Tag: Portomarin

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October 15. Portomarin

Another beautiful day. I’ve not had any rain so far. The downside is I’m getting some kind of bronchial yuck. Started taking my Z-Pack antibiotics and we shall see. I think all that heavy mouth breathing walking through cow manure dust didn’t do me any favors. But, meanwhile, I went for a walk today!

Good morning from Morgade
Walk walk
And walk
Oops. I am the arrow walking and the Camino is the green-dotted line.
I was confused. I was seeing arrows, but no people.
Aha! I had missed my arrow and turned onto the Camino bike route. Luckily, it soon joined the walk with the people.
Well, hello! This little dog sits on the wall and quietly watches everyone pass by.
This is the route I swore not to take. But there I was. This is the historic descent used before the river was dammed to create the Miño reservoir.
I sat on my rear three different times to get down this thing.
After walking across the long bridge over the river, these stairs immediately call you. I would show a picture of the bridge but I had to turn my head and watch the road to keep the tummy butterflies under control.
San Nicolás church was dismantled stone by stone from its original site (which was going to be flooded when the Belesar reservoir was built), numbered, moved, and then rebuilt in the new town of Portomarín.
The inside of San Nicolás, also known as San Xoán de Portomarín (or San Juan / San Nicolao).
Domingo de la Fuente Cela served as the parish priest of Portomarín for more than fifty years and was a key figure during the relocation and reconstruction of the church.
And finally, who thought this was a good surface for a street!? Ouch.
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October 13: Stage Thirty-five: Portomarin to Palas de Rei

I’m tired and this looks like a long hard day.

There were two routes out of Portomarin. I think this elevation map was for the more difficult route. The easier route wasn’t shorter, but had less elevation gains.

Leaving Portomarin. This misty fog lasted a couple of hours.
I forget how tired I am on paths like this.
The camino always passes by the village churches. If you don’t have the app to find the Camino, get to the church and you’ll be back on the path.
We are above the clouds.
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Portomarin

The city was moved. The old structures like the church were moved brick by brick and put back together in the new location.

From wiki: In the 1960s the Miño River was dammed to create the Belesar reservoir, putting the old village of Portomarín under water. The most historic buildings of the town were moved brick by brick and reconstructed in the new town, including its castle-style main church: Church of San Juan of Portomarín.

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October 12: Entering Portomarin

I obviously entered Portomarin from the other road in 2019 because I sure didn’t see this coming! No photo of the path until I was near the end because I was in survival mode. Scooted down a couple of places on my rear.
THEN cross the long bridge. THEN up the stairs to the town. THEN up the hill to lodging.

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Stage Thirty-four: Sarria to Portomarin

As I walk along, I often think what section of this route I would recommend to someone with only a couple of weeks to spend walking. I’ve met a few who started in O Cebreiro to walk to Santiago. The long descent from O Cebreiro offers a good endurance experience and the walk out of Sarria is one of the loveliest. Not as majestic as crossing the Pyrenees, but still challenging for one’s first days.
Most common is the walk from Sarria to Santiago because that is the minimum requirement to receive a Compostela and it only takes a few days.

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October 12 Portomarin – Rio Pilgrims

Pilgrims: There were four of who missed the arrow yesterday. A woman from China and this couple, from Brazil. When we got back to the point we should have turned, I waved everyone on because I needed a break. Some time later -2 hours? – I come upon the Brazilian couple resting on a bench under a tree. They scoot over and we make many jokes about how tired we are. The man has a few English words, but otherwise we a cracking ourselves up with exaggerated pantomimes. I take off and they remain. An hour later, I’m resting on a fence and here they come. We are now 3k from the village, so we walk together. I learn the fellow is from Rio de Janeiro, so I start with fiesta dancing – we form a short conga line and twirl a bit. He puts fiesta music on his phone.  Meet Palmira (age 54) and Roberto (age 63). Blurry, but worth the save.

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