Day 11 Betanzos to Presedo

From Betanzos to Presedo

Today's Date:	09/26/19
Today's Distance:	9 miles / 14 km
MapMyHike	Relive
Total This Camino:	94 miles.
Total All Caminos:	1229 miles
Hostel/Albergue:	Municipal albergue @ 7 eu

Notable memories

Today was a decision day. I had two choices about places to stay.

I decided to get off the recommended route, which would have taken me to Hóspital de  Bruma, primarily to avoid crowds. Bruma is the meeting place for two different caminos.

By stopping short, and then carrying on tomorrow to another intermediate point (O Outiero) I hope to avoid the wave of Pilgrims.

It looks like Santiago is in 3 days, most likely Sunday, October 1st. Then I'd like to stay for the 2nd and see some sights. And on the 3rd of October, move on to my next stage, which is looking like the Via Fracigena for just under 2 weeks  in Switzerland.

I need to do a serious investigation of Switzerland now. It's time to make decisions.

My plan was to rest here in Presedo, but Antonio bought Jesus and I a bottle of wine, and that killed the plans. So after beer and wine, instead of resting, I returned to the hostel to lay down and close my eyes. Well, I guess that is a kind of resting!

Jesús and I had a long conversation, really exercising my Spanish. I feel good that I can carry conversations with people here.

Betanzos in the early morning

Guard cat

Morning drizzle

Took the alternate route, getting off the main road.

What a cutie!

Jesús (Albaceteño), Antonio (who bought us wine) and me

Day 10 Pontedueme to Betanzos

From Pontedueme to Betanzos

Today's Distance:	13 miles / 21 km
MapMyHike	Relive
Total This Camino:	85 miles.
Total All Caminos:	1220 miles
Hostel/Albergue:	Albergue de Santa Maria @ 10 eu

Notable memories

Greetings from a horse

Restored medieval bridge

Because of the high mountain ranges, the road bridges are amazingly tall.

Eucalyptus forest

This guy came right up to my backpack to sniff and check for apples. He nudged me a couple of times.

The paths become sunken over the centuries for to usage and water run off from storms.

Betanzos

Peter and Nick (dad and son) - Germans

Gust and Luc (Belgium)

Hospitaleros Juan and Emilio

Day 09 Sta Maria de Neda to Pontedueme

From Sta Maria de Neda to Pontedueme

Today's Distance:	10 miles / 17 km
MapMyHike	Relive
Total This Camino:	72 miles.
Total All Caminos:	1207 miles
Hostel/Albergue:	Municipal Albergue @ 5 eu

Notable memories

Slow paced, peaceful day. No rush.

Thoughts so far

Crossed a variety of environments from towards to hamlets, from commercial zones to forests and from water side to inland.

Views along the way

So nice to be out of all the urban stuff.

For a change, I'm not the only one out here.

Pontedeuma

Mass tonight

Day 08 Ferrol to Sta Maria de Neda

From Ferrol to Sta Maria de Neda

Today's Distance:	10 miles / 16 km
MapMyHike	Relive
Total This Camino:	62 miles.
Total All Caminos:	1197 miles
Hostel/Albergue:	Municipal Albergue @ 6 eu

Notable memories

It's amazing to me how much more comfortable I am in Spain. Even just stepping off the plane in Santiago, I felt more at ease than I did in Ireland. I don't have a reason for that. It just is.

I have noticed already one huge difference between my hiking in Ireland and my hiking in Spain. That difference is the amount of people around me. Ireland, specifically the Dingle peninsula, was sparsley populated. That made accessing services really challenging at times. While here in Spain, of course, there are sparsely populated areas, most of my time is spent in either small cities or villages. This contrasts starkly with the hamlets of Ireland.

There is another difference that may account for this new way of feeling. I found Ireland to be much more physically challenging in the hiking, at least by a factor of two. The trails were much more challenging in that they are muddy, often very narrow, and traverse a lot of pastures. I would say mile per mile, I had to expand 50 more percent of energy on any of the Ireland trails, than  I have on the trails in Spain or Portugal.

I thought about it a little more and I have a third difference. Tonight in the albergue, I was able to discuss tomorrow's plans with other pilgrims. For example, where to stop and to compare information on places. Therefore I feel much more confident already about tomorrow's segment, as I've discussed it already today. In Ireland, there was no one else with whom to compare notes. Everyday was me and me alone figuring out what to do.

I know I want to hike in Ireland some more. I just have to figure out how to accustom my emotional feelings to the differences that Ireland, at least so far, has presented.

Starting the camino Ingles

 Ferrol

Blue skies and Sunshine

Which didn't last very long

An honest poor man but never a slave.

Sun is back and the rain is gone.

Closing in on Santa Maria de Neda

Santa Maria de Neda

Andres (Italy) and I having dinner. We both headed across the bridge in search of sustenance, and ended up at the same place. Great stories. He is following the coast, literally, tenting where necessary. We liberally mixed the English and Spanish.

