top: the street where Pensión Orios is located. bottom: the entrance to our building, marked by the big ” P” for pension.Melide town center at sunriseWhich way is the Camino? In the dark, this could be a problem.., was for us on our first Camino. The arrow on the right takes you past several more historical markers than the road on the left, but both roads converge on the way out of townOn the path out of Melide we soon encountered downhill and uphill sections, some rather steep. A modern home with an ornamental horreo in the front yard… with a non-traditional use.A closer look at the horreo reveals the left door is for the mail/newspaper and the right door is for the morning delivery of fresh bread, “pan”an interesting tree canopied section of flat pathWe walked through a number of eucalyptus forests that dominate this area and continue for the rest of the Camino.The mature eucalyptus tree is very tall and straight… in the distance we could see the next generation of forest underway.The Camino in Galicia has some rather picturesque bridge scenes like the one above.This huge eucalyptus tree was right on the path and it’s height and size and straightness was awesome The path wound through a number of farm properties with corn fields, cattle and trees… many with impressive homes and yards … in clusters of one to maybe 3-5, not associated with a hamlet or village.Whenever the walk got too flat or otherwise, easy, the Camino created hill for us to tackle, up or down, to remind us that this was a pilgrimage, not a ” walk in the park”.We stopped for breakfast in Boente, then continued on to Arzúa.After a few more small villages, we entered the outskirts of Arzúa on a long, straight, mostly flat dirt path.We passed this newly completed house that must belong to a relocated pilgrim from Va Tech, Tennessee or Clemson.The path changed to a wide sidewalk and quite a bit of traffic, coming and going on this Saturday morning. Arzúa also has it’s share of huge building exterior murals.We stopped at this bar on the way to Pensión Casa Elena for a breakfast #2.
We got to Casa Elena at 11:45 and were able to checkin after a 15 minute wait for our room to be ready. Normal checkin was 1:00.
The rest of the day was pretty much routine, much of it resting and recovering from yesterday’s longer walk.
Jimandi 