Day Fifty One: Palas de Rei to O Pedrouzo

May 17, 2017

We crossed the street from our Pension to our same restaurant from last night. Like most, they offer combination breakfasts. The "Americano" includes bacon and eggs, bread, coffee, and orange juice (5.50 euros) while the "Pelegrino" at 3.50 drops the bacon and eggs part. I think these names are a bit reversed, since a pelegrino clearly needs the extra calories (and an Americano probably does not). The bacon and eggs are good at delivering those calories, since both bacon and eggs are swimming in oil. Great!

The view from our place in Palas de Rei, with our restaurant across the street

On our wau out of town we noted this gret business - ambulance service plus funeral home. Another good one would be ambulance plus lawyer.

After yesterday's grueling time, we really did not know how far we could expect to go today. We thought about booking at Arzua, just 32 kms distant, but could not find a booking anyway, so we just set off to see what fate would bring.

Fate's first thing for today was misty drizzle. That was a real plus, because the cooling effect is better for cycling than is heat. Next, while yesterday's road followed the pattern up,up, up, up, down, today it was just up and down. By comparison this was really easy.

We arrived in Melide (15 kms out) by 9:30. Strangely the towns in this area, so close to Santiago, really lack any medieval charm. We looked around Melide to find some, and only came up with one convent, from the 14th century. However all was not lost, because we also found a bakery, where at last I could add to breakfast with a chocolate eclair.

We made the mistake again then of following the walkers, and ended up on a steep dirt track. So we backtracked and returned to our proper place, on the N-547 highway. The N-547 has a good shoulder throughout and not too much traffic, so it is a fine way to go to Santiago. For some reason, the Bikeline guide hates it and recommends all sorts of wiggly workarounds, which we ignored.

Dodie with my breakfast eclair, needed to bolster my meagre "Americano" breakfast!

The only bakery open in Melide. We were amazed that at 10, almost nothing was open, including the bike shop. Later we learned today is a province wide holiday, but we have no idea what.

Our road today - is fine, but not too much to see

We arrived in Arzua around noon, without really any strain - so different from yesterday. Again, the town has little or no medieval charm, but it is loaded with albergues and restaurants. These spots in turn are loaded with pilgrims, so there is a real feeling of "something happening here".

We found a bench in a central square and ate empanadas (meat pies) that we had bought at the "eclair" bakery. At only noon, there was no question of calling it a day, so we left the pilgrim scene behind and hit the open road.

Excitement mounts as walkers cluster for final assault on Santiago

Not just the Grampies dress alike for the road

The road began with a long descent and then despite a few hills was basically flat. That meant we could cruise along, just singing or thinking to ourselves, and having little concern for any grueling aspect of the ride.

In really no time we arrived at O Pedrouza, pretty much as close to Santiago as we could go without actually going in. We had booked a spot from that square in Arzua, so this was where we were definitely stopping.

The place is called the Pension 9 de Abril, and one of the first things we asked the owner was where the name came from. We expected an exciting historical anecdote, since when streets and places are named for dates they usually are referring to wars, battles, liberations, and the like. In this case, April 9 is the birthdate of the owner's 3 year old son! What's more, the rooms are also dated, for calendar points in the man's life. For example, our room is named for a niece's birthday. How nice to see such family devotion, and to hell with famous battles!

Mystery Solved

Starting yesterday we were noticing strange little houses in many yards. They were puzzling. Although some may have had crosses on them, they did not appear to be shrines. We did notice that all appeared to be ventilated in some way, so we figured they could be for drying something. Tobacco?

We have since found that they are called "Horreos" and are for grain or potato storage, or indeed for drying miscellaneous items. They are a unique Galician institution.

But What About These?

Every garden here has lots of these tall brussels sprout like plants. But we can see no edible parts on them. Does anyone know what these are?

Bonus - Pilgrim Blessing

Our Pension host directed us to a nearby church were after mass attendees could get a special stamp. We toddled over and observed the service, which was naturally in Spanish. It did not make more or less sense to us being in a language we don't know, but Dodie was able to figure out certain things. For example, the priest asked each person where they were from. The answers were wide ranging, including Japan and Korea, Uruguay and Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Ukraine, Spain, and of course, Canada. He then said things about this journey to Santiago coming to an end but that the people culd continue to lead good lives, and so forth.

One part of the service that we liked was when the participants were encouraged to shake hands with each other.

The church was well adapted to a pilgrim's service, featuring a large shell design behind the altar:

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 2,264 km (1,406 miles)

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