After chamomile tea and toast we walked to where Google insisted was the stop where we’d pick up the bus to A Coruña. It was some distance out of town and no bus stop in sight. There was a restaurant adjacent and Dorothy ran in asking feverishly if the bus left from here. The chap smiled and assured us it was. We waited and waited.

Eventually, 25 minutes late, the bus hurled itself around the corner and screeched to a halt. The driver jumped out, grabbed our bags, ushered us in and sat down to drive. He wasn’t interested in our tickets and he certainly didn’t wait for us to sit down. A burly Spanish couple were ensconced in our allocated seats with no intention of moving so we grabbed an available seat each and off we went.

The motorway route wound its way through the Galician mountains and took advantage of the dozens of sky scraping viaducts leaping from mountain to mountain. Unfortunately,, either through shoddy materials or shoddy workmanship some of these same viaducts have recently suffered serious cracks so we found ourselves on contra flow sections for much of the journey. Unlike many other places, Spain appears to have constructed two viaducts for every span, one for each traffic direction. This does rather suggest the question as to whether the builders were only told later in the game that they had to build two rather than one each time and consequently made some compromises. Who knows.

On another note, it’s clear that walking intensively for three weeks is hard. Many years ago, some friends and I were at a party at which a bottle of Drambuie, my favourite drink at the time had been invaded by a nest of ants. Nothing daunted I obtained a tea strainer and patiently removed the lot. I then drank the rest of the bottle. Unsurprisingly, I’ve never been able to think of Drambuie again without a sick feeling in my stomach and nothing on earth would induce me to drink any. Unfortunately, I’m having exactly the same reaction to the thought of walking 25+ km on the Camino. This might have something to do with the fact that I’m feeling pretty unwell but it’s perfectly possible that three weeks walking has had this effect. Coupled with the almost pathological lack of vegetables in our diet, a general sense of ennui, weariness and basic out of sorts is probably to be expected. Hopefully, a few days of oats and nuts, vegetables in abundance and sourdough bread will put things right.

So, no more Camino – this last post ending much like previous ones with the sound of retreat in my ears.

Goodbye