A Calle to A Castro

My accommodation last night, the Casa do Horreo, had only one flaw: the people kept chickens. That meant there was no chance of a lie-in with a cock next door. He woke us all up loudly at 5.30 am and then went back to sleep it seems.

This is the view from my room, with the trail in a gully down on the right and the hen house over the fence to the right of that.

The Camino actually goes underneath the Horreo.

Looking back to the house, my window is top right.

On the trail again this morning, I came upon this memorial to a Swiss pilgrim who didn’t quite make it to Santiago:




These prize cocks were being fed on the remains of the grelos leaves and the old stalks of the plants are piled up behind.

A Turkish woman stopped to talk to me and insisted on giving me one of these charms to ward off evil. I have a bigger version at home which I was given on a holiday in Turkey.

It was a short walk today and I soon arrived at Hotel O Pozo, not easy to find as the tiny settlement of O Castro is not in my guidebook. It is just off the Camino, right out in the country:

Bathroom.

I had a chat with a man from Alicante who said he owned a factory that made high-heeled shoes. He employs 350 workers and was pretty stressed out. He had come to Sarria to do the last 100 kms of the Camino in peace and quiet.

He invited  me to have dinner with him and his friends but I knew it would be too difficult to converse with them with my rudimentary Spanish, so I thanked them for their invitation and declined. There was a cold meal only, but it was beautifully prepared and delicious:

Dining room.