O Mosterio → Gonzar
Distance: 17 miles / 27.3km
Elevation: +1840ft, -1769ft
Distance to Santiago: 84.5km
I woke up at 6am to my alarm - today was going to be a longer day, and I wanted to get going early, to avoid the big crowd starting from Sarria. I got up and ready for the day, to find Mark, Liz, and Santiago had all gotten up around the same time as me. These French ladies turned on all the overhead lights at 6:30am, which is pretty annoying because at this point in the Camino, everyone knows that it’s pretty rude etiquette to start flashing the lights in someone’s face or turn on all the overhead lights before a reasonable time. 6:30am was not a reasonable time.
I packed all my things up (into my day pack, as I was getting my large pack shipped ahead today) and chatted with Mark, Liz, and Santiago briefly before I got on my way. It was still completely dark out when I left, so I used my headlamp for a bit, and then ended up supplementing it with my phone because the head lamp wasn’t all that strong - maybe the batteries are getting low. I got to a café about 3 miles in, but it hadn’t opened for the day yet. There was some vending machines around, but I wasn’t feeling any of the snacks.
I saw a lady from another albergue I had stayed at, in Hospital de Orbigo, and we chatted for a bit before I kept moving. Liz and Santiago had caught up to me by then, so we walked together for a bit! Liz got distracted by the lady I met in Orbigo, who I guess she also knew, so then Santiago and I walked together for a bit. Eventually, he started chatting to these Italian guys, and I walked ahead on my own to stop at a café. I got a coffee and a slice of santiago cake, which is basically an almond cake with powdered sugar dusted on top. It was very good!
I kept walking, and it was a decent walk today. There were a number of small towns that we passed through on the way to Portomarín, and it wasn’t a difficult walk. The only thing I didn't enjoy is the fact that Galicia, the province I’m in, is a big agriculture and livestock province; every town smells like cow poop, and it gets a little tiring after a while.
After some VERY steep downhill (so steep I had to put my poles down and use my hands to lower myself down) I made it to Portomarín! After all the decline, there was then a massive set of stairs you had to go up to get into the city, because of course there is. But I made it up, and as I was walking around, I walked past a bakery, looked in, and saw Liz! I went in to join her, got a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), and sat with her for a bit. Eventually, Santiago made it and joined us as well.
I was nervous about not getting a bed at the albergue in Gonzar, the town about 8km past Portomarín where I was staying for the night, so I didn’t stay with them for too long. I was planning on eating lunch in Portomarín, but found that I wasn’t too hungry, and I had already had a pain au chocolat as a snack. I stopped in the restaurant I had planned on going for lunch, and just got a red wine which came with some chips, and I ate that before I got going.
After leaving Portomarín, I really didn’t see anyone for quite some time. I think on the whole walk to Gonzar, I passed maybe five people. It was nice to have the alone time though, and it was a decent walk. There was a bit of elevation, but it wasn’t too difficult. Parts of it were quite beautiful. When I finally got to Gonzar, it was perfect timing, as I had just started to feel a few raindrops. I got checked into the municipal albergue, and found that I had no reason to be stressed earlier, because there were plenty of beds there! I was only the third or fourth person to arrive.
I was going to do laundry, but then it started raining, so I asked the albergue if they had anywhere to hang it inside. They did, so I washed my socks, underwear, and bra, knowing that they would dry quickly. Gonzar was another municipal albergue that didn’t have doors on their shower, but thankfully there were only 2 showers here, and no one else was using them. Who would’ve known that having a shower door would be such a luxury!
It really wasn’t much to do in Gonzar as it was a really tiny town - you couldn’t even really call it a town. The municipal albergue didn’t have Wi-Fi, so I went to Casa Garcia, which is another private albergue in town. I sat there for maybe an hour or two, had a drink, and spent some time on my phone. I ran into some other people staying at the municipal in Gonzar and chatted with them for a bit.
When I went back to the albergue, I laid in bed for a while, and then around 6pm, I decided I should go have dinner. I had bought some groceries in Portomarín because I knew that Gonzar didn’t have a restaurant or any food options. My dinner was a small loaf of bread, a prepackaged Pasta salad, some baby eels (sounds sketchy, but it’s actually really good!), and some canned spicy mussels. It was kind of a weird, small, and unusual dinner, but it got the job done! There was a Spanish guy that was chatting with me in the kitchen while I ate - although, chatting was a strong word for it, since my Spanish wasn’t that good.
After dinner, I laid in bed for a bit, and then decided to go to sleep early. There really wasn’t anything to do in town, so I wasn’t missing out on much. However, it was a nice day today! It made it much better not having to carry my pack.
