Day 1 — Dublin to Sarria
My Camino began with a 1:00 pm flight from Dublin, landing in Santiago around 4:15 pm, local time. The airport is quite modern but had a sleepy, small-town air. To get to Sarria at that time, there are a couple of options – (1) take a bus to Lugo from the airport and a bus/taxi to Sarria from there, or (2) take a bus to Santiago Intermodal Station and a bus/train from there. My wife had done the same route two weeks ago so I knew that there was a 5:15pm bus to Lugo and decided to take that. The bus is operated by Monbus and departs from Bay 4 outside the arrivals area. I bought the ticket online on monbus.es (around €10) and settled in for the wait. The bus was a little late, arriving around 5:35pm.
The bus reached Lugo around 7:00pm, a little late for the scheduled 6:35pm bus to Sarria. The next one was scheduled for 8:35pm, but luck was on my side, and there was a bus leaving for Sarria in 5 minutes. I reached Sarria around 8:00pm, checked into my hotel, walked around the town a bit, and had dinner before calling it a night.
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Day 2 — Sarria to Portomarín (22 km)
I had a decent night’s sleep despite the thin walls and ceilings (an issue that became a nightly occurrence but that’s part of the experience, I suppose). The first thing on my list for the morning was to find a ‘Pilgrim’s Passport’ (‘Credencial’) on which pilgrims get stamps from local shops, churches, restaurants, their hotels/hostels etc. along the way. As luck would have it, I found it in the first place I asked – the café where I had breakfast (Café Polo), barely a minute from the hotel. I also bought the scallop shell that pilgrims hang on their bags, all for €2. A good start to the day. Soon after, I started the walk.
There are many services that transport luggage from one hotel to another for pilgrims. It’s quite convenient if you are carrying extra luggage for a long trip, or if you just want to walk light. I decided to walk with my backpack, just for the experience, and for greater flexibility with schedule, if necessary. I found the backpack (Decathlon) quite comfortable and only felt the weight when putting it on, taking it off, or in the last 2-3km of every day.
The path is very well marked with the characteristic yellow arrow (history) and the scallop shell symbol inside towns and villages, and with very prominent way markers along the rest of the route. Or one can just follow all the other pilgrims who are headed the same way.
After the first few kilometres, I was befriended by a lady from Colombia, which gave me an excellent opportunity to practice my Spanish. I chatted with her almost entirely in Spanish for the next 6-8km. It was a good reset for the brain for the coming few days. We parted ways after a mid-morning bocadillo stop.
I had started walking around 10 in the morning and could start feeling the sun by about 1pm. Splashing some cold water on the face, heads and arms a few times helped cool the body down a bit. I decided to keep my shorts accessible for the next day to change into them around mid-day.
I reached Portomarín around 4pm, definitely the prettiest village on my route. Dinner at El Origen Cervicería — octopus, garlic prawns, and Galician wine — was one of the best meals of the trip, made all the more memorable by the cool evening weather, the relaxed Portomarín vibe, and the falling dusk.
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Day 3 — Portomarín to Palas de Rei (25 km)
Today, I started walking around 8am, after a breakfast of coffee, orange juice, and toast with Serrano ham and crushed tomato (a popular option). I had worn flat soled walking/approach shoes (Decathlon) yesterday and switched to thick foam runners (New Balance) today. Yesterday, I could feel my little toes hitting against the sides, a sure sign that the nails will fall off after a few days. I didn’t feel much of a difference even after changing the shoes.
Over the coming days, I experimented with the two shoes and found the best option to be starting the day with the approach shoes and changing to the foam shoes after about midway. The toes kept hitting the side and, after some time, the pain became such a constant that I stopped feeling it for long stretches. It’s probably best to take a 1/2 (or even a full) size larger pair of shoes than normal, especially if trying out the shoes ‘cold’ in a store. Feet do swell/expand a fair bit on long walks. And finally, avoiding blisters is supremely important, as is treating them at the first sign of trouble. I applied Vaseline every morning on my feet before putting on the socks (compression hiking socks, also from Decathlon), and carried blister bandages to apply at the first sign of a budding blister. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with blisters also.
Throughout the Camino, there are these way markers that show the direction and the remaining distance, in kilometres, to Santiago de Compostella, down to the third decimal (i.e. down to each meter). For a long time today, the way markers did not show the distance but showed a notation “C. Complementario”, indicating one of many alternate paths/detour that then join the main route. It was a bit confusing at first but I kept following the yellow arrow.
