Camino de Santiago from Portomarin to Lestedo: A Pilgrim’s Diary (2)

Our second day didn’t start as good as the first one but from the second half onwards it got better and better.

When leaving Portomarin, they Camino leads up through a forest. After a bit of walking we discovered that it said “Complementario” on the stones – a typical “Uh oh, are we taking a longer route?!”-moment. It turned out to be just fine though, the alternative would’ve been walking beside the road. Coming out of the forest, there was a stretch along open fields and the path went through an avenue of pine trees.
We passed one of many crosses on the way on which pilgrims hung some personal things, even pictures. In the middle of those pics: a visiting card from the local cab company! These guys really know their business ?
Soon after that, the path is very close, sometimes just next to the highway.

After around 2 ¼ hrs we reached the next village, Gonzar. Shortly before we had the option to either stay on the road or to take another “Complementario”. Unfortunately, there is hardly ever an information about the difference of length of these routes. So what to do? Mom decided to stay on the normal road, while I took the other way. Turned out to be very short, leading directly through the village instead alongside the highway. Sounds nice but for the most part, it stank like cow piss… yay? The other way alongside the highway wasn’t much better though as Mom assured me.

We took a small break at a restaurant there which lead to me secretly buying and drinking a Coke – which I had asked her explicitly to forbid me. And which she took very seriously. It was funny how long you can go through with this without the other person noticing! ? She gave up on her endeavour soon afterwards. Must’ve felt like this all throughout my childhood the poor woman ?

Soon afterwards after crossing Castromaior it goes uphill and we tried to get rid of some noisy Spanish aunties. That’s the thing on the Camino: there are many people. Nothing compared to Indian standard of course, but enough to count as crowded for Germans. It’s sometimes funny how you can walk stretches hardly seeing anyone else and then all of a sudden, it’s just so many again. These Spanish aunties were too funny, walking uphill, some of them breathing heavily –which didn’t stop them from chit-chatting without a break though. Hence the need to escape them.
On top of the hill, we had quite a nice view and enjoyed being finally away from the road! The next stretch till Hospital da Cruz (around 1 ¼ hrs) remained nice and reminded us of the first day.

We took a break at Meson Labrador where we, first of all, entertained their cat. The food was rather average, nothing was fresh but tasted like bought from a supermarket. Especially the calamari were dry and definitely frozen. At least I got a boccadillo with chorizos for on the way who’s company I very much appreciated for the rest of the day.
Doesn’t boccadillo sound so beautiful btw? So much better than belegtes Brot! Spanish is definitely the next language to learn for me ?
Directly after this restaurant, we had to cross the highway and made our way to the Sierra de Ligonde.

Ligonde was one of our favourite villages to pass. The houses are just too lovely to look at! I got huge issues with my ankles though and was hardly able to walk anymore. We took a break at a cute Albergue which looked very inviting with its hammock in the garden, a guy lying inside playing guitar, chicken sitting under a bench in the grass… I wouldn’t have minded staying there! It was run by American students who were volunteering for some weeks.

One of them asked us “Why are you doing this trip?”, expecting some special, heart-warming pilgrim story.
“…” *looking at Mom* “… why are we doing this again?” ?
We had been planning to do this for so long that we didn’t even remember where we even got the idea from.

Most likely it was due to “Ich bin dann mal weg”/”I’m off then” by Hape Kerkeling, a German comedian – which I can absolutely recommend! This guy is first of all simply adorable, gay, writes really well and with great wit, it’s funny and a deep at the same time. It definitely inspired me after reading it – although I had read it as preparation for our trip, not before. When it was published it caused a huge hype and it was on the top 1 of the German non-fiction bestseller list for 100 weeks! 100! It might have been the hype which caused us to make this plan, but who knows…

The question “Why are we doing this again”, as funny as it seemed at that moment, stuck with me for the entire journey. It’s a pilgrimage after all, finding to yourself or God or whomsoever, is one reason people are doing it for. So what was it about for me?

But for the moment I had other problems: my feet hurt and I wasn’t able to continue. What a great start on only the second day! I luckily had my Birkenstock™ with me in the backpack and changed my shoes. I doubt that I would’ve been able to make the last few kilometres to Lestedo otherwise, where we had booked our next hotel.
By the way, from this moment onwards I decided to become a Birkenstock ambassador. They seriously saved this trip – and this was not the first time!

According to our guide, the proper stop would’ve been Palas de Rei. Luckily, our travel agency Pura had recommended staying at Rectoral de Lestedo.
First of all, I would’ve died if I had to walk 5 km more than that but also, it was one of our favourite hotels on the route, if not THE favourite!

It’s a beautifully restored stone-built house and we would not have minded staying for more than one night! The food was delicious and the owner was too sweet. He couldn’t speak a word of English but used the Google translate speak option to communicate with us. Smart! We might not have real hoverboards or flying cars but nevertheless: the future is here!

The dining area is in a pretty and inviting winter garden with a nice view over the big garden. As dinner, there was a three-course menu with multiple options. I had the Caldo Gallego once again (which was okish, I missed the meat flavour) and an amazing chicken stew with fresh mushrooms and chorizo pieces along with fries. As postre I got two slices of helado (ice cream) coated with caramel crumbles.

The food there is so popular that some travel organisations drive their pilgrims (who have like us pre-booked everything but in a big travel group) by bus to the restaurant! I can really only recommend it to everyone. There’s a hostel as well in the same building btw. Check it out on TripAdvisor, you shouldn’t miss it!