Day 19: Camino de Santiago - Camino Inglés - Ferrol to Fene (Part 1)

 

22.65k including getting to our pension, 1k off track, and getting to and from dinner plus lost time.

 

We left before sunrise, searching for the first arrow. That sounds dramatic, but sunrise in Spain is at 8:30.

Chuck spots it. I circled it in red. See how easy it is to miss?

Being a port city there were the familiar aspects that we know from home. The cranes looked like the silhouettes of giant birds as the sun rose.

We walked along the shore to be greeted by a port police officer. Uh oh, I thought, what’s going on ahead. He asked in Spanish if we were on the Camino, then pointed the way. Then he asked for my phone...to take our picture.

We passed interesting buildings, labelled the “Tanques de tormentes.”

Our minds went to the worst. In translation it meant storm tanks. Another appropriate translation as storms can cause torment.

 

As we continued we noticed the cranes in the golden hour (an hour after sunrise or before sunset).

We walked above the beach:

What followed was an upsetting experience. We were headed to Spanish McDonald’s brekkie when  I entered a crosswalk. A woman stopped for me. I started across, but then noticed a guy in a little Audi coming up quickly behind her. I hesitated, thinking he might rear end her and send her car right into me. He did hit her and I still had to step back just in case. They both pulled over to exchange information. We waited in case they needed us as witnesses, then continued on.

 

Some of the people in Spain are appreciative of pilgrims, their purpose and contribution to the economy. Others think they are an inconvenience. I’m hoping this woman was of the first variety, but we’ll never know.

 

We made it to McDonalds shaken but unscathed, and had a Spanish tortilla (potato omelet) with tomato/olive oil spread on a toasted bun. It was unexpectedly good.

 

Here we are, seven paragraphs in and we’re only at breakfast. I think I’ll spilt this post into two. Part two tomorrow.