LIVE from the Camino My Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros Nov 2024

[David Tallan]

Tuesday 19 November 2024, Braga - Caldelas.

This is a continuation of my account of life as a hospitalero in Salamanca and my Camino Torres

Today was a relatively short walk, so I got a later start, having breakfast at the youth hostel at 8. It was cloudy and misty, a bit like the first days of the Camino Torres.

Again, for the most part, the walk this first day was not especially memorable or special. I expect that will change soon, as I leave the environs of Braga behind. Unfortunately, some of the more interesting buildings I passed were closed. The Visigothic chapel of St. Fructuosus, just outside of Braga had been closed yesterday and wasn't due to open today until 2, and I wasn't ready to start the day's walk that late. The monastery in Rendufe is only open to the public on weekends. So I ended up basically walking straight to Caldelas.

Initially, the signage on the route didn't refer to the Geiras at all. It was signed as the Caminho Minhoto Ribeiro and the São Bento. Only later in the walk did I start to see it marked as the Geira or Geira e dos Arrieiros. But towards the end of today's walk, it was the Geira signage the was predominant.

I arrived in Caldelas at about 12:30 and signed in to the albergue. The albergue is located behind the post office, which itself is located in the old schoolhouse. You sign in to the albergue in the post office, pay your €5 and collect the stamp in your credencial, and then are taken to the albergue and given the tour. There's a nice little kitchen, but there are places to eat in the village, including a restaurant and the cheaper cafe, which has come recommended. As soon as I dropped off my stuff, I went to the cafe for a nice lunch. Then I went to see what there is in Caldelas. According to my Cultural Guide to the Geira, the principal attractions are the thermal bath complex and park and the Church of Santiago, so I went to see both of those (from the outside). I also found a nice little Church of Our Lady of Health, which was open so I could see the inside, too.

All that being done, I went back to the albergue for a restful afternoon. I will head back to Cafe Avenida for supper and have been told it can expect a visitor (I'm guessing José Manuel) at about 7. (Edited to add that the kitchen and dining room at the Cafe seemed closed at 6, so I guess it is more of a lunch place, or maybe I went too early but I wanted to be back by 7, so I just went to the supermarket and got some things to eat.)

It turned out that José Manuel was kept late at work, so he dropped by at about 8:30 and we had a good chat about what to expect. According to JM, the real Geira starts tomorrow.

Photos: leaving Braga, some typical scenes from the early part of the walk, the monastery at Rendufe, the final climb towards Caldelas, the church of Santiago in Caldelas, the smaller (but open) chapel of Our Lady of Health

 

[gracethepilgrim]

Oooh David, I’m so excited for you. Your photos are bringing back memories.
I’m certainly hoping you don’t get much rain.
It’s a spectacular Camino.

 

[Peter Brandon]

David l loved reading your account of the first day on your Facebook page. As l noted there we finished the Camino GDA about 10 days ago. If people are interested I can include my posts on the Camino Forum.
Cheers Peter

 

[David Tallan]

Wednesday 20 November 2024, Caldelas - Campo do Gerês.

I got a little bit of a later start than intended today, partly because it just took me longer to get ready and partly because as soon as I was out the door I realized it was lightly raining and rearranged things to walk in the rain. I stopped at the Cafe for some breakfast and had them make me up a couple of sandwiches to go for lunch, as is recommended practice pretty much every day on this Camino.

It was a long walk today, 31km according to my GPX tracks. It was definitely a very different walk than the previous few days. While there was a bit of road walking towards the beginning and end, the bulk of the day was spent walking on dirt paths through forests on the sides of mountains.

It was a wet day. Not much rain. A few periods of very light rain or drizzle, but mostly just misty or foggy and water all around. And I am serious about water all around. There is a part of the Spiritual Variant of the Camino Portugues they call The Way if Stone and Water. Today's walk could have been The Way of Stepping Stones and Water. Countless streams passed across the path, to be crossed by stepping stones. And if the streams did not cross the path, they went alongside it, or they were the path. But there was generally a way to avoid stepping in the water, if you considered the situation carefully enough. Each one (and there were many) was its own unique puzzle to be solved. It wasn't the streams or the rain that soaked my shoes and socks (and sometimes pants). It was all of the undergrowth that was covered in condensation.

