Sunday in Negreira

Leaving Santiago

Hello
have been thinking along the way what I needed to say if found an internet cafe... so this will be a big jumble of things....

New learnings and insights

1. there is a lot of security and comfort walking in or with a group. Walking´alone´ is another ball game. You have to be so much more in touch with whats going on, and self-reliant. I´ve missed some markers, trusted other pilgrims (going the wrong way themselves) and generlly been a little deurmekaar on the route today. A group with you or coming up behind always made me feel safe and secure and I could just walk, knowing that a friendly familiar face was not far behind me.
Pilgrim statue at Negreira

2. I would love to have ´a Sylvia´with me all the way. Sylia - while we might not have realized it at the time, I think we all relied on you, your knowledge and common sense. Questions like, so which way to do go to get out of town tomorrow morning?, sms´s to Sylvia that asked which path did you take at this point? etc etc

3. I never relied on a guidebook up to Santiago, now suddenly thnk I need one, but it has just complicated my life. I´ve taken wrong turns, gone up and down streets etc etc, instead of just trusting the way marking ... I need to learn to trust the way marks. This false trust in a book is also complicated by a sudden urge to use the distancs given in the guidebook as the absolute truth .. and that has also caused problems. So ... at some point I put the book away, and put my watch on another screen so that I couldn´t see how far I´d gone. 200 m noted in the book before turn L, is NOT always 200m .... the sign might only appear at 300 m - and the sign is generally correct!

4. I felt a little invincible which is not good. I got into town early, and could quite easily just have continued to the next stop 30km away. I felt strong, fit, well, well watered and ready for the task. My thoughts being that Hotel Tamara where I´m staying in like a city lodge, and is opposite a large petrol garage just outside town ... not the nicest most refreshing view from my bedroom window, so maybe I must go on. Other thoughts... I now have all this time to kill before tomorrow morning and my next stage. But I slowed myslf down, and asked, what´s the rush? ...

Horreo (corn storage) at Negreira

Main road through a village

Early morning traffic

5. so, put my back pack down and walked into town to look for lunch and an internet cafe. And decided to explore a little.

6. The Spanish are apparently not great on an early proper lunch, even on Sundays. All I could get was the usaul bl&$%"$g bocadillio with ham and cheese - so today has been a breaded-out day again. I´m now starting to detest french loaves, no matter how fresh they are. I did however have very nic coffee´s and tea.

Sylvia - that lovely place on the river at Ponte Maceira was closed - so I couldn´t get a stamp there. Am sorry about that. The door had no opening times displayed so it didn´t make sense to even wait.

The walking was a breeze today despite the hill that I had to cross to get to Alto Mar do Ovellas. (45 m above sea level to 275m). Walked behind a grop of spanish men who jabbered like women all the way! .. and didn´t see another female walker at all during the time I was on the road.

so ... have done some exploring - Negreira has a lovely shopping street, and saw some lovely clothing that others in the group would have appreciated. I even tried on a bolero waistcoat thing I saw in a window in a shop.

I know how to leave town tomorrow for the 35 odd km to my next stop.

Have done some shopping for the walk tomorrrow, where it was noted in both guide books that I´m carrying that there are very few bars etc. Funny .. even on todays stretch, there was only 1 bar - the Bonka Cafe at 8km from Santiago. Otherwise nothing on the road, or open at all! If its like that tomorrow, I could have problems. I will also carry extra water. All the water points today said not suitable for drinking.

You are all in Johannesburg as I write this. Thinking of Sally on the Gautrain going to retrieve her suitcase from her friend in Sandton. Rayna, Eugenie, Syl, Roy and Kay waiting for their connecting flights to Durban, Kim back in Turkey already, Janet home in the States and trying out her bike to see if all the walking has helped get her more bike fit! Linda is on her island, hopefully having a drink. Charles and Barabara ae in the Uk with their sons.

Well .... off to wash my walking clothes, have a nap and do what ever pilgrims do while wating for the next day. I´ve brought fruit from the Negreira version of fruit and veg city so am planning to enjoy my fruit as I couldn´t get a nice salad for lunch.

Rain predicted for tomorrow - so please all hold thumbs that it holds off until I´m in at Olveiroa.

Kathy