Vicquilter: Some Days Are Not As Good As Others

This morning after a poor sleep (I was cold) I got up at 6am. Rustle rustle quietly as possible getting everything back in my pack without disturbing those still sleeping. Out the door and down the camino at 6:30am. It was just barely getting light. I really had to pay attention to arrows.
The cobblestone path (above) was unusual and was for just a short distance.

The quiet man from Korea, Changho Eom, passed me as I was eating breakfast on a bench at the 2nd small village of Remesal. We walked together for a bit.
Which reminds me .... I am pretty sure I saw a wolf this morning! There are wolves in the area so not unexpected. Whatever it was looked like a brown blur the size of Digby as it crossed the path 50 feet ahead. It sure was moving!
So it is comforting to know that there is another pilgrim just ahead or just behind when you know there are wolves about.

The villages here are well past their best before date. They have amazing but very old churches, only elderly folks are about, there are never any children as all the young folks have moved away. There are more dilapidated buildings than usable buildings.
Otero de Sanabria was very sad indeed with lots of old furniture strewn about as well as the usual garbage.

This is in the 3rd village of the morning, Triufe.

Our first sighting of the historic town of Puebla de Sanabrias. Can you see the castle?

The camino is alongside a busy highway at this point. One has to dodge signs, erosion and garbage. Yuck, no pilgrim enjoys this type of walking but "it belongs to the camino."

Chapel of St Cayetano

I climbed the many many stairs (wearing my backpack ... are you impressed?) up to the castle and the old town.

There are cats everywhere the last few days. Last evening on the Albergue/ Sports Centre property there was a litter of kittens in the crotch of a large oak tree. The employee at the bar put food out for the stray cats. They all unfortunately seem to be people shy.

Very old statues at the entrance to Our Lady of Azogue.

Old Town within the castle walls.

Looking down on the city from up in the castle.

The 12 km walk from Pueblo de Sanabrias was mostly alongside a highway busy with large trucks. Two kms to go there was a turnoff to a nice meandering way past the village of Terroso where I took a photo of this church.

I arrived at my destination, the recommended Casa Cervino Albergue in Requejo de Sanabria, just before the rain started. A quick shower, loaded my clothes into the washing machine then Danielle and I went next door to eat a Pilgrim's Meal of Russian salad, hake and an orange. The waiter was rude (last evening as well ... Is it me?) just tossing the plates on the table.

The weather has definitely changed. We are wearing our down jackets indoors. At the albergues the heaters are turned off on May 1st.

This is a very nice albergue with enough toilets and showers and they provide towels. Hey it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Tomorrow will be more of a challenge. We will be climbing to the highest point on this camino, 1356 meters. We appear to be at 1000 meters here. I am hoping that the predicted rain does not materialize.

Oh and I thought of another line to add to my secret of life from yesterday's blog. When you take a wrong turn (& I did) enjoy the detour (& I did).

So not such a great day but I did really enjoy walking around the castle and through the old town.

Time to head out and see what is happening here.

An estimate of 720 kms walked so far.