Camino Invierno: 11. Silleda to Outeiro. 24 kms

My heart leaps up when I behold 

A rainbow in the sky. (Wordsworth)

I set out early this morning. I have to say that the Buen Camino app saved me several times as I blundered around in the darkness trying to find the way out of town. I couldn’t find any arrows in the town itself. A gust of wind whipped off my Tilley, which narrowly escaped been run over by a car. Not for the first time.

The blustery night turned into a very blustery day.

I had breakfast this morning with Lionel, the Frenchman, one of the group of pilgrims from the Invierno. Of the others, Carlos has gone ahead, but the Spanish couple with the baby and the older couple with the decorated backpacks are still with us.

I walked by a plantation of the metamorphic gum trees I mentioned yesterday. They do grow straight and tall, even if not very thick. Someone must be using the timber as I passed a stack cut into lengths. 

I have mentioned the gorse, but for the first time I saw some broom in flower, a late bloom broom.

The broom in bloom is mainly in the combe.

I stopped for coffee at Bandeira and ran Into a couple of young Canadians, Allie and Caleb from Vancouver. They had walked  the Sanabrés from just north of Zamora. The conversation and the café con leche lifted my spirits, and then I walked out of town towards a rainbow.

How I love people who care about dogs! Shortly after leaving Bandeira, I encountered a roaming lab who had recently had puppies. She attached herself to me and walked with me for 15 kms, despite my best efforts to send her home. If I stopped, she stopped, and when I tried to sneak away, she followed. I was concerned about her, as I knew that busy roads were up ahead. She followed me down the big descent into Ponte Ulla, and there, to my great relief, as I walked past some houses, a lady recognized her, and said she was in the habit of following pilgrims. I suspect she was on the lookout for her. As she had done before, she took her in and was going to phone the owner. I remembered a dog on the Camino Francés that used to meet pilgrims in the morning, walk with them during the day, and then return ready to begin again the next day. This friendly lab was doing the same thing. A dog must have somewhere to go.

Apart from the dip down and up again, it was an easy day with a bit of road walking and the occasional incursion into the woods.

I won’t dwell on the thousand-foot climb at the end of the day. It was as if the Camino was making us suffer one last time before releasing us to Santiago.

There are seven of us here in a modern, but with no frills, municipal albergue.

 at Outeiro. Only 16.7 kms to go!