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The path of rock and water

Day 15:  A Armenteira to Vila de Arousa, Spain

This is planned as our longest walking day so far.  Fortunately, it is all downhill.  Unfortunately, it is also supposed to be the hottest day.

We start the morning at the monastery after being dropped off by a taxi (we are about 30 minutes away since there are no places near the monastery to stay).  Our taxi driver is talkative and drives us right into the monastery courtyard and shuttles us into catch the last part of the chapel mass. There are seven nuns singing in a circle around the altar in a small stone chapel.  It is a beautiful start to what will be a long day.

The gates to the Monastery
The Monastery churxh
In the convent area – this is also where we find the small chapel
The courtyard with the typical crosses we have seen all along the Camino
The bar is just outside – quiet in the morning as we start to leave
Our path which is 7 miles along a river where there are nearly dozens of old water mills
The last view of the hill we climbed before descend
We start into the forest
Wonderful cascading stream the whole way down
We meet a Stanford Student along the way and he walks with – we find out we are staying in the same place
Little chapels greet us along the way
This one is very well kept up
We finally make it to the beach
A new sign
We get some tapas for a late lunch as we finally arrive in Villanova de Arousa – fortunately before 3 when the close since they won’t open again until 8 pm
David checks out the touristy rhings
Do youth bk we will find our way to the boat in the morning
A beautiful sunset completes our say
We leave at 7 am (!) tomorrow from here

We make it down the mountain and get to the beach.  The feet are sore and we try switching out shoes and socks which helps a bit.

We have enjoyed our detour – even with the steep climb and sore feet – since it has provided some of the most beautiful scenery.  More importantly it has provided more quiet moments.

Tomorrow we rejoin the main group of pilgrims and then it is one more day till we arrive in Santiago de Compostela.

It is hard to believe we are almost there.

It has been a long journey that seems to be coming to an end either too short or after such a long time – depending on our perspective.

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sirianddavid

Siri and David live in Redmond, Washington, and enjoy living, traveling, and learning about different cultures.

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