My Camino Route in 2023

My Camino Route in 2023
This year (2023), I will be walking my tenth Camino in thirteen years. This time I plan to walk the Camino Sanabres from Zamora to Lalin, the the Camino Invierno from Ponferrada to Santiago. The route is shown with the red line on the map.

Friday, October 7, 2011

A Coruña, Madrid, and Home October 5, 6, 7

My dinner at Galeon Rain on October 4: Zorza (ham with lots of paprika) and ensalada mixta.

Foggy A Coruna

Clearing up a bit in A Coruna

October 5 dinner at Galeon Raina: Tortilla, raxo, Albarino wine, ensalada mixta, and pimentos de Padron.

October 7

Here are my last few days:

A Coruña  October 5

I was up just before 7 am for the 1/2 hour walk to the train station, buy my ticket, then a cup of coffee with tortilla and fresh bread. Yummy-who would want a sugary croissant when you can have a breakfast like that?

The train was fast, travelling at 100 miles an hour. It covered the 75 km in half an hour. This would have taken three days of walking on the Camino Inglés between the two cities.

I arrived in the city without knowing which direction the harbor and the old town were, but it seemed logical to headboth in the opposite direction of the rails and also downhill. Problems were the heavy fog obscurring any landmarks and too early for any information offices to be open. My instincts proved correct and I soon arrived in the port area. There is a maritime walk about 5 km long encircling much of the city and I followed it aroundd as the fog lifted. The walk included the Tower of Hercules a large lighthouse. The maritime walk and many ancillary walking, jogging, and bicycle paths are an integral, beautiful, and well used part of the city. Next, I wandered around the old part of the city, looking for the Iglesia Santiago. I had no map, but enjoyed bumbling around the narrow streets. I came across four other churches before I found the Santiago church. This is the start of the Camino Inglés and I duly noted the scallop shell directonal marker just outside the church. Next was the walk back to the train station for the mid afternoon train back. I think I must have walked 10-12 km. during my visit, plus another 10 km in Santiago. So still did a bunch more walking, though it was without a backpack. That evening back in Santiago, I looked around for Greg, but did not see him. Instead, I rab across Shirley, a Brit, who has lived in the US, Ecuador, and now south of Seville. We shared a dinner at Galeon Raina.

Madrid  October 6

I took the Alsa Supra bus to Madrid, left 7 am and arrived 3 pm. By the time I took subway to Tirso de Molina and found a room at Pension  Florida, the same place Marge and I were last year, it was 4 pm. I visited both the Prado and Sofia Reina museums as they were both free admission in the evening. Of course I had no time to view everything, just some of my favorites. That would be El Greco, Velasquez, Goya, and Bosch in the Prado and Picasso in the Sofia Reina.

October 7

My looooong flight home day. Up at 7:30 to repack, then take the subway to the airport-what a great transport system they have in Madrid. Check in and wait. 7 hour flight to Philadelphia then wait. 4 hour flight to Denver then wait. As I post this, I am waiting for my 2 1/2 hour flight to Sacramento. I've been up about 20 hours with no sleep, just dozed a little on the last flight. I'm ready to be home and go to bed!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Finisterra and the Finish of Our Caminos October 3

The Rio Castro had to be crossed on these stone blocks before the bridge was completed last year.

How about this for a breakfast after the first 7 miles of the morning walk. Cafe con leche and one of the best tortilla ever. Nice sunny day and my ever present iTouch at my side to take advantage of the free wifi. This wasin the delightful village of Lires, halfway between Muxia and Finisterra.

After we finished walking, I took a photo of my Hammers trekking poles, After 800 plus miles on several caminos, I figured I ought to write a positive review on Amazon.


Six weeks of walking. 930 kilometers (575 miles) walked. Another 30 km today south along the Atlantic Ocean from Muxía to Finisterra. Finisterra is literally the "end of the world" and it is also the end of our walk. Today we were pilgrims, tomorrow tourists. Still, it feels good to know that we will not need to put on the packs tomorrow and walk for 5 or 6 hours.

Tomorrow morning, I will take a bus back to Santiago, then on to Madrid and home. Greg will stay here in Finisterra another night, then on to Segovia, then Madrid.

I will post photos but it may not be for another week or so. 

Muxía    October 2

My sopa de marisco, seafood soup, wow!

Greg's rice salad

Legend has it that this is the sail from the Virgin's stone boat when she came to Muxia to tell St. James that everything was okay. Whatever.


Today was the final 22 km. stage to Muxía. The final half was reminiscent of the Camino Norte with lots of up and downs along the coast. Lots of eucalyptus and pine forest. After almost three weeks, it is nice to see the ocean again.

We arrived about 20 minutes before the albergue opened at 1 pm. Not only did we get our usual stamp from the albergue, but also a nice certificate, the "Muxiana", stating that we completed the walk from Santiago. Muxía is a fishing city, also nice beaches. It is across a bay from Camireñas, where Kathy has fond memories of eating pulpo a few years ago.

For our afternoon mrnú del día, I had a really good sopa de marisco, seafood soup, very much like ciopino, with seafood in a tomato base soup, followed by a whole fish of some kind, and two fresh pears for dessert. Oh, and we had pimentos de Padrón for an appetizer.

One more day of walking to Finisterra tomorrow, then we will become tourists.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Observation on tortilla, tapas, and albergues October 1

We learned  that sometimes tortilla does not mean that quiche-like concoction we have become used to. We ordered tortilla bocadillos for mid walk break yesterday and they were more like scrambled eggs in a sandwich. And I ordered tortilla con jamón today and it was scrambled eggs and ham. Wonder if this is a regional variation in this part of Galicia?

Also, the bartender brought us a delicious unasked for tapa with our wine and beer. Small cubes of beef wrapped with onion. They were raxos, something we had not tried before. A Galician specialty- I don't know what was in the sauce, but delicious, melt in your mouth flavor. Gotta try a whole plate of them next time!

Finally, an observation about our albergue for tonight. It is a new building and  Galician government owned. It probably cost millions to build, is spacious and well designed, and also, very well laid out and functional. It is one of the nicest albergues ever and only 5€ per person. With 26 spaces, they could never pay for it if it was full every night. And we are the only two people here. Weird!

Dumbría    October 1

A beautiful cemetary in a small village.

The problem with crossing a bridge and a river is that you always will be going uphill afterwards!

A good example of an horreo, the raised granaries common in Galicia. The toadstool like stones are to keep the rats out.


Greg and I at the point where the camino splits to Finisterra or Muxia.

Another pretty easy day, 22 km of relatively gentle slopes. We walked past a lot of wind turbines, a resevoir, lots of dairy farms. 

 We got to the new albergue here in Dumbria about 12:30 but it does not open till 3 pm. The doors were not locked so we went in, found bunks, took showers and washed clothes. It is 1:20, so we will go out to try to find groceries, restaurant, and wifi, hopefully. And hope they won't mind that we let ourselves in early.

This building was just completed last year, very sleek and modern. It is very well designed and nice compared to most albergues.

As Maroñas   September 30


We are just coasting along with a few easy days, before the last difficult day, three days away. Today was about 22 km of mostly gentle slopes. Two more walking days until Muxia and the Atlantic Ocean.

This private albergue is just the right distance for walking, but there are no stores, etc. around here. Luckily they have a restaurant, but the menú del diá was a mediocre salad and breaded veal with a canned yogurt for dessert. They also had wifi but would not give a password, so John was not a happy boy about that. Oh well, hopefully better services tomorrow.