A warm walk from the outset through the Galician countryside, with rolling hills home to farms and pastures and thick woods.
On the way out of T, I swung by a 16thC blacksmith’s shop (photo, rounded portion along wall) where ancient pilgrims once ate and tended their horses (old school Spanish blacksmiths knew their way around a kitchen too it seems).
After that, HOLY COW! A lot of 🐮. Like A LOT a lot. Which means I dodged a lot of 💩 today.
In S, after checking to make sure the bottoms of my shoes were clean (they were), I checked out the 13thC Monasterio de la Magdalena (long building w/bench in front). Later I went to Mass at the 19thC Iglesia de Santa Mariña (photo). The priest had us in and out of there in 22 mins flat. A Camino record!
More pilgrims have joined the Way now that it’s about 100kms to SDC, a common practice for various reasons.
As I savor these final walks, I notice I’m walking slower, stopping to rest and behold and coffee more than before. By God’s grace a measure of this slowness and curiosity will endure in me once this pilgrimage is through.
