Tuesday, October 15, 2013

We've reached the end of the world, and everyone speaks Hungarian! (Tu 15 Oct)

Not a long walk today, based on kms travelled, but it was wet, foggy and hilly, we were tired from the get go and glad to finally land a bed at Albergue Por Fin, where everyone seems to speak Hungarian (it happens to be a Hungarian Albergue).  We got more than a bed, a nice room of our own, for only 24€, compared to 10€ each for a bunk bed. Our Hungarian Camino buddy Andrew (from Logrono), is here and a Hungarian couple -- word spreads that a Hungarian albergue exists amongst the Hungarian Camino community and this becomes a must-stop.  Very nice place, a homey kind of place, with a comfy living room, kitchen and we even had our laundry done for the second time ever, for 6€ (we hand wash everyday, but in this humid weather, stuff from 2 days ago is still not dry).

Walk today was ok.  We slept in and didn't leave till 9 -- our latest start ever. One last look out our window before we left:

Rain and drizzle today, but it was so mild and humid that we just walked in our shirtsleeves and umbrellas.  Happy to see many locals with umbrellas.  In the drier parts of Spain, we felt like aliens.  

Very few pilgrims on the way, typical for the Finesterre end of the Camino.  Those we did see were mostly in ponchos, likely feeling as smug as us with our brollies.  Our companions today were cats (see pic below), sheep and a dog that followed us for several kms and we saw it again in Finnesterre:


Nice surf today, with long sandy beaches.  Very pretty and reminded us of the west coast of Vancouver Island, where people go for storm watching.  For us, it's storm walking.

This area reminds me of the Pinery -- a favourite beach/camping spot on Lake Huron in Ontario:

Us on the beach, looking a bit wiped, but enjoying the moment:

Scallop shell -- symbol of the Camino -- that you can pick up on any beach -- or any souvenir store for a 1€:

Not sure if these boats are ever used, or just props for photos...

View of Jan enjoying the view of Finnesterre:

Part of the fishing fleet.  These boats look a lot different than the fishing boats we see in Canada:

Loving this part of the Camino.  Quieter.  Laid backier.  And our clothes smell so fresh.  


Monday, October 14, 2013

To Cee to see the sea (Mo 14 Oct)

It was a long day, even though we stopped after 20 km. Partly because our bodies were still recovering from yesterday's 30 km day and partly because of the terrain and the fog.   Most of today was walking through the moors with no village or coffee shop for 12 kms:

Cross can be barely seen in the middle of the pic:

Then a long down hill over very rough, rocky terrain.  But on the way down we caught our first glimpse of the ocean!

When we arrived into town (town called Cee -- where we first saw the sea), we saw a few of the lads at an outdoor cafe.  They also found the hike very hard today, but were all moving on to Finesterre so were stopping for lunch, raving about the tomato and bacon grilled sandwich.  Since we were planning to stop for the night in Cee, we pressed on, looking for a room.  Mistake # 2.  (Mistake #1 was not having breakfast.  Normally we buy fruit and yogurt the day before, but no market in the village we stopped in last night, and the cafe we stopped at didn't have much, so we just bought a chocolate bar).

We enjoyed the walk through Cee along the sea wall.  There's another town just a km up the beach that won some Unesco tourism award, so we thought we'd find a place there.  We followed signs to the tourist office, figuring they'd have a list of places to stay, but it was closed.  We walked through the town looking for a B&B, nothing.  Followed the road to a hotel on the beach, but they wanted 45€ -- too much, so we walked back towards Cee and found an albergue, but a sign said only 3 bunks left, all uppers, so we walked some more and found this great Pension Beiramar and got a water view room for only 30€.  The two upper bunks in the albergue in a large room shared with 15 or 20 others would have been 20€, so we are very happy with this place.  View for our room:

At this point, it's about 4 pm and we haven't had breakfast or lunch, so we walk back into town in search of a restaurant.  Finally find one, with two other peregrinos in there saying the food is great.  I  pick up a menu and the fellow says the kitchen is closed till 8 pm.  Ah yes, Spanish eating times.  They typically close from 4 or 5 pm till 7 or 8 pm.  Who would want to eat between 5 and 7 pm?  

We walked around and around and asked at a few places, but none would be serving food until 7 or 8.  So, we bought a couple pastries at a bakery, ate it on a bench while we considered our options.  We decided to go to the grocery store and buy food we can eat without cooking for dinner and breakfast.  While in the grocery store, I realize that I don't have our yellow bag containing our passports and iPad that we take everywhere.  I figure I must have left it in the room.  When we get back to the room, it wasn't there, and we searched everywhere.  We asked at the front desk, then retraced out steps.  The place where the two peregrinos were eating was still open and yes, they had our yellow bag.  We gave the fellow a tip, breathed a big sigh of relief and went to our room and finally ate our dinner.

A few more pics of the town:

Pilgrim taking the beach route through town:


Many of these are fishing boats.  Lots of seafood in this town, if you can find a restaurant that's open:

Tomorrow, Finnesterre.