Spain Revisited

We crossed the border from France into Spain needing groceries and diesel, both of which are significantly cheaper than in France. It was a good plan, but as always, there is a slight (or sometimes large) learning curve with these tasks in each new country we enter. It doesn't take long to get the hang of it, but the first time or two can be a struggle. 

We wheeled into a new-to-us grocery store, Mercadona, which also had a gas station. The attendent came outside to help us, since we were unsure which pump was diesel. She hooked us up, literally, and then fully-fueled, we were off to do our shopping. 

A new supermarket! Who knew it would be so exciting??

OMG, I love Mercadona! Specifically, I love their meat section. Everything is already cut and trimmed, portioned and packaged, and there is a picture of what animal it actually is. Honestly, this beats the hell out of buying a chicken with its head still on or buying something you hope is chicken but turns out to be turkey. We stuffed the fridge and freezer and bought wine that was both delicious and cheap. Honestly, that nasty Two Buck Chuck is a rip-off! :)

OMG, look at these prices!!

We got back on the road and headed through the mountains to an aire in Bilbao. And oh my, what a beautiful place it turned out to be! For 15 euros we got a front row seat to the most gorgeous view of the city and all the services we needed. The only problem was there was a two-day maximum stay. So sad! We might have stayed a week if we could, but it was not meant to be. We decided on a day in the city, picnic and all, which we would get to on our bikes. You can see what a downhill trek that was, or more to the point, what an uphill climb it was to get back home. 

Fantastic views of Bilbao especially at night.

We got up early and with our picnic packed into our saddlebags, we headed downhill toward the Guggenheim Museum. What a lovely area! We enjoyed a great bike ride around the gardens and river and had our picnic in the park and checked out a few more places before heading for home. Bilbao was bike friendly for the most part, but two things conspired against us on the way home. First, we took a wrong turn and ended up going up tiny residential street with about a 20 percent grade. I am not kidding. Second, we had not had enough practice on our E-bikes to make it up any hill. It takes some preparation and gear-changing before the hill, so we ended up pushing them though this area and folks, let me tell you, they are heavy! We finally got on the street towards our aire, but overall the trip home was kind of a disaster. I've never been so glad to see my little home! Don't let anyone tell you E-bikes aren't exercise!

Guggenheim Museum and Maman spider by artist Louise Bourgeois.

What a fun time we had exploring Bilbao on our bikes.

By now we had made plans for our time in Spain and toward that end we had been keeping an eye on the weather. We had decided to walk a part of the Camino that we did not do last spring because after 43 days, we were just too damn tired of walking. We had decided to walk from Santiago to Muxia on the coast. It would be a five-day journey for which we would need to find a safe place for Bijou and the bikes. We contacted a guy in Finesterre who owns the RV parking lot in town and he said it would be no problem for us to park Bijou there and we could put our bikes in his office! How perfect! We had a few days before the weather was optimal, well, as optimal as possible for late October/early November, so we planned an overnight stay at a lighthouse and a three-day stay on the hard at the A Coruña marina. 

Parked up for the night at Cabo San Agustín lighthouse in Ortiguera. We have been to some great Aires in Europe.

Marinas are the best and this was no exception in A Coruña.

Oh how we love, love, love camping at marinas! All the services available to boaters are also available to us! Great showers, laundry facilities, restaurants, bars, stores, electricity. And most of all, a beautiful view! Add to that the many miles of biking paths and the most gorgeous weather, and well, A Coruña floated to the top of our "Favorite Stays" list. We had a fab time in the city! 

The waterfront at A Coruña.


Linda made fast friends with this octopus!

Our reward after a long bike ride!

Architecture and street art in downtown A Coruña.

The Tower of Hercules. This structure was built in the 2nd century and is the oldest lighthouse in use today.

Artist Manolo Paz created this sculpture known as Family of Menhirs. Each monolith has a hole so that the viewer may gaze out at the sea in contemplation of family and future. The shapes of the stones evoke feelings of parents standing with their children.

We briefly toyed with the idea of walking from A Coruña to Santiago. That walk in and of itself would not earn us a compostela, but because it is a part of the English/Irish Camino, we could have combined our distances that we walked in Ireland with the A Coruña to Santiago route and earned ourselves an Irish route compostela. That was fairly tempting, but we decided to just keep that in our back pocket in case one day we decide we need another certificate and instead stuck with our original plan. After three wonderful days, we made our way to Finesterre to prepare for our walk. 

Parked up in Finisterre.

