Stage 46 - Ourense to Cea (22.48km): 15/10/2014 07:42
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| Another woodland path |
After a
fine day for sightseeing in Ourense the weather forecast for today was less
kind. I had the impression that it would be showery but we were on the road for
8.5 hours and it must have been raining for more than half that time.
There are
two routes out of Ourense with no indication which is the most preferred. Both
seem to involve the same amount of climbing and are about the same length. We
chose the right/east route simply because that is what the receptionist in the
hostal suggested.
I suppose
we were lucky that we completed the long climb at the start of the day before
the rain finally started. Someone described today's climb as like going up
stairs for 4km and that is a fairly good description. It wasn't as bad as the
climb to Albergueira of a few days ago as the surface was more even.
After the
climb, the walk to Cea would have been very pleasant if it wasn't for the
persistent rain and the muddy paths. The terrain was varied and we passed
through a number of attractive villages. One of the features of today's walk,
and for most of the walks of the past week or more was the number of chestnut
trees we see. Often we are walking over fallen chestnuts that cover the path.
Like A
Gudiña, Cea is another small town that we have been unable to explore because
of torrential rain. What we did see on our way to a restaurant this evening
looked very interesting.
We had
dinner with a Portuguese man, whose name I didn't get; Carola, a middle-aged
woman from Breschia in Italy; and Bogdan who holds an American passport and
lives north of Seattle, but has given no hint as to why he has a central European
accent.
It seems
all our Caminos are tinged with sadness. Halfway through today's walk we
learned that Canon James O'Connell, a close friend of the Ferrie family since
the 1950s, is critically ill in a Scottish hospital. It was Fr Jim who
officiated at our marriage 45 years ago and was a concelebrant when Ciaran and
Tanya married in Galway and when Liam and Masha married in Moscow.
869km completed, 89km to go.
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