The road I was following, the Geira, was the old Roman road from the Roman town now called Braga to the Roman town now called Astorga. I was a bit trepidatious when I learned I would be following a Roman road. My previous experience on Roman roads on Caminos, while historically interesting, had been terrible on my feet - even worse than cobblestones or setts. But this Roman road wasn't those uncovered stones. It was still covered and basically a dirt road. What made it obviously a Roman road was the cylindrical granite milestones every mile, often several together.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday was the support network for this route, which is fabulous. They even have a WhatsApp group devoted to support for pilgrims walking it, which José Manuel added me to yesterday. And Leonel Pereira is still providing support, too.

One of the pieces of advice I got was, at a certain juncture where the GPS track says to go left, instead go right and stay on the Geira. This way you avoid descending and losing all the altitude you've claimed so far and having to climb it all over again. By following this advice, although it was a long day, after the first hour and a bit, all of it was fairly even. But it meant that I didnt have my GPS tracks to fall back on if the signage was ever unclear to me. The first time that happened I was at a fork with no signage. Left went down and right went even. I massaged folk asking which way to go and then headed right, thinking if it was a mistake it would be easier to recover from than if I made a mistake and went down. Sure enough, I got a reply 5 minutes later. At the same time, that was when I saw a sign I was on the right route. From then on, whenever I was in doubt, I just picked the route I thought was right, figuring I would reassess if I didn't see a sign I was on the right route within 20 minutes. I always picked correctly and always found a sign long begore then, either a painted marking, or one of the Geira sign pillars, or Roman milestones.

As I said, it was a long day. It was after 2:30 when I pulled into Covide, the first place with food. I was glad that I had got those sandwiches, which I had eaten earlier.The cafe didn't have much at this time of day, though. So I had a coffee, a small sandwich, and an apple and moved on.

For some reason on the Geira e dos Arrieiros my Wikiloc is not audibly letting me know when I go off trail, as I accidentally did following the Geira signs and arrows after Covide. Once again, the GPS tracks and the Geira were diverging and I accidentally followed the Geira (as evidenced, not only by the Geira signage, but by another Roman milestone), adding a bit to the length of my day. I finally pulled in to the youth hostel at about 4:15, only to discover that reception is closed from 4:00 - 5:00. While I was waiting for check in, I worked on booking my accommodation for the rest of the Camino. I rested in the albergue until about 6:45, then walked the km into the village to get some supper and the km back. Shower and shave, drying of shoes, insoles, and socks accomplished (or as close as I can get to that) and I am writing this before bed.

Photos: a misty, misty, morning; Roman milestones, views from the trail, walking through the woods, the trail is a stream, Geira silhouette (there were many of these).

 

[Pilgrim9]

Wow! Stunning scenery and yes "a bit moist".

Thank you, David.

 

[jerbear]

Thanks

 

[Peter Brandon]

Fabulous photos David. I loved this day but it was long and tiring. We made the mistake of going down and not following the green path. Meant a slog back up to join the GDA. BOM Camino

 

[caminka]

David l loved reading your account of the first day on your Facebook page. As l noted there we finished the Camino GDA about 10 days ago. If people are interested I can include my posts on the Camino Forum.
Cheers Peter

yes, please, peter. can you start a new thread?

 

[David Tallan]

Thursday 21 November, Campo do Gerês to Lobios.

Today wasn't an extra short day, nor an extra long one. At just over 25.5 km, it took just over 7 hours duration (about 6.5 hours walking). Add an extra hour to the finish time because I am back in Spain.

It was a wet day again. At first it was like yesterday: fog, mist, maybe a little drizzle. Cooler, enough that I was quite comfortable in my rain jacket. Of course, the moment I crossed the border into Galicia it started to rain. That's Galicia for you.

But to start at the start, I got a relatively early start, with breakfast at 7 and on the road by 7:30. It was the usual paved road at the beginning but before too long it turned into a nice dirt road. In the morning, there was some stunning scenery, especially when walking by the Homem River. At first it was wide and placid, then narrowed a lot, becoming a series of cascades and rapids. There were amazing views of the river, of the mountains around it, and of the green and mossy forest that I was walking through.

At around the time that the river narrows, is also the time when the road narrows, from a road suitable for cars to a path suitable only for hikers, sometimes only in single file. As you approach the border, the path starts to climb, becoming very rocky in parts. This was another day where, for the most part, I had to be careful and watch every step where I was putting my foot.

At first I thought that, in following the GPS route, I had somehow lost the Geira, because a long time went by before I saw my first milestones at mile XXXI. But when I found them, I found them. There were a whole pile of them. 17, according to the Cultural Guide (although I didn't count). From then on, they started being more regular again. One thing I meant to say about the Cultural Guide. In the entries, they will often tell you to which emperors the various milestones are dedicated. That means they can not only see the writing, they can read it. I am in awe. It is rare I can even discern the writing, never mind decipher it.

