Day 9 - Santiago de Compostela to Negreria. Beginning of the trip to "the end of the Earth"

After a day and a half in Santiago de Compostela, we set out on the second half of our trip.   It will end in Finesterra ("End of the Earth") which is on the Atlantic coast, far away from anything - hence its name!  This is the only part of El Camino de Santiago which leads away from Santiago instead of leading towards it.   As  expected, the trail began at the Cathedral, and continued to the East.  The signposts are largely the same as they were going into Santiago. 

I spent today hiking with members of our group.   There are far fewer people going to Finesterra than into Santiago; we probably saw no more than twenty or thirty other people the entire day; last week, we might see that many people in ten minutes.  When we were about a kilometer or two of Santiago, we were at the top of a hill and had a beautiful view of Santiago de Compostela through the mist:

As with so many other times,we also saw some beautiful vegetation.   Here is one:

Here are a few more things we saw along the way:

Look at this geodisic dome
on the playground set.  It looks
like it was designed by the
American Society of Metals
(Clevelanders will understand
that!)

We have seen many houses
  built hundreds of years ago.
Here is one being built now!

We had a long hill - probably two miles or more - that made the day a bit more interesting.  For those in the Cleveland hiking club - it was like the Gorge Road hill in Bedford Reservation, but  at least twice as long. 

Rose in front of the house
with part good roof,
part destroyed roof

On the way down, I was hiking with Rhonda and we saw two cars coming, one from each direction, and the road was narrow.   There was a shallow ditch on the side of the road, so I stepped into it carefully.   But not carefully enough - I sprained my left ankle (same leg as the pulled hamstring).   Fortunately, it was not a bad sprain, and I was able to finish the hike.

With only a few kilometers to go, we reached a place with a dam and a bridge.  It was one of those beautiful places that Spain seems to have so many of.  Not long after that, we saw a house that looked like it had been hit by a tornado.   Half of the roof was fine, and half was in tatters.   I wonder what story there is about that house!

George, Rhonda,
Bob K, and Theresa

The Dam

From there, it was only a few kilometers to our destination in Negreria.  We have a nice hotel.   I went straight to a nearby pharmacy, where I bought some adhesive tape for my ankle.  The drug stores there are interesting - all they have are medicine and related devices.   No candy, snacks, greeting cards, or anything like that!   The pharmacist did not speak English, but we were able to communicate.

On the way to the drug store was a factory that looked like the New York Garment District of a hundred years ago:

Finally back at the hotel, I had a shower, nap, and dinner.   Our waitress was the first person I've seen who spoke no English, and almost no Spanish.   She spoke only Galician!.  When I was trying to explain to her what I wanted, I tried in English and she said "Not speak English".   I tried again in Spanish, and again she said "Not speak English".  I guess my accent sounds American no matter what language I'm speaking.  Eventually, I managed to get the message across with lots of gestures.

Tomorrow will be our longest hike of the trip - more than thirty kilometers; about 22 miles.   While I've hiked that far before many times, most of the people in the group have not.  I am well fortified for it with two Gatorade bottles, two water bottles, and two energy bars.  And adhesive tape!  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow night!