Walked: 17.5km (119.03km) | 3h27m (25h19m)
Followed: 0km|22km (20m)
I’m afraid I didn’t bond with the Hotel Glasgow at all. A bit institutional for me although the room was big and clean. However, I’m very pleased we stayed there for what happened next.
Shortly after leaving our hotel we came across this couple again, who we’d noticed at the coffee stop the day before. It often happens on the Camino that you spot walkers you’ve seen earlier. And everyone says “Buen Camino”.
We progressed from “Buen Camino” to “Where are you from?” Our new acquaintance, Peter, said they were from Darwin. “Oh,” I said, “I shared a house with a guy from Darwin when I was at university in Edinburgh.” I immediately corrected myself and said “Actually, he wasn’t from Darwin, he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in Darwin looking after buffaloes.”
“Oh,” said Peter, “his name wasn’t Brian F— was it?”
What are the chances?! Peter is great friends with my Australian housemate from the 1970s. And he is godfather to one of Brian‘s children. Over the years, I’d lost touch, although we’d had some great times, including nearly freezing to death together in unheated accommodation during the Edinburgh winter, gathering firewood to survive, and building a giant pyramid of McEwan’s beer cans on the mantelpiece to keep us going. Jane had joined us there, and so did Brian’s future wife, Jo. Peter was able to give me Brian‘s phone number and email address there and then, straight from his phone. A few years ago I’d had the urge to try and get back in touch with Brian and spent several hours over a couple of days trying to get a phone number or email, without success. The closest I got was a planning permission application with his name on it! The reason I’m not giving his full name here is I don’t want to break the enviable internet absence he currently enjoys!
Nothing was going to top this story today but read on for the rest of today’s report from the Camino, where strange things are known to happen!
We diverged from the official route today. We knew it would take us over the headland, but Jane had read about a “glass beach” we could reach if we took the cycle route around the coast – an extra 3km. Below is the official route.
This is the route we took.
As we approached the northeast tip of the coast we spotted this old lighthouse that had been converted into a cafe/restaurant. It was time for a break on a route with very little in the way of services, so we walked down to it. It was a blustery day, threatening rain, but it held off.
They weren’t yet open but put on the coffee machine for us and booted up the very complicated till. A very welcome complimentary brownie was delivered with our coffee. They could clearly see we were starving. Lovely people. Total bill €5.00. They were able to tell us where the “glass beach” was. As it happens, it was just to the back of their place. We would never have found it ourselves. It was only small.
It consisted mostly of small pieces of glass, polished by the sea.
Locally it’s called the Praia Dos Cristais. Years ago it was a rubbish tip and the sea broke the bottles dumped there and polished the glass pieces. So it’s basically a landfill site that’s turned itself into a tourist attraction! You can read more about it here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/praia-dos-cristais
It’s a tradition on the Camino for pilgrims to leave messages on pebbles. We came across this one today.
After visiting the glass beach we climbed back inland to pick up the official route and met up again with our new Australian friends.
Interesting sights included these glamping igloos with views across the sea.
Small streams and springs were also a feature and many had structures built around them. This one was the most impressive.
After 17.5km we arrived at our hotel in Baiona. We have a lovely room overlooking the spotless beach and marina.
We are booked here for two nights as we thought at this stage that we’d be on our knees and would need a rest but I think both of us would like to keep walking! We will have to stay here though as all our stops are booked in advance. And at least we could catch up with the washing in the local laundry. Tomorrow we’ll probably go for a walk, just for the hell of it!