Day 07 Dublin to Ferrol

From Dublin to Ferrol, Spain

Transportation:
     Aer Lingus @ 275 eu
     Busses @ 30 eu
     Taxi @ 20eu
Hostel/Albergue: La Frontera @ 35 eu

Notable memories

Amazingly I slept for 11 hours for my last night in Dublin. I was in bed at 9:00 p.m. and did not awake until 8:00 a.m.

I have come to realize that hiking Ireland is at least twice as physically exhausting as in Spain. The Camino trails, well not what one would call maintained trails, are still in much better condition than many of the trails I had to walk here.

It took a physical toll over the four days that I was here.

Leaving Dublin

Sitting in Dublin airport, waiting for my flight to Santiago. Struck up a conversation with a Irish woman. She had a backpack on. So I asked her if she was walking the Camino. She was doing her first Camino.

Ferrol

Well, I can say that the transportation went quite well today. Everything fell into place. I arrived at Ferrol at about 8:00 p.m. which was pretty good.

After a hot shower  and washing some clothes, I got out for a nice walk. I headed down to the pier, where I found the start point for the Camino. I traced out a few of the directions just to get a good sense. And I'm ready for tomorrow.

After stopping at a bar for tapas and a beer, I found a nice place for some cheesecake and a cafe con leche. I suppose these are all things I need just before I go to bed. Lol

We'll see how things go tomorrow. Two things could affect my plans. One of course is the weather. The afternoon looks pretty good. And the second is my general feeling. I'm looking forward to a short day, in order to rest a little bit more. But I may decide to just go to the distance. it's a difference between doing 9 miles and 18 miles.

Dublin

The Spire of Dublin, alternatively titled the Monument of Light is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 120 metres (390 ft) in height, located on the site of the former Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland.

Leaving Dublin, in the rain 

Ferrol

Hostel La Frontera

Ferrol, Spain (around 10:00 pm)

Down in the Port area, looking for the start of the Camino Ingles. Kinda looks like one of those invading machines from 'War of the Worlds'.

I came across these ghosts. ... In reality, they were folded up rain umbrellas. You may need to have an active imagination.

Constitution plaza

Day 05 to 06 Dublin

Dublin

Hostel/Albergue: Abraham's hostel @ 25 eu

Notable memories

Sunday afternoon in Dublin

Saturday

Had a nice train ride into Dublin from the hotel.

Found St James Church. Will try and get to Mass tomorrow.

And found a local Irish bar, no tourists, no tourists at all. It was really cool to sit there and just take in the completely Irish atmosphere of a neighborhood bar from the accents to the laughter to the camaraderie.

On the train ride back, the doors did not open at my exit. So I was stuck on the train and ended up one further station down the line. With no way to call for a taxi because I didn't know the number, I found myself stuck in the empty, I thought, train station with two junkies mainlining, one pushing the needle in his arm. I felt so guilty busting in on his high that I apologized before asking for help. They were nice enough. They tried to help me with advice, but I finally just left the station, stepped into the road and flagged down a car. I was lucky that it was an off-duty taxi, who gave me a ride back to the hotel.

Calling it quits tonite.

Hueston train station

St James Protestant church in Dublin.

It's across the street from St James Catholic Church.

An interesting story is that St James Protestant Church has strong links to the Camino in that many years ago during an excavation, a sizable number of bodies were found there, many of  whom had camino shells with them. With an insufficient number of parishioners to maintain a congregation, the church was disestablished. It is currently a distillery. The lady who told me the history of the church, said it was fitting: tradng one set of spirits for another set of spirits.

There's a theme here. Irish servers, Irish customers, Irish pub.

Sunday

Went to mass at St James. It was nice to feel some of that old time religion, or spirituality, again.

In the afternoon I joined a 2 hour tour of Dublin center. The guide was very professional, and had detailed knowledge of Ireland's history. He covered topics from the pre-Celts to the Vikings to the anglo-Normans to the British. 

We learned about the many invasions, exterior forces and internal and external events that shaped modern divided Ireland.

An amazing two hour walk.

Finished the night with a walk in the rain and dinner at a pub.

What a week!

St James Catholic Church. Where the caminos of Ireland begin. Or at least the offices for the association are here.

I'm very glad that I got up a little early and caught the bus down to St James Church. While I was listening to Mass, it occurred to me that the big difference between the Dingle Way and the Camino de Santiago  is that the first is very much more secular while the second is very much more spiritual.

All finished with Ireland Camino for 2019.

 River Liffey bisects Dublin into north and South.

Dublin tram

 On Sundays this major street is closed off for just pedestrians to enjoy the various displays.

In front of Trinity college; enjoying a major sugar infusion.

Rainy night in Dublin