Camino Inglés day 1: Ferrol to Pontedeume

 Not only was last night a fiesta in Ferrol it was also the Rally de Ferrol. This started in the next street to my hotel, secondary double glazing was not up to the challenge so I took advantage of the hotel WiFi to leave Radio4 playing for a couple of hours while I feel asleep.  

I woke before my alarm went off.  Repacked my bag and set off.  I am so glad I didn’t need to retrace my steps to the very start. I knew that I would have to spend some time walking out of the town but, and I blame a chronic lack of research, I didn’t realise that it would be 18,5km until I saw anything resembling trail! And even then it was a path about 5m away from a dual carriageway! 

What research I had done (joined a Facebook group, read a few posts) told me that I was in for ‘hills, hills and then some more hills’ so I was pleasantly surprised by how gentle the hills were.  I may have cursed the crappy navigation skills of the early English pilgrims, who could have saved me a 17k walk through residential and industrial estates if they had just landed their boat on the other side of the river. 

I didn’t see any other pilgrims until at least 16kn.  I suspect they had started from Neda as this is suggested by the guide book as a useful way to break up the one long stage on this Camino.  No chats were had today.  It feels very odd to know that I won’t see the Primitivo gang. I did get an update from Maura and the two Carols with a picture of them in front of the Cathedral in Santiago. 

Pontedeume is a pretty town. I’m sitting outside a bar in the town square with a cold beer people watching.  There is some sort of book/library festival going on, but what I am struck by, again and again on this trip, is the fact that  Spanish people seem to have a better work-life balance than we do.  

Oh! My accommodation tonight deserves a mention.  I couldn’t reserve a bed at any of the Albergues, so have needed up in a room above a restaurant.  The room is tiny, but has its own bathroom and cost me €20 - that’s only about €4 more than a bunk bed in an Albergue dorm.