Day 39 - A Pobra de Parga to Boimorto

Date: Tuesday July 23

Start:  A Pobra de Parga, Galicia

End: Boimorto, Galicia

Daily Mileage: 22.9mi (36.9km)

Total Mileage: ~490.3mi (~789km)

Today was a doozy. 

With a longer day ahead of us and temps that were forecast to rise into the high 80s (31ºC+), we decided to get an earlier start. This idea sounded really good before we went to bed and listened to dogs barking in the distance for hours. But, we prevailed and pulled ourselves out of bed early anyway. 

After eating most of the packed sack lunch our hotel provided as our breakfast, we were out the door around 7:15am. It was still cool – mid 50s (~12ºC) – and even Shawn commented that he could use some gloves. By afternoon, this feeling of chill would be so far in the rearview mirror, we would scarcely remember it.

Not far down the road from the casa rural, a horse trotted quickly up to the brick wall that bound his enclosure. He could obviously see or smell the apple in Shawn’s hand before we even saw the horse. Shawn walked up to pet him and feed him some of the apple, which the horses’s eyes were completely fixated upon. I wonder how many people leave that casa rural with the apple from their lunch sack in their hand, only to be greeted immediately down the road by this horse. You are coming from the hotel? I know you have an apple.

Following the moon

Today we had about ~22-23 miles (~36km) to cover. The first ~15+miles (24-25km) would bring us to Sobrado, the first major town after leaving the guesthouse. There were only a couple (literally TWO) places to stop en route to Sobrado for any sort of refreshment, both of which were likely to be closed when we went through. With this in mind, we had picked up some grocery store supplies yesterday in Baamonde. 

It turned out this was completely unnecessary, the walking was easy and we ticked along at a pace of 3km+ per hour. Every time I looked down at my watch, it seemed we had finished another mile. A great feeling when you have a lot of miles to cover. We would be into Sobrado before we even had time to get hungry.

The route itself was a mix of paved country road and gravel stretches, as well as some nice softer trails through the trees, some covered in dried pine needles. There was one significant climb of maybe a mile – again to windmills on a ridgeline – though it was gradual and had little affect on our pace.

In addition to friendly horses, the farm dogs were also out in full force this morning, though definitely less friendly. Dogs in rural Spain rarely look like they are trained whatsoever, but they seem to know it is their job to defend the casa, which we all know is done through a lot of barking. Most of the country dogs are behind fences. Those that aren’t are usually the calm ones, but we did have a bit of a run in with a not-so-friendly dog that was not fenced in. Luckily even through his barking and snarls he wouldn’t get any closer than a few feet from us, and we passed by as quickly as possible.

Actually the most exciting wildlife encounter of the morning was watching a huge slug eat a mushroom. NATURE. Fun stuff.

Along the route we saw a number of pilgrims. Some had stayed at the casa rural last night. Everyone seemed to be keeping a good pace, eager to finish their walk before the day grew too hot. And for many, in a hurry to claim a bed at the Sobrado dos Monxes Monastery albergue, a coveted stay for many. 

As for us, Shawn had booked another casa rural about seven miles past Sobrado, so while we planned to make a short visit to the monastery, we were mostly eager to arrive to get some cold drinks and find some shade to eat our picnic lunches. 

Entering Sobrado

It was just after noon when we walked into the edge of Sobrado. Detouring onto the main street through town, we stopped into the first open cafe that we saw. Agua con gas, por favor. I downed two while Shawn had one plus a beer.

After cooling off a bit, we hefted our packs and head down the street to the Sobrado Monastery. Founded in 950, the monastery is now a national monument. While it had dorm style lodging available for pilgrims, some of whom were already waiting in line to claim their spots, we were only stopping in to visit. 

We paid €4 each to have a quick look around before they closed for afternoon siesta (even monks need a break). Because the monastery continues to function with a community of 14 Cistercian monks, the information we were handed requested that visitors “respect the general atmosphere of peace and monastic calm.” (Meanwhile, a school group visiting was excitedly filing through the property in bathing suits, on their way to the municipal pool.)

We walked around the two main cloisters and into the main church, a solid stoic mass of stone. What it lacked in color, it made up for in elaborate carving of the gray stone, giving a bit of life to what was otherwise a stark nave. There was beauty in its simplicity though. 

Back outside, we found a shady bench to eat our lunch in a plaza outside the monastery grounds. The day was growing hot, and we were getting jealous of the groups we watched cross the plaza en route to the local pool. This is when Shawn discovered that our own hotel for the night had a pool. Well, we should get a move on then. Right after some ice cream... 

Thank God, the heilo truck is here. (Ice truck)

Finishing our lunch with some Magnum ice cream bars from a shop along the plaza, we donned our packs once again, walking across the shady plaza and back out into the sun. 

On the way out of Sobrado, we looked back for some good views of the monastery, which sat on a low hill over fields. 