After crossing the border, it was a long walk through mountains and scrub and wet, passing the occasional Roman relic (milestones or even the ruins of a mansio) before making a detour to Os Baños, home of the hot springs. I stopped in Bar Os Cazadores for a bocadillo, and dipped my hand in the public hot springs pool (in which a number of people were bathing). The water was quite warm, but not too hot. Maybe the rain had lowered the temperature a bit. You could see a bit of mist rising from it, although it doesn't really show up in the photo I took.

Then it was press on to Lobios. During this part of the day, I even had a brief glimpse of sunlight, although of course the rain was not done. There was one last hill to climb and descend, just to keep me on my toes, and then I made it in to Lobios and my hotel, where I've been resting until it is time to go out for cena.

Im going to head down and see if I can get some newspaper to stuff my shoes with tonight to help them dry. I also will need to figure out something to do about the smell that they have acquired with the humidity of the last couple of days.

Some photos from today:

 

[grayland]

Thank you, David.
A fantastic log and description of the route and adventure.

 

[Peter Nordberg]

Looks fantastic! Great pictures and text. Thanks for sharing.

 

[olj]

Wow! What a stunning trail. Love the mossy greens and cascades. I have put it on my ever growing list of Caminos I need to do!

 

[Charrito]

One of the great stages on any of the caminos. I love it.

 

[grayland]

David....We are in the initial planning of the Geira.
Can you share what guides and information you are using? There is a bit of data out there but some of it is not as current as that info you have used.

Thanks again for the amazing thread on your adventure in Salamanca. It brought back memories of several times walking into and out of Salamanca. One of our favorite Camino places.

 

[Charrito]

David....We are in the initial planning of the Geira.
Can you share what guides and information you are using? There is a bit of data out there but some of it is not as current as that info you have used.

Thanks again for the amazing thread on your adventure in Salamanca. It brought back memories of several times walking into and out of Salamanca. One of our favorite Camino places.

Loads of threads here with incredibly detailed information from those of us who’ve walked this marvellous camino.

 

[David Tallan]

David....We are in the initial planning of the Geira.
Can you share what guides and information you are using? There is a bit of data out there but some of it is not as current as that info you have used.

Thanks again for the amazing thread on your adventure in Salamanca. It brought back memories of several times walking into and out of Salamanca. One of our favorite Camino places.

Primarily, I've been relying on:
- a couple of physical print guides (one to the route, one to the things you see on it) which i scanned into PDF. To be honest, I don't use the former much while on the Camino
- the website https://www.debragaasantiago.com/geira-arrieiros/
- various threads on this forum of people's Caminos (peregrina2000, jungleboy, Charrito)
- most recently, the resource caminka just provided
- the advice of individuals like José Manuel and Leonel Pereira

 

[grayland]

Loads of threads here with incredibly detailed information from those of us who’ve walked this marvellous camino.

Yes....but from David's great thread (here) it is obvious that he has it it well in hand without much drama.
After about 15 years of Camino planning I am not adverse to learning from the research, planning and experience of others.
I have become lazy.

 

[grayland]

I do see that Michael (Wise Pilgrim) now has a guide.

 

[David Tallan]

I do see that Michael (Wise Pilgrim) now has a guide.

I was just looking at that. @wisepilgrim something seems to be off with your distances for my next stage, Lobios to Castro Laboreiro. I have it as around 20-21 km. If you add up your distances between those two places it comes to over 45 km.

 

[Freewalker]

Once again thanks a million for taking the time to review your day in words to all of us. Such a treat ! Unfortunately, I won't have enough time for the GdA after completing the Torres in the spring. Another time. Aproveite cada segundo!

 

[Dani7]

Absolutely stunning photos of your day. You made my heart skip a beat with longing. Thank you

 

[chinacat]

A lovely stage!
Lots of it reminds me of my local area. The wider river (4th photograph) looks very similar to a few spots on one of our local rivers.
We have lots of mossy greens too (understatement )
It’s not surprising, as we have a similar climate.
And, as I’ve said before on here, the main difference is in the temperatures.

But that path with the lumps of granite
Did you walk that one, David???

 

[David Tallan]

A lovely stage!
Lots of it reminds me of my local area. The wider river (4th photograph) looks very similar to a few spots on one of our local rivers.
We have lots of mossy greens too (understatement )
It’s not surprising, as we have a similar climate.
And, as I’ve said before on here, the main difference is in the temperatures.

But that path with the lumps of granite
Did you walk that one, David???

That was today.