Irina's friend, Leonid, turned up at the albergue later last night and was very friendly, though verbal communication was limited since my Spanish is poor and Russian non-existent.
The albergue host, in this case probably someone from the Galician Xunta or government, didn't arrive at all . . . probably an Easter fiesta day . . . Leonid is concerned about getting his pilgrim card stamped . . . a fitting final Galicia hostel for me - very modern in form, rather useless in function . . . notionally accessible, with very steep ramps and a dormitory with no space to manouevre a wheelchair . . . tokenism or maybe the start of a process . . . anyway, for bureaucrats everywhere, please involve the customers in the design of services . . . not much evidence of that in the albergues or the literature describing the caminos converging on Santiago . . .
This morning, yesterday's strong North wind has dropped, the ankle is ready for a steady stroll, and I am over the bridge into Asturias by 8am, accidentally finding the E9 footpath (which was much in evidence on the Ruta Vicentina and is supposed to follow the coast from Sagres to St Petersburg . . . Santander will do me, thanks).
The path is beautiful and the odd yellow arrow pointing west suggests the Camino is here too, though no pilgrims so far.
The first coffee stop is a seaside town called Tapia, which is touristy and rather upmarket, with an imposing statue of Jesus on top of the church . . . the tourist info woman gives me a map of the Camino del Norte, with albergues and other useful info marked . . . though not distances or note of intermediate villages . . . still, helpful to have and will take me a long way towards Santander.
Wandering on from Tapia, with EN9 posts, the occasional Camino sign and most helpful of all, the sea to the left, never far away . . . just past El Franco and its albergue option, up on the main road, avoided so far, a restaurant with a Menu de Dia for €8, and it is very good . . . should see me to the next albergue . . at the next table are eight priests, maybe their post Pascoa meal . . . was wondering about some philosophy, but they show no interest in this passing peregrino . . .
Jose and Marina, the hosts, however, are delighted to have photos taken, having made sure I had a lovely lunch. It is usually better out of the towns . . . less focused on the money . . .
The path takes me to another photo opportunity, then down into a village harbour and up to La Caridade and an albergue with 20 beds and several pilgrims already here, including Spaniards, French, German and Basque . . . no wi-fi but the cafe up the road will hopefully help me post this later.
And the ankle is slowly recovering . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment