Camino Invierno Day 8 (Day 47 Overall) – Montforte de Lemos to Vilarino

Today was a relatively short day, just 18 kilometres from Monforte de Lemos to Vilariño. The reason for that is that it’s quite a long stage with some fairly large ups and downs. I wanted to break it up and this was the logical way to do it. There wasn’t really many places to stay along this 30K stage and so I had picked Vilariño as it had a small casa rural there. Even though it was only 18 kilometres, it broke up the stages nicely for me, leaving me 21 for tomorrow with a very large descent and ascent to undertake.

But the walk today was very pleasant. The only slight downside is that it was mainly road walking. But I find now that if I keep my speed down and kind of walk gently, the road walking doesn’t damage my feet too much. It was fairly pleasant going through the usual, very small, deserted villages, slowly ascending. And then I noticed in the guidebooks that in Piñeiro they spoke about a very nice water font that had very good drinking water. I wanted to try that out, even though I had enough water for the day.

On arriving at the water font, it indeed looked very inviting, but there wasn’t a sign which said if it was drinkable or not potable. I heard a lady in a house next to the font, who was working outside, and I called her attention and asked him my very poor pidgin Spanish if the water was drinkable. Before I could finish the sentence, she said “yes, its potable” in Spanish, of course. So, she must get asked that question a lot. I tried the water and indeed it was fantastic tasting water, lovely and fresh and cool. I had a big drink and topped up my water bottle.

From there, the walk got a bit more interesting because it was very small tracks with dry stone walls on either side going up between fields and lots of tree cover and some fairly steep sections, but really nice. Then before I knew it, I was in Vilariño, which itself was quite interesting because the casa rural that I’m staying in is closed on Wednesdays, and today is Wednesday.

But when I had called to make the booking and I said that’s fine, don’t worry, we’ll give you a bed and even though the kitchens are closed we’ll find you something to eat. Well, I have to say, it’s been a wonderful welcome. The lady who looks after the place didn’t just give me a plate of food, I got a complete menu del dia as she and her brother-in-law sat down at the next table and had their lunch. We’re the only people here. She’s doing my washing and they’re going to lay out some breakfast for me. It turned out to be a perfect place to stay and to rest and refuel before I hit the big descent and ascent tomorrow. Another great day on the Camino.