Camino de Santiago from Lestedo to Melide: A Pilgrim’s Diary (3)
Day three. How was it only day three when I was not able to even move a single part of my body without unbearable pain? Mom must’ve secretly beaten me up during the night, that’s the only explanation. And how come she’s already up and running around as if the world was not about to go down? What’s this woman’s secret?!
I remember day two as if it was yesterday. How I started the first half talking about walking the entire Camino of 800 km next year with a full backpack like a real pilgrim. How she should definitely come along. I also remember ending the day with the words “I don’t want to live anymore” and “Whole Camino? Wie was wo? Never said that. Alternative facts!”
Sleep. That’s the only thing which mattered. And not to move a single limb. But this woman who calls herself my mother was merciless. “Get up, he said we have to bring our bags out for luggage transfer at 8:30 am. You have to pack!” Uff… there’s no escape from this.
After I finally managed to get ready, I let her drag the bags out and we went for breakfast. The only other two guests who were up already were two Germans women which we had already met the day before for dinner. We were still speculating whether the younger one was the daughter or daughter-in-law. It was just too funny to listen to them. The mother was clearly the dominating one: when talking to us and the younger one (whereas “young” is relative, she was at least 10 years older to me) wanted to contribute something of value to the conversation, she was quickly silenced by a “Jetzt red doch nicht zwischenrein!” (”Don’t interrupt me!”). It became one of the running gags of the trip for Mom and me.
The breakfast at Rectoral de Lestedo was good: a buffet with four different varieties of sausages, some fruits, muffins and cakes and the owner brought freshly toasted Galician bread. I overindulged once again in bread and sausages which made it even harder to walk later.
I think we must’ve started at almost 10 or even 10:30 am, very late for pilgrims. But there’s a reason we call ourselves amateur pilgrims. And after all, we only had to walk for around 19 km today.
When leaving Lestedo, the first thing we cross is a lovely old church with a graveyard. Next bigger destination: Palas de Rei! It took us around 1 ½ hours to get there. The way continued similar to the day before, alongside a not much-frequented highway through smaller villages with the typical architecture.
The first thing to do in Palas de Rei was to get our pilgrim stamps from the church. I was looking for a post office to send my first postcards and asked the woman there for help. Inspired by the futuristic hotel owner, I googled the sentence first and asked her in perfect Google-translate Spanish where the post office is (“Dónde está la oficina de correos?”). Unfortunately, she replied in very fast Spanish and I could only make out some directions which she indicated with her hand. Straight and left or something like that. Almost as clueless as we were before, we managed to find some English speakers who not only told us the way but also informed us that it’s closed because it’s a fiesta. Coincidentally, just around the corner to the post office, there was a sports store which was open – and which happened to have postcards of Palas de Rei as well as stamps! Mission accomplished.
Leaving the town, the way again reminded of the first day once again, means: absolutely lovely!
We stopped in a small village called Casanova at a small and simple garden café. Finally, Mom got to try something new: a tortilla de patatas, a thick omelette with potatoes. Why didn’t we try this before?! Loved it! I had a bocadilla with some different kind of salami. And of course, we couldn’t resist of having a slice of the Tarta de Santiago once again.
I don’t remember where exactly it happened but after around half of the way, I all of a sudden felt fine again. I was incredibly slow and powerless in the first half (my regular pace feels like brisk walking for others, so that means a lot for me!) and hardly took any pictures.
An especially beautiful village on the way is O Leboreiro, just a few kilometres before Melide. After this at Furelos, we finally entered the first eucalyptus forest – something Mom would not stop talking about the entire day since she had not seen a Eucalyptus tree before. She’s otherwise a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to plants.
“Tell me if you see a eucalyptus tree!”
…
“Have you not seen one yet??”
The smell in these forests is mind-blowing! I felt my Delhi-pollution-caused cough fade away day by day just by inhaling this.
Not long after this, we reached the old village Furelos, which we confused with Melide first. It’s quite a nice sight: coming out of this forest you have a lovely view over the old town before crossing the medieval bridge. We assumed that this would be it and started looking for our hotel. We were surprised when Google maps lead us OUT of the village and along fields. Melide is a bit further ahead and we had to walk for another kilometre. It’s funny how long the last stretch always seems. The last hour of the day once you know it’s not very far anymore seems never-ending!
“How long does Google maps says it is? 1.5 km? I’m not taking A SINGLE STEP more than that!” Might sound like me but for a change, it came from my mother. What a role change over course of a day ?
Passing lots of restaurants which menus we studied in preparation for dinner, we made our way through the town to our hotel.
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