Jan 30, 2013 Portomarin to Palas de Rei: Another day closer

Heading out of Portomarin

As we we the only guests in our hotel, breakfast was a good, but solitary affair. We shuffled off to the Camino about 9:00. It was a warm cloudy morning that threatened rain. Temps were in the mid 50's and were not forecasted to move much from there. We kept our ponchos at the ready, but knowing that we had about 3 hours of climbing we opted to walk without them (at least for the moment). Robin and I felt good this morning and our pace reflected that. We climbed easily and steadily all morning arriving at Eirexe around 1:00. We found a bar open and stopped for lunch. Not surprisingly, there were a handful of other pilgrims there as well. Up until this point the rain had left us alone. Just as soon as I assured Robin we would make it to Palas de Rei without donning our ponchos the mist gathered and turned into rain.

Looking back downhill

No complaints as we had already completed most of our climbing for the day. It seems we got underway again around 1:30 and eventually walked into Palas de Rei, in steady moderate rain, at about 3:30. We found, I believe, the only pension (or any other alternative accommodation to the municipal albergue) open in town, the Pension Casa Curro. We booked in, and started drying things out. We will eat here as well and avoid dealing with rain any further (at least for today). Tomorrow the weather is forecast to dry out for a day, so our walk to Arzua should be in better conditions. So, at the end of this day we are another day closer to Santiago, and to the end of this journey. We plan to continue on to Finisterre, and Muxia. We also are considering walking the Camino Ingles from Ferrol to Santiago. We have enough time. Let's see how our energy holds up. As always, when Santiago draws close thoughts, invariably, turn to post Camino lives. We are not quite ready to let go, and hope that the walking we have planned beyond Santiago will provide a nice transition back to the world that will eventually reclaim us. How do we better reach accommodation with that world, and live in it, post pilgrimage, is a question many people consider. We honestly don't know. However, walking as pilgrims of faith we believe that the Holy Spirit is always at work, guiding our lives, so that wherever our life's journey takes us we eventually find our peace walking the Way home to God.

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