Day 23 to Melide
26 September 2023 Day 23 destination Melide 26 km
We join the Camino ‘autobahn’ today at the octopus dining capital of Spain! -Melide! The Primitivo merges unceremoniously at a busy urban intersection with the Frances to continue on to Santiago in Melide. Traffic increases arithmetically. I’ll have to soak up the remaining (relative) solitude. The huge increase in traffic means lots of noisy Camino conversations- hopefully no boomboxes . Also, I’m essentially at the 3 day countdown. I thought I’d be arriving on Saturday- it now looks like Friday- possibly even Thursday. Everyone’s drive is to pick up the pace- I will plan around Friday intentionally
It was a long long day of walking. In silence. We both chose to walk alone for most of it
Horreos (grainery storage bins are found on every farm)
An hórreo is a traditional structure used to store corn or other grain found in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (mainly Galicia in Spain, but also in Asturias and Northern Portugal), built in wood or stone, raised from the ground by pillars (pegollos in Asturian, esteos in Galician, espigueiros Portuguese, abearriak in Basque) ending in flat staddle stones (vira-ratos in Galician, mueles or tornarratos in Asturian, or zubiluzea in Basque) to prevent access by rodents.
The food stored is ventilated by the slits in its walls. Similar buildings (barns) on staddle stones
In Asturias and Cantabria you can find hórreos but they are completely square and somewhat larger than the Galician counterpart and therefore can appear to be a small house when in a village setting,
These days you often see hórreos decorated with colourful tiles or painted brightly as decoration for the garden of a home, although many are still in use today.
Many home gardeners grow the famous white bean for Galileo Zopa. Galician soup
It was our last day of totally silent walking- mostly alone
My last 7-9 km were very difficult. I was wiped out. 2 flat tires as Holger calls it.
Melide! At last!
BELOW: The famous pulperia I passed I’ve had enough octopus for one Camino
These are the famous Padron peppers they’re cooked à la plancha (grilled) over high heat and salted absolutely fabulous, not spicy at all
Yup,, another humongous long Roman bridge crossing back to our apartmentamento after a very mediocre paella dinner -but calories are calories. This on is a multi arch wonder with a modern redone surface with safe sides.
Highlight of the day: surviving a very very long day of walking. Having enough food and water ( nuts and sardines )
“The danger of adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort”
~Paulo Coelho
