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Camino Primitivo
Day 27 of our Adventure: WALK!!
CAMINO Day 18
Thursday September 28, 2017

26km / 16.2 miles / 7 hours
(We did it in 6 hours)
Total Ascent: 1706 ft.
Total Descent: 853 ft.
Difficulty Rating: Terrain 3; Waymarking 2
Scenery Rating: 3

Grandas de Salime to A Fonsagrada

After walking in the dark for an hour, and in the fog for about 2 hours, we experienced another ascent to hill-top windmills, “an excellent climb” (according to the guide book) to more sweeping panoramas and rewarding walking. Meaning that the effort was well-rewarded. The walking itself felt more difficult, and we’re not sure why. (18 days of walking, perhaps?)

We walked through Castro, where the Chao de San Martín, a well-preserved prehistoric settlement [founded in 800 BC] was recently excavated. It was too early to explore, so we continued our climb up to the windmills.

This route took us into Galicia, the final region of our journey. Some (not all) of the signs for Santiago face the opposite direction when you enter Galicia. When you have two information technologists walking, you can expect an analysis of the signage. It seems to us that when the waymarking signs are on the left of the trail, they face “outward”, meaning that the outer part of the scallop shells (and what looks to me like sunbeams) face Santiago. When the waymarking signs are on the right side of the trail, the “inner” (or hinge) part of the scallop shell faces Santiago. We’ll keep an eye on it and report back. (And searching for answers online doesn’t clear it up.)

After walking without a break for 5 hours we were happy to find an open bar where we had a cheese bocadillo and some caffeine. The ascent into A Fonsagrada was extremely challenging, even with the break. We groaned when we were at the bottom of a very long uphill trail, because we could see how high up the town was. As always, we were very happy to reach our destination!

According to legend, St. James was attended in A Fonsagrada by a poor widow and, struck by her poverty, turned the village fountain’s water into milk. It thus became the fons sacrata (“sacred fountain”).

We are staying at Pensión Cantabrico, and we have a HUGE room. Always nice to have some extra space to sprawl. Tomorrow we will walk to O Cadavo Baleira, a similar walk to today’s.