Rio Miño
- Dad
- Jun 1, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 2, 2018
We knew the Camino had at least one more major challenge for us, and we suspected it would be today. I didn’t rally Ben at our normal time as it was raining hard when I awoke and was supposed to stop mid-morning. That changed quickly, and we agreed that we would just need to trust the rain gear and get after it. “The next town isn’t going to walk towards us.”
Respect the Camino or pay the price.
We had a long 27.5 km day planned, with a significant hill to climb early, and what looked to be a Meseta style grinder late in the day. After some early confusion we realized our little oasis at Casa Barbadelo was 2-3 km farther back than we thought, making this a 30+ km day (18.6 miles).
There was a steady stream of pilgrims out on The Way when we started through a solid rain. The first 9 kilometers were uphill to Morgade (population 4), after which we passed several other small towns in search of the most famous Camino marker on the Way. We were in a deep and animated conversation about something, probably hockey, and almost blew right past the celebrated 100 km to Santiago marker outside Pena.
When we stopped for 2nd breakfast in Mercadoiro we were really struggling. That’s when we realized we had walked uphill in the rain for over 14 km to get to 2nd breakfast, a distance farther than several of our total days on this journey.
The most enjoyable part of the day was after 2nd breakfast. The rain stopped as forecast and we had an enjoyable 5 km walk down into the Rio Miño basin to Portomarin. It was difficult to give back every meter of that hill, knowing each one would need to be regained on the other side of the Miño valley after lunch. Coming down the hill Ben pointed out something we had not seen, and been puzzled about, after a month of walking across Spain. A lake. As we neared the bottom and saw the size of this river, we realized that what we saw was actually a bend in the river.
We have walked over 430 miles across Spain, through every kind of landscape imaginable and with vistas that reach for miles, across hundreds of rivers and streams, and still have not seen one lake.
The Rio Miño is the largest in Galicia, providing the backbone for its vineyards, farms, and hydroelectric power. It flows north to south through the region we’re in, then turns west and delineates the Spanish-Portuguese border all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The name is derived from the Indoeuropean root “mei” which means “walk”, which sure feels appropriate. Witches seem to creep into the legends and superstitions throughout Northern Spain and they were reputed to be living in the Miño.
Throughout this journey we have come across towns that were founded because of a pilgrim bridge that was built to help those on the Way of St. James across a river. Portomarin, a beautiful riverside city on The Way, is no different in this regard. What makes it different is that this is the first river that I don’t think I could’ve found a way across without a bridge. It’s enormous. We had an excellent lunch in Portomarin in the plaza that holds impressive Iglesia de San Nicolas.
That is where the fun ended. Fording the Miño again after Portmarin we started a boring, dead straight, 9.3 km afternoon slog uphill all the way to our albergue in Castromaior (83 km from Santiago). Daily readers know I lean on Ben to be the calm and rational barometer of how things really are out here on The Way. When he put down his pack with a resounding “That Sucked!”, I felt better about my resentment for that hill.
Castromaior (population 30) is a tiny hamlet really only good for food and rest. The little café bar up the road from our albergue has a nice medieval feel to it, with a warm and scented wood burning stove. When we stopped in for a beer and bocadillo, the owner came by and took our pilgrim menu order for later in the evening. I think we’re the only one’s that she is cooking for tonight.
Castromaior also has a legend of note. Apparently when Moors lived here, a local girl working as a swineherd left a sacrifice, a basket of pig snouts. She returned the next day to find the snouts had all been turned to lumps of coal. She took one of them home, to find later that it had turned to gold. So she hurried back to get the basket, only to find the remaining snout-coal-gold lumps gone. Our favorite part of the telling we read of this story was the ending, where the narrator admits “We’re not sure what lesson is to be learned from this tale”.
Unfortunately there is no WiFi in Castromaior strong enough to upload photos, I'll have to add those down The Way.
Respect the Camino.
Incredible. Your entire journey shatters my fragile, eggshell mind. You are true Road Warriors. I’m always happy to read when you finally end your day and sit down for a meal and a well-deserved pint. Thank you for sharing this daily journal with us. Be safe. Be dry.
Andrea - One can’t judge a town’s population by the buildings. Here in Castromaior there are only 3 buildings but the population is 30. Morgade kind of blended to the others in that string of towns and there were quite a few buildings.
We’ve had fun taking about this though. How often do they need to update that population? We’ll pass a town with population 2 today. So something like:
“Why did you call the cops on me last night?”
“What? That wasn’t me!”
“Yes it was.”
Pig snout turns to coal turns to gold. Makes perfect sense to me. I think the lesson speaks for itself.
So I’m curious about Morgade and it’s population of 4. Can it really be it’s own town then? Are the 4 people all related? What does one do for work in Morgade? How many buildings where there? That might help solve all the questions I have.
On a different note, your and Ben can now officially say you had to walk “uphill both ways”. Way to keep after it. Only a few days left and only a few kilometers (easy for me to say as I post this sitting in the sunshine after driving home from Seattle and not walking to).
Well, apparently my "all downhill from here" comment was a bit premature. But 100KM for the 'callus crew' is nothing. Maybe you should just knock that out in a day? Stay safe boys.