I guess I was a bit premature on the via summary. On our second to last night on the Costa Brava, it occurred to me to try and change my flight home so that I could finish the walk. Of course it helps that we have a superstar travel agent. Ashleigh O’Connor of First in Service, who not only checks her email on Sundays, but is also willing to send a list of options and make the booking! So after seeing Susan off at the Atocha station airport bus kiss’n’ride at the crack of dawn today, I plunged into the Madrid train labrinth, firstly at Atocha, then at Charmartin train stations. Madrid has metro, long distance trains (really fast ones) and commuter rail. The quickest way to get between long distance stations is the commuter rail lines, but there are many (at least 8) with 16 destinations. Trying to figure out which end station you need to aim for is a mystery that I haven’t yet solved, so I just headed to a platform and asked in my best Spanish if I was getting on the right train! My fast train back to A Gudiña left at 0800, but you are expected to be there 30 minutes prior. Our lazy mornings in Blanes faded very quickly!
The train was late arriving in A Gudiña, but by 1100 I was stomping my way along the Camino. It was cool with low cloud – almost low enough to be mist – but by 12 noon it had burned off and I got to see the scenery. Other peregrinos, who would have been evicted from the albergue at 0800, would have had a misty four hours walking before they saw any scenery!
The guide gave today’s stage a ‘very hard’ rating. I’m not sure that I’d agree, although there were two descents, one short and very sharp, and the second a long slow descent into the town of Laza. Ten km downhill at the end of a long day does tax the muscles a bit! There was a village at the 20 km mark that had accommodation, but I decided that I was feeling good enough to tackle the last 15 km, figuring I could get to Laza by 6 pm (I actually arrived at 6:05!) My flight home was changed to Oct 30th(there being no available flight on the 31st), so I’m trying to finish the Camino on a compressed schedule. This means doing some double days to make sure I get back to Madrid in time. It’s not ideal, but a pilgrimage should entail some hardship!
Laza was thin pickings on the restaurant front (the big donut), and although the albergue has a kitchen, finding something to cook is even thinner pickings. However the nice lady in the bar offered me tortilla, and a giant slice with bread and cheese, two glasses of vino tinto, and a coffee cost me the princely sum of €7 – about CAD10. It’s going to be hard going back to North American reality!
2saunter 