Hoov's Travel Adventures: Day 26-to Hospital de la Cruz—cows and kayaks—what a combination

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Day 26-to Hospital de la Cruz—cows and kayaks—what a combination—May 17, 2024

On May 17, I left about 6:30 AM from Barbadelo Vilal. Again, the scenery is mostly cow pastures, and the trail passes through lines of chestnut trees. so far it’s been cloudy which made for a beautiful sunrise, and no rain so that’s a relief.

I had to wait until I went through the third village that served eggs and bacon for breakfast in Morgade village. I was his first customer, but many followed while I was eating.

I continued to walk-through cow country filled with sounds of cows, mooing, and hearing the tinkling their cowbells. they also spotted the trail with lots of their cow manure, and of course, the smell continued for another day or so of cow manure and piss.

Here’s another field of French lavender.

After a bit, I traveled with Bobbi, from Alaska and now living in Fort Collins, Colorado, and still does some remote work for her construction office in Alaska.

Once I reached the summit of Alto Momientos at 660 m, it was all downhill to Portomarin.

When I got to the bridge that led into Portomarín, I could see that they were finishing up a series of Kayak races on the Rio Mino River.

Just after crossing the bridge, the trail was up this massive staircase into the main part of the city. I stopped at the super Mercado for my normal liter of orange juice before again crossing a bridge that again gave us a choice of two different routes. The one on the left went to a monastery, and the one on the right just took us through the woods.

After another 11 km I came to the end of the day at Hospital de la Cruz where I stayed in the municipal albergue it looked very new and unfortunately it was near the highway so during the night you could hear the occasional cars and trucks go by. The cost was €10 and the pilgrim meal at El Labrador was €15.