Thank you to everyone for your best wishes.
Now returned, and had an enjoyable spiritually enhancing trip.
Weather was very kind, couple of spells of light rain on D1, not much else until short spells of light rain on D5 but reached SdC before it became heavy.
But boy, I was surprised by the ascent at Bruma. We actually managed the main ascent fine, but the "after-climb". i.e. the 4km afterwards to the albergue at Hospital de Bruma was more demanding, soul-destroying than the rest of it.
For those interested in accommodation :
- decided to indulge in some luxury by staying at the Parador in Ferrol on the evening before (they had a special pilgrim rate)
- stayed at Bar Luis @ Pontedeume (welcoming, warm, affordable €52 for twin room incl supper, wine, coffee, licor de hierbas)
- stayed at Hotel Garelos @ Betanzos (better than its 2* status, clean, smart, welcoming, - also they took pity on us and brought a foot spa machine to the room !)
- stayed at the albergue at Hospital de Bruma, very clean, warm welcome and keen to ensure we ate properly, helped with food ordering, only occupants
- stayed at SigueiroHostel, again clean affordable (€40 for 2 people), strong "designer" feel, very pleasant
- celebrated with stay at Parador next to Cathedral as spent a lot of time in/around cathedral in 3 days after walk (higher cost of course but wonderful experience and good value for the cost)
As you can see, generally went for the private option as my gentle night-time breathing has been registered with all Richter-scale monitoring agencies to avoid false positives.
I'll post a few other observations and experiences shortly.