The rest of our hike would be mostly drudgery. Over the next seven miles, the temperatures would climb from 84 to 91ºF (29 to 33ºC). Luckily the route included some shady sections interspersed amidst the very exposed stretches. I seemed to be mostly fixing my movements on the next patch of shade. Any pep in our step from the morning walk was now gone, wilted along the road somewhere.

Just counting down the kilometers... 

Even the flowers told a story of decay in the heat. The hydrangeas that had looked so happy and vibrant along the coast, practically overstuffing their bushes, were in a sad state here. Their parched and browned petals reminded me of burnt popcorn.

I don’t think it still exists, but when I was younger there was a colored microwave popcorn from Pop Secret called Popped Qwiz. Their gimmick with these Popped Qwiz popcorn bags was that all of the microwave bags were random bright neon colors, but the color of the bag didn’t necessarily match the color of the popcorn inside the bag (the color of which was created with what I’m sure were super healthy colorful dye patches affixed to the inside of the bags).

Anyway, their big marketing line was “What’ll pop up next?” because the color was always a surprise to you - within the range of the typical rainbow of colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. (Not sure how the marketing team let Yellow make the cut as an option. Buttered popcorn is already yellow. Who wants to be surprised with yellow popcorn?) The popcorn tasted like absolute garbage (big shock, I know) so most parents never bought it again after the initial buy to make the kiddos happy. 

‘What’ll’ is really stretching the limits of contractions, even for lazy people.

Anyway, to bring it all back around, these hydrangea bushes reminded me of burnt popcorn from these colored Pop Quiz bags. (Because let’s face it, you burn at least some of the popcorn in those microwavable bags from time to time... and there was like a handful of popcorn in those bags, so not that easy to time). So what we have out along the roadsides here: burnt purple Popped Qwiz popcorn bushes. Poor things. 

We were beginning to wilt with the flowers. The heat was radiating off the pavement and my exposed skin felt like it was baking a little. A nice charred well done.

With about two and a half miles to go, we stumbled upon Cafe Bar Rico, which – if we’re being judgy – did not look like it was likely to serve anything very rico. Sauntering in, it was clear that this was a locals kind of bar. The three people sitting at the bar turned to look at us with that ‘you ain’t from around here’ look. Nope, we ain’t. We plopped our packs down next to a table and approached the bar. 

The woman working behind the bar was heavyset and shuffled slowly about, as if in a stupor, like she had just woken up. The attitude matched her outfit, which was basically pajamas. Two kids ran around screaming behind the bar and into a back hallway. It seemed a bit like a daycare. 

We didn’t care. We were parched. We ordered two agua con gas. And after the three seconds it took me to down the first one, I went up to order another ‘round’. Never in my life did I think I would be ordering rounds of fizzy water, but here we are.

Finishing up our rounds of water, we headed back out into the heat. Not too much further. We trod along the hot side of a highway, eventually reaching the town of Boimorto, where we detoured from the route to head for our hotel. 

The hotel was set half a mile outside of town. As we made our way there, the laneways grew narrower and shadier, eventually leading us to the little oasis that was our hotel.

Unlike some of our more basic accommodations, this hotel was a beautiful complex of restored 17th century buildings. Set amidst a shady forest of mossy trees and relaxing gardens, it was a nice little countryside escape. As mentioned earlier, there was even a pool. And, while this had sounded quite refreshing when we were sweating our way down the Camino, once we were showered and cooled off, we had little desire to leave our comfortable room. So we didn’t. Until dinner. 

One thing I like about staying at some of the accommodations that are set away from town is that they usually have their own restaurant. I suppose this could be a bad thing if you wanted more options, but after a day of walking, we love it when any decision making is eliminated. All we have to do is go downstairs for dinner. So great. 

Sitting in this space before dinner, we flipped through a photo book of the original abandoned and crumbling property and all of the renovation completed to make the beautiful space that is here now. Quite the transformation, even with some of the original bones of the structures and other unique original elements.

And dinner here was so great. When we checked in, the owner had told us that everything in the restaurant was made from scratch right here. The menu was a bit like a menu del dia, with a set price that included a first course, second course, bread, dessert, water, wine, and coffee. 

It had been a long hard day. Treat yo self.

There were a couple options for each of the courses. We each had the vegetable soup to start – a puree of vegetables straight from their own garden, and the pork – which also came with more freshly sautéed garden veggies. For dessert, I opted for the tiramisu (which always reminds us of the Home Ec scene in Superbad, lol), while Shawn had the homemade ice cream. Everything was absolutely delicious. 

And - it was nice to finally eat a menu del dia when we could just go to bed directly afterwards. Though I did take an opportunity to walk around the property a bit and take a few more photos before retiring for the night.

See, we share sometimes. Finally a proper bed.

We were totally spoiled here. It will be hard to leave in the morning. 

Only two days til Santiago de Compostela!