Olveiroa to Cee    about 19 km

It rained during the night heavy enough to wake us, but the rain was really over after a quick breakfast.  The roads were wet.  The weather said showers intermittent through the day, but we never had any rain.

We decided to have the Correos move our packs so all we carried were a day pack for lunch and a place to store a jacket if it warmed up.  We were about a km down the road when we had to turn back because something was left at the restaurant which we had to retrieve.  So we actually added a few more kms to our day.

I think the photos tell the story of the weather better than words.  When we started, the cool wind was blowing clouds over wet roads and our path.  But by late morning there were few clouds and it was sunny and really pleasant with the cool wind off the ocean mixing with the sun on our backs.

Last year, when I walked this portion it rained so hard my clothes were soaked in about 30 minutes.  This year it was just a nice pretty day.

 

This route is sparsely populated and mostly pastural..  About 5 and 6km after Oliveroa there are two bars (at O Logoso and at Hospital).  Last year they were a welcome break from the rain.  This day we stopped at the second one (Hospital) for coffee and a piece of cake then continued on.

Most of the walking was on dirt roads with a few short sections on pavement.   There was a concern that the sparsely traveled dirt roads might be full of mud after the rain from last night.  We did see mud but it was easy to avoid.  It must not have been raining there for very long the previous days.  When we had left Santiago the previous day, it was pouring.   But the weather maps showed the the further West one went the less rain there was, which was why we got off the bus at Bainos.  This section looked like the heavy rains that hit Santiago had missed this part of Galacia.

A little over half way to Cee we reached Capela das Neves (also known as ERMITA Ntra Sra DAS NEVES), the first of two small chapels.   The chapel is small, the grounds are flat grass and off to the side are tables.  A nice place to stop.  We stopped for 15 minutes and I took a photo of the notes people has posted outside the locked door.

We decided we were not ready for lunch yet so moved on another 5km to the chapel ‘Capela de San Pedro Mártir’ (also known as ERMITA SAN PEDRO MARTIR).  This one was also locked and actually looked like it was unusable.  A little of the inside was visible through cracks in the door jams.  There were no windows.   While the church and cross look old, the cross was actually placed there about 15 years ago.

The water from the spring at the Capela was cold and sweet.  Lore says it has healing properties.  Not sure about that but it sure tasted good.  There were stone benches alongside the fountain so we decided to have our lunch here.  We had brought ham, bread and some fruit that we had purchased at the Mercado in Santiago.  So in this idyllic spot we quietly enjoyed the serenity that a Camino offers to those who are willing to walk it’s path.

We probably stayed there an hour.  A young German girl joined us for a few minutes just as we were finishing our lunch, but as we started to put our things together she went on ahead.  We did not see more than 5 others on the road walking this day.

Tonight is Hotel Larry – a nice family run hotel.   I stayed there last year and was looking forward to staying and having dinner there again.

Tomorrow we reach Fisterre.