Day 51 - Sigüeiro to Poulo (9 miles)

The Camino Ingles gets its name from the fact that it was the route followed by people arriving at A Coruña from Britain and Ireland to walk to Santiago de Compostela. It went out of favour, as did any form of English pilgrimage, during the reign of Henry VIII when he broke from the Catholic Church. The modern route is only forty seven miles, the shortest of all the Caminos, and so most people extend it by starting at Ferrol further along the coast thereby doing the necessary mileage to gain a 'Compostela'. I have only the desire to get to the coast so A Coruña is my target - I guess that simple aim does bring with it the benefit of being able to claim historical purity - but it is proving difficult for me to stretch this into a five day trip to match my hotel reservation in Santiago next week. 

Today was a short nine miles so I made a slow start, lounging around in the sitting room at the albergue and breakfasting with what I had in my rucksack, before heading out under skies that promised rain despite a forecast that did not. It was a day of woodland and rural smallholdings, a forgettable stretch on tree-lined track alongside a motorway, and a couple of tiny villages. And of course rain. I am going against the normal flow of traffic and it still feels a little strange seeing everyone else heading towards me. I enjoy chatting to those coming the other way but I enjoy more the solitude in between, just me and the surrounding countryside; there is contentment in the quiet of nature and after so many weeks even walking in the rain has become nothing more than another facet of my journey, something of the outdoors to be enjoyed rather than to suffer as a discomfort or an inconvenience. Today, amongst those heading towards me there were three middle aged Mexican women brightly caped against the weather and with one hobbling badly. It gave me an opportunity to make use of the first aid kit I had so far carried unopened as I administered to her blisters and bandaged her foot. Apparently I am now an 'angel'.

In practical terms going 'against the flow' means I have no way of estimating how many walkers are ahead of me, of gauging whether an albergue I am planning to use will be empty or full, but that wasn’t a problem today. I had chosen today's albergue because it seemed to be nicely remote, its location out of step with the customary rhythm of daily distance for the route; I guessed that would make it unpopular for people coming from the north even though there are few albergues to choose from on this particular Camino. I got there early, enjoyed a peaceful hour in its surrounds waiting until it opened, and then spent the afternoon relaxing. There are plenty of bunk beds in the large upstairs room but by the end of the day only three of us had arrived to make use of them.

Poulo is too small to even be called a village and has no amenities to speak of. But just down the lane from the small and rustic, stucco and stone built albergue is an upmarket 'Casa Rural' guest house with a good restaurant where I went with an Italian walker from the albergue for a decent dinner in very nice surroundings; with little time left to me I thought I would spoil myself. It was either that or the dregs of the food in my rucksack.

Because I do not want to walk needlessly short days, and because accommodation locations better suit it, I have decided to walk the route over four days and to spend a day in A Coruña itself so I can explore it a little before catching the train to Santiago. Over the next two days I will therefore do the remaining twenty five miles to that city.