Camino del Norte Day 40: Baamonde to Miraz 16km
We made our own coffee and cereal at the albergue, but then saw most of the other pilgrims having a coffee at the cafe next to the albergue, which had wifi, so since we had no reason to hurry today we sat down for a second coffee in order to check email.
The first few kilometers of today’s walk were on a two-lane paved road, not very inspiring, but there was also almost no traffic at all, though we did see a Renfe train speed by on the parallel tracks. At right around the 100 km mark (left to Santiago), we turned off over a historic stone bridge and past a beautiful stone chapel in the forest. From here, the path was really beautiful, through thick shaded woods with shafts of sunlight breaking through.
As we walked through one small village, a woman was walking down the street with a plate of cake. She offered us each a piece and said they were preparing for a Romería later that day. We also saw the beginning of a Romería the previous day, so it must be the season for having parties.
Shortly after, we came across a loose dog, which always makes me a bit nervous, but this one was extremely friendly and began to follow us, sprinting ahead, then loping back. He must have followed us about 5km until he finally became distracted chasing chickens at one of the farms.
Miraz is a lovely little hamlet, with some very cool historic stone buildings. The albergue here is run by the Cofraternity of Saint James in England. Last year we stayed at the CSJ albergue in Rabanal on the Camino Francés and loved it, so we were excited to stay at a second CSJ place. The building was recently restored (it was the priest’s house historically). We had a very warm welcome from the English and Australian hospitaleros (there was even Vegamite in the kitchen for any Australian pilgrims wanting a taste of home…)
The warm sunny weather inspired me to wash almost all of our clothes, which have been rather damp through much of the past week. Some friends we have seen almost every day for the past month decided to hurry on today and walk the 40 km from Baamonde to Sobrado dos Monxes. We’ll miss them!
We are really on the home stretch, with only 4 days to Santiago. In two days, we will stop in Arzua and go back to meet up with my mom, who is in Triacastela tonight.
