Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
Since my aunt was not doing so well (before the morning we were not sure whether she would continue), we decided the night before for my mom and aunt to get a transport to San Vincente Do Burgo so my aunt would recover a little more.
We were not so flexible with the kilometers because we needed to reach Santiago on the 7th (we would never be so rigid again or recommend someone to do that): we had the flight back to Germany on Sunday.
So given that, at 8h30 I called my mom to ask about where they were and she told me my aunt couldn't continue and that she was coming alone.
We waited for my mom for a long time. The taxi driver got lost since San Vicente Do Burgo is not more than 3 houses together, but the cafe there was very good. She got there at 09h30.
The whole phase was walking at the side of a secondary highway, until San Roman the scenary was not like the one the days before.
I would recommend to see Santa Eulalia de Boveda where you can find some Roman ruins. We didn't take the detour because we were not sure how long it would be, and we regreted it because the ruins are worth seeing and they mean only 2 kilometers more.
From San Roman we took the roman road, the scenary improved significantly and we were happy since we got there at noon. That meant we had a good pace and some hope of resting.
On the way, usually we were the first on the road and the last to arrive from the primitivo group so we had the chance to greet almost everyone everyday. Our Australian friends passed us just after San Roman, but 4 kilometers before the albergue we saw that something was going on because they were stopping very often. Once we reached them they told us that Ian ate something and he was not feeling good and getting dehidrated. That was our chance to return some of the help we had in the days before. We had the rehydration powder and we told them that we would reach for help as soon as we get to the Albergue. The powder worked because right before the albergue they reached us again and Ian was much better.
We got to Ponteferreira and that was our first Albergue. It was a great experience, the owners were very nice, we had a family feeling since we knew almost everyone from the primitivo. We got there and it was so hot that Emilia asked to play in a water channel and we let her.
She was having a blast playing with everyone near her, then we discovered that the owners had 3 little daughters.. they all came to play with Emilia.. the only challenge was that they were so busy playing that Emilia forgot to go to the bathroom 2 times... and when you only have a backpack with three pants... no possibility to dry anything and 2 are gone... you need some imagination to get out of that one :).
The bathrooms were private which helped a lot with the little one, while showering Emilia I discovered a tick, the second tick of the trip... but I was not so skilled with this one and I left the head.. so we knew: first thing to do when reaching Melide, finding a doctor.
Dinner was a very nice experience with a huge table for all of us, and a delicious Paella; we felt in heaven.
I was concerned about sleeping with 16 others and all the noises, but Emilia and me, we shared a bunk bed.. we were both so tired that at 20h30 we were already sleeping and we didn't hear a thing until the next morning.
The albergue experience made us regret the reservations we made in the different hotels. Maybe we were a little bit more comfortable, but the big family experience was not there. In the primitivo there is not so many people and if you reserve the private ones one day in advance then you are more than fine.
Log of the day:
05h00 - 06h00 - Wake up and preparation
06h00 - 08h30 - Walk to San Vicente do burgo
08h30 - 09h30 - Breakfast pause for Esteban and Emilia, for me it meant standing on the road waiting for the taxi that got lost ;)
09h30 - 12h00 - Walk to San Roman - we had a very good pace that day
12h00 - 13h00 - Lunch pause at San Roman
13h00 - 16h00 - Walk to Ponteferreira
Hotel we stayed at Ponteferreira:
Albergue Ponteferreira, very well equiped, very friendly, dinner was great, on the Camino
Next Stop Melide....
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