world away from here, and a different time. We walked out of Santiago de Compostela in the early morning rain. I paused, turned around, and stole a final glimpse of the cathedral over the hills.
Another morning full of rain. But, it's been fitting these last couple of days. After a emotional day in Santiago, we were ready to get back on The Way, and head to Finisterre and the end of the world. The streets were mostly empty this morning. As we walked through the plaza to head out of the city we saw several pilgrims beginning to arrive.
It was Monday, July 2nd, and we were back in our element. I stole one last look at the cathedral of Santiago before we headed into the wilderness. We were surrounded by forests as we began our ascent up the hills surrounding the city. It would be a mostly uphill hike today. And there was no shortage of small hamlets and villages to walk through.
In fact, the entire day was filled with forests! I can't think of a time when we weren't walking next to a river, or uphill through a thicket of trees who helped keep the rain off of us.
We mostly marched straight through to Ponte Maceira which sat on top of a river called Río Tambre. There was a medieval bridge here which was pretty cool to walk around. In Finesterre you can get another certificate for completing the walk from Santiago to there, but this meant getting more stamps again, and the place where we would be getting our first stamp was a random restaurant on the river. The restaurant wouldn't open for another 45 minutes, and it was the only authorized place in town who could give the stamp, so we explored the bridge and riverbed.
When they finally opened, we felt guilty for making them hurry while we waited outside, so we ordered some food. Bad idea. It was a fish empanada from the night before. Yuck. We didn't waste much time setting out as soon as we had one bite.
Negreira was our stop for today, and it was all uphill. But it was filled with beautiful scenery and views as we ascended. Arrival in town was fast, and we quickly decided upon an Albergue above a bar. We had a very, very, cheap lunch: a full burger, fries, and beer for less than 5 euros in a bar down the street.
There wasn't much to do in this town at first glance. We played some cards back at the Alburgue before deciding to sleep off the walking from today before dinner. I woke up to find Crissi and Mauro were gone, so I took a solo walk around town to see what it had to offer. Tons of clothing shops, and grocery stores, which surprised me because we've seen towns of the same size with less.
I saw my friends sitting on a bench after turning around at the end of a street, and convinced them to get a 3-pack of ice cream bars with me. Best decision ever. We found a cute spot for dinner and drinks. It felt very chic, like an American cafe, and the dinner was superb. We watched the soccer game, partly because we had nothing else to do. So far these towns after Santiago felt less Camino-ish.
It would be an early night today. It felt good to get back to walking after taking a day off. I'm eager to get to the end, but I also want it to take forever so that this never ends.
