Stage 45 - Xunqueira de Ambia to Ourense (26.75km): 13/10/2014 07:45

Ourense Cathedral Tower

It has been a strange sort of a day. For much of it we were relaxed, thinking we were doing very well, but the centre of Ourense took much longer to reach than we anticipated and we didn't get settled into our accommodation until after 5:00pm, probably the latest to date. The guide books claim that today's walk was between 19km and 22km (the guide books never agree) but we walked 24.5km and then added another two looking for a place to stay. We never deviated from the yellow arrows during the entire day.

It was raining when we got up this morning but we thought we were in luck as it stopped just before we left the albergue. It was still dark so we had breakfast in town. After that we dropped down into a river valley and then had a long climb back up again, the only real climb of the day and not too severe. Near the top it started to rain and the ponchos came out. It lasted for well over an hour but eventually we had a long pleasant mostly downhill walk as far as the industrial zone outside Ourense. We came through that and stopped in a suburban cafe for lunch shortly before 1:00pm. We were probably there an hour before emerging to a threatening sky. Soon afterwards the ponchos were back on and it didn't stop raining until around 8:00pm.

Ourense is a much larger city than we thought. We understood we had around 4km to walk after lunch but walked at least 8km before we reached the city centre. We stopped at a bar to do some research on accommodation options - normally there are posters for hostals and pensions along the Camino, but not today. 

When we found nothing suitable in our price range we decided to head on through the city to the tourist office. Unfortunately the office was very well camouflaged and we walked past it in the pouring rain. When we did find it we were given two recommendations, one of which was a hostal directly opposite the bar we had stopped in earlier. It turned out to be just perfect and at the right price.

Once we had sorted ourselves out we went out to do some shopping in a €2-type shop - a pair of pliers so that I can replace the worn out paws on my walking poles and scissors to trim my beard. They will be left in the next albergue. We also managed to get stamps for three post cards I have been carrying since we left Salamanca three weeks ago. 

Most importantly we found an optician who repaired Pauline's glasses. A very nice man he was, wouldn't charge anything and asked us if we had walked into town today. When we said we had he told us that he had driven past us in a village outside the city. I suppose anyone seeing us in our bright red ponchos, with our walking poles, would remember us.

We are hoping for better weather tomorrow so that can do some sightseeing in the old city before we start off on the final six days into Santiago.

847km completed, 110km to go.

A traditional bread oven about half way between Xunqueira and Ourense

Next: A rest day in Ourense