Our 21st day of walking the Camino (Saturday, September 17th) was one of the harder and longer (22.5 miles) walks we’ve had. As usual for a day of this length, we left our hotel in the pre-dawn hours (5:45) and started our first full day of walking in Spain. With the time change (Spain is an hour ahead of Portugal), sunrise wasn’t until @ 8:15, which we hadn’t taken into consideration. Some of the first few miles were over very rough and uneven pathways, so our progress was slow as we used the light from our headlamps to pick our way over the rocks. By the time the sun came up, the terrain had changed to quiet country roads, asphalt highways and some lovely woodland paths. Most of our route today paralleled the coast, making for some beautiful scenery.
About 3 miles from Baiona we left the highway and proceeded up a woodland path, at times trudging along remnants of an old Roman road. Some of the boulders had deep grooves in them, perhaps erosion from water runoff or, as I like to imagine, from the wheels of Roman carts as they carted goods up this hill. By the time we wound our way down to the center of Baiona’s old town, we were all ready for something cool and refreshing. Stopped for a gelato before heading up the last .5 mile to our hotel.
Our hotel this evening is part of the Parador chain, whose facilities are typically located in refurbished historical sites. This particular hotel was once the Castle of Monterreal originally built in the 12th century. It’s located within the walls of a medieval fortress that was once used to guard this seaport town from its enemies. The rooms are large and spacious, a welcome luxury at this stage of our journey, although not in keeping with one’s view of pilgrim accommodations.
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