Camino Ingles Day 2: 22nd June to Bestanzos

Marion
We started today off with a bang!! Straight up through the village to the top a very steep climb, then through a wooded forest also climbing. I must definitely be getting fitter as although I am quite slow going up steep hills I am no longer tired when we reach the top.
Today we walked through forests, sometimes through grassy fields, on sand paths, narrow tar roads passing small farms and again mostly uphill. After a couple of hours we walked down a steep hill into Mina where we stopped at a cafe bar for coffee and hot choclate and a baguette with jam, we did not eat the whole baguette so took the rest with us. The rest of our walk today was again on the same terrain. We were again fortunate to walk mostly in shade. We have a very comfortable room above a cafe bar. When we arrived at our accomodation we did the usual ,bathed and did our washing. We had a late lunch in our room, I had the rest of my baguette and the last tin or paté that I had been carrying for days and a orange for desseert - delicious! Syl had her baguette, cheese and a nectarine.

We had a walk around and as usual mostly everything is closed. We were lucky and found a supermarket open so bought a few provisions for the road tomorrow and a salad which we can have for dinner in our room. I bought myself a pack of wine (3 little boxes each 200ml) I will have one tonight and carry the other two for another time. A lovely end to a fabulous day.

Sil

I woke before the alarm. My fingers looked like sausages but they weren´t throbbing anymore. I had to put Band-Aids on three cuts on my left hand and strap the two middle fingers on my right hand. I´ve found it really difficult to pack the backpack and tie shoe laces using just a thumb and a forefinger!

The path out of Pontedeume goes straight up, and up, and up for about 15 minutes. Once we left the confines of the town some of the paths were very overgrown and my trousers and spats were soon quite wet with morning dew. It was a lovely walk today. This is walking as opposed to hiking. The paths are either gravel, small tarred village roads, double tracks through fields or leafy trails through the forests. There are many up hill sections so it is more strenuous than I expected it to be but no mountains, just steep short climbs and some equally steep descents. The landscape is similar to walking from Sarria to Santiago with eucalyptus gums, fir trees, small plots of vegetables and many different fruit trees - figs, apples, pears, cherries and nuts. None ready for picking but should be a bumper crop this year. We stopped at Mino for a coffee and bread and jam. Everynow and then we got glimpses of the river estuary.

When we reached Betanzos at about 1:30pm most of the bars in the square were closing. We visited the tourist office for a sello and directions to the Cheino Bar for a room. On Johnnie´s guide it is 15€ each but she charged us 20€ each for a small room with a bathroom down at the end of the passage. We found an internet cafe but had to wait until 4:30pm for it to open. We found a supermecado and bought a made salad, some olives, cheese and a bottle of wine for Marion and had a feast in our room.