El Camino – Day 6 (Bruma to Outeiro)

by marjasisu, posted in Reflections

And today, we got rain. I suppose you can’t call yourself a true pilgrim of El Camino until you do. In spite of this, the nearly 10 miles felt like less … probably because it was mostly flat. And because the rain didn’t last all day. Pilgrims from Belgium and the U.K. joined us briefly. Only 15.5 miles left, and Ginny and I both feel we could go farther. But we aren’t done yet! I added some blister prevention (Compede) to my troublesome toe today, grateful for veteran Maria’s administrations. Maybe this is the best “first walk” for newbies like my sister Ginny and me. The kind that leave you wanting more. The trek on Camino Ingles continues below…

This map, from the app “Buen Camino,” shows our route from Ferrol to tonight’s destination (the blue dot on bottom). We’ve done that yellow line by foot – about 55 miles. Less than 20 miles to go. That’s the Atlantic Ocean on the left.
Our morning began by donning our rain gear. And boy, did we need it.
It rained hard for at least an hour. Ginny managed well in rain hat and poncho.
It rained hard enough to make rivers and puddles. Our feet were soaked within minutes.
But rain doesn’t stop intrepid pilgrims!
Gin and I both managed a smile, and it wasn’t faked. We were glad to make use of our ponchos, since we hauled them across the ocean. But we hoped to not wear them for long.
Maria said, before taking this picture, “look like you’re pushing it!” So I imagined Dan Rather leaning into those hurricanes on TV. And I leaned. 😄
Maria and Ginny, commiserating. No views this morning even though we were high.
The mist added extra mystery to old buildings.
We didn’t bother to sit at this very special (and very wet) pilgrims’ roadside stop, even though it was one of the prettiest I’ve seen.
It was still raining as we passed this peculiar hilltop sculpture, and I didn’t bother to look up what it was.
As usual, we split up at times, each walking our own pace. I caught up with Gin waiting out the rain in this bus stop.
This cat wasn’t deterred by the rain and walked head-long toward Ginny.
Then we passed again into glorious forest, still wearing our ponchos. I had switched to putting my backpack over my poncho. With its green rain cover on.
Gin and Maria, happy to be off the roads!
My oldest sis looks like a hunchback. 😄
Once in the forest, the rain abated. We repacked our ponchos and enjoyed the scenery.
And it was glorious!
Forward into the forest!
I was just so grateful to be here.
We passed through several intersections in the forest, well-marked by arrows.
We stopped at a cafe to fortify with hot coffee and ring out our soaked socks.
Then back into the autumn-tinged forest.
Maria took this picture of Ginny and me both taking pictures…
… and then a selfie.
Passing under an overpass…
… and past a colorful multilingual sign.
The sun kept trying to come out.
But it didn’t matter that it never did.
Nature doesn’t always scream. Sometimes it whispers.
Another wall’sized mural recognizing some benefactor to the pilgrims’ way. We are in an agricultural region so this one is, of course, in plaid.
Reaching our lodging for the night, we fortified with another coffee and then continued on to add some miles. (This was in order to make our last day into Santiago shorter, so we could avoid the huge afternoon crowds there. We took a taxi back to our lodgings.)
Back into the woods again, we encountered the guy with the red backpack who spoke with an English accent. But we still aren’t sure of his nationality.
So much green today!
We reached the spot — a pilgrims’ rest stop – for the prearranged taxi pickup. By this time, the sun was fully out.
Ginny relaxed on the stone bench while waiting for the taxi pickup.
Our lodging tonight is the best yet. It could rival the best BnBs in Europe.
The vestibule. Note the stone walls.
This private home-come-guest lodge was built in the 18th century. We heard it is up for sale for more than 900,000 euros. ( More than a million USD.)
I finished the day with a stroll around “town,” which is more like an agricultural settlement. Complete with chickens in yards.
It’s interesting that so many readers of this blog are from other countries this week. Not surprising, since El Camino is an international experience. I hope this blog inspires other wary would-be walkers to try it out, perhaps the way we are doing it. Better to want more than to want to quit!

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