When we walked our first Camino we took days to pack and agonized over what to take. We got ourselves settled in and this time we basically just chucked a bunch of stuff into our backpacks and the next morning caught an early bus to Santiago. Getting back into pilgrim mode, we walked from the bus station to our alburgue near the cathedral. It was pouring rain, but it felt so good to have our packs on, to walk with purpose. We were excited!

We were excited to head back to Santiago on the early bus!


The rain in Santiago did not dampen our spirits.

Santiago is a different town in the fall than in the spring and we had a wonderful time! There were fewer tourists so places were not as crowded. We decided to visit the market on the way to our alburgue and it was fantastic! After getting checked in and settled, we chatted with our roommates, a Canadian woman and a Dutch man who had been walking for four months (!!) before we headed out for a night on the town. We found a fabulous restaurant and sat at the bar ordering pinchos one after the other. What a wonderful night! 

  
Night lights at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral.        Linda samples some ice cream.


Our digs for the night in Santiago.

We found a restaurant with a great atmosphere and sampled some delicious tapas and wine.

The next morning we started our journey. Finally the rain had stopped and we were on our way. The crowds were smaller, but there was a small community we enjoyed walking, talking and sharing meals with. At one alburgue in particular we were all sitting around the table when the front door swung open and in walked a priest wearing a full compliment of heavy black robes. He looked like a linebacker, 6'4", 280 lbs, at least! He got a lot of attention, as you might imagine. Later, as we all settled into our beds, I saw him heading toward mine. OMG, this hulk of a priest-man had chosen the top bunk over mine! I hoped he was praying that his bed didn't collapse! I sure was but I figured he had way more clout. 

The view as we left Santiago on our first morning of walking.


Our wonderful albergue. As usual, we unloaded and repacked our packs every night!


Wonderful community dinner!

This albergue was one of the highlights of our trip. We had a great bunch of fellow pilgrims to hang with.

I did not get crushed in the night, thankfully, and very early the next morning he crawled from his bunk and headed to the bathroom. A bit later I also went into the bathroom, which at this place was co-ed. There he was sitting on stool in the middle of the room getting dressed in his fancy black robes. He had to get up and move out of my way so I could get to the potty, and it dawned on me that I've never actually peed two feet away from a priest. Well, there's a first time for everything! Ten minutes later he was out the door and we never saw him again!

No sign of the priest the next morning. He left us slackers in the dust.

The weather held for most of our time, but we did have one day of full-on rain. It's just part of the experience. We both recognized that the energy and excitement that propelled us across the Pyrenees and northern Spain for 43 days last spring was not the same on this trip. Of course, we knew it was only four actual days of walking, so we didn't have to mentally prepare for the long haul. Still, I'd be lying if I said this section had all the charm of our first Camino, because it didn't. We were pretty happy when we walked into Muxia and after getting our certificate, we celebrated with, of all things, paella. I know I said I'd never eat it again, but one thing we never had was seafood paella and that's what we ordered. Delicious!

Familiar Camino scenes. It didn’t take long to get back into the swing of things.

Final tally for this round.



Paella!!

The forecast in Muxia called for rain, but as luck would have it, we had a glorious morning as we walked out to visit the church and mile marker ZERO! When we started last April those mile markers were in the mid-700s! Later that afternoon we caught a bus back to Finesterra and walked home to Bijou. My gosh, there is nothing better than returning home, nothing! Our Injinji and Smart Wool socks and Oboz boot combo worked well for us again, but I think if I had to walk much further I might have had some issues. It's hard to say, but I seemed to be more aware of my feet this time around, though neither one of us had any blisters. Our Camino friends David and Emilia walked the Camino in the spring and then returned to walk again in the fall, but we both agreed that if we had started again at Saint Jean Pied du Port, we would have never made to it Santiago. Which goes to show that the Camino is more of a mental challenge than anything. (Well done, David and Emilia!) I always said I was one and done, and I think I was right. :)

Mile zero in Muxia.

This sculpture, A Ferida, translates as “The Wound“, and was installed following a disastrous oil spill along the coast.

Nosa Señora da Barca (Our Lady of the boat) Sanctuary in Muxia.

We spent an extra day puttering around Finesterra before taking off. We needed to get some groceries and I wanted to stop at a Mercadona. Unfortunately, it was a national holiday in Spain and everything was closed. So we spent one overnight at some random marina, then crossed the border into Portugal! Finally, another new country! Once again we were confronted with a new language, a new name for diesel, new grocery stores, or at least new items, new road signs and the most convoluted toll road payment systems on the planet. Yay! 

Another freebie at a marina in Arcade.


It was foggy and raining when we arrived at the marina. That didn’t stop Steven grabbing a moody photograph.

NEXT UP: Portugal in the pouring rain