The early morning was misty and the trail climbed steadily. There was a lot of uphill today, sometimes gentle, sometimes steep, but most of today’s route was through wooded areas and had a lot more shade cover than yesterday. After about 2 hours of walking, I stopped at Hostería de Gonzar for some coffee, bacon, orange juice, and my first Tarta de Santiago. The place had an extensive menu but was quite crowded and I ended up wasting a lot of time standing in the queue to order. There were quieter options further up the path within the next 10-20 mins of walking so those might have been a quicker option. But the Camino is not really about speed.
The rest of the walk today followed the now-familiar pattern of walking anywhere between an hour to two, taking a break for Aquarius/Coffee/Snack/Meal at one of the many cafes and bars along the way, splashing some cold water on my face, and continuing on. I reached Palas de Rei a little after 3pm, checked into my small but cute and comfy hotel room that had an amazing shower. After a shower and a brief rest, I set out to explore the town and had a bowl of Caldo Gallego for dinner. Simple and satisfying, exactly what I needed.
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Day 4 — Palas de Rei to Arzúa (28 km)
Today was going to be the longest day of walking and I didn’t want to walk too much in the afternoon sun so got up early and was on my way by 7am, after breakfast. Yesterday, I did about 5km per hour, when walking, and had felt quite tired by the end of it. Given the longer walk today, I settled in with a gentler 4km per hour pace, which worked out well. I was less tired today than yesterday.
I reached Melide around 11am. Some people split up this stage into two and stay the night at Melide. Melide has a very famous Pulperia (famous for its Octopus). It’s right on the path and unmissable. I had had Octopus earlier in Portomarin so decided to try the local Chorizo instead, which was also delicious. And so were the fries.
Today’s pace was slower, but breaks were shorter too, and I reached Arzúa around 4pm. Longest day of walking done. The next two days were going to be the shortest walking days. Arzúa town centre is quite busy and lively, with quite a few good food options. But always check Google Maps reviews first as some places are better suited for just sitting and enjoying a drink rather than for food. A little late to bed tonight, around 11pm, after a massage that wasn’t great but still quite relaxing.
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Day 5 — Arzúa to O Pedrouzo (20 km)
I woke up today when my watch showed 6:30am, but realised when I looked at my phone that it was actually 8:30am. I realised the next day, after the same thing happened again, that I had set my Casio home time to the wrong location and had turned the DST setting off, so when the watch received the radio signal in the night, the time went back by 2 hours! Normally, I would have set an alarm on my phone, but I had not done so throughout this trip. Thankfully this happened today and not yesterday.
I left the hotel around 9:30am and decided to stop for breakfast after walking for an hour to two, but came across a very pretty cafe after about 45 minutes of walking, so stopped there for breakfast. Took a couple of rest and hydration stops along the way, had Zorza con Patatas (spicy marinated pork with fries) for lunch, and reached O Pedrouzo around 4pm (arrival time has been pretty consistent all four days so far). Today seemed hotter than the previous days, and my room had a bathtub tub so I enjoyed a nice cold water soak in it to refresh the tired legs.
O Pedrouzo is another small town with shops and restaurants along one major road passing through town. I walked around a bit, exploring the town, and then had an early dinner before calling it a day. Last day of walking tomorrow.
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Day 6 — O Pedrouzo to Santiago (20 km)
Another early start today. Woke up around 5:45am, had breakfast and started walking just a bit after 7am. It was quite enjoyable to walk in the darkness under the starlight and seeing dawn break over some hills. It was quite cool and I was able to walk about two and a half hours before stopping for the first break.
I reached Santiago just before 1pm. I had walked towards the Santiago Cathedral but realised after reaching there that the Compostela certificate had to be collected from the Pilgrim Office, about 400m away. The process for getting the certificate was smooth: scan a QR code at the entrance, enter your details, receive a queue number, and wait a couple of minutes for your turn. The staff were very friendly too. The certificate itself is free, but for €3 you can get a version showing your route and distance, and for another €2 you can get a cardboard tube to keep it safe in the backpack.
The Camino was now done. I spent the evening exploring the streets of Santiago de Compostela and even got myself a tattoo as a permanent ‘stamp’ of my first Camino. My return flight was 2 days later, so I explored the nearby towns of Padron (that made the Padron Peppers famous) and Ponteverde.
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In Closing
The five days of walking had a comforting rhythm. Each day followed a predictable and soothing cycle of walk, rest, eat, sleep, unpack, pack, etc. Once the walk itself was done, there was a sudden sense of a crash. The next two days felt quite purposeless, even though flying into Santiago and exploring Padron and Ponteverde could have been a weekend break in itself. At the same time, maybe it was a good way to transition from the Camino to daily life back home. Thankfully, we are going off on another holiday in a few days, so the excitement continues.
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