Since my post from Foncebadón, we’ve done a lot of walking, and have finally crossed from the Castilla y León region into Galicia.

You might think that neighbouring regions of Spain would be similar… but in terms of the trail, the difference was immediately obvious.

Gone were the often graffitied metal way markers, replaced with stone markers showing the distance to three decimal places – not one of which has been defaced with graffiti.

Gone was the muddy track, replaced with a gravel bed that felt much sturdier underfoot. Perhaps Galicia spent their EU budget on the Camino, or perhaps they’re just more proud of their Way… who knows?

We’re two days into Galicia now, and have passed Sarria – the starting point for many a Camino cheat just wanting their certificate without putting in the hard graft (it was a religious decree, naturally, so seems to be popular with those of a pious bent 🤷‍♂️). In a nutshell, people can claim their pilgrimage is done walking just the last 100km, and Sarria is 114km from Santiago.

We also passed the actual 100km point today – right in the middle of the tiny hamlet of A Pena. Certainly the road is a lot busier now, and you can easily spot Camino noobs by their totally inappropriate footwear which is generally far too clean to have seen any use. By comparison, our walking boots are held together by good thoughts 😅.

We aim to be in Santiago de Compostela next week, at which point we’ll have officially finished the route of some 800km or so. Our feet will definitely want a break!

Some more stats since the previous set, before the usual slew of images:

Day 33: Walk 14.81km to Riego de Ambrós

Day 34: Walk 12.97km to Ponferrada

Day 35: Rest day (our last before Santiago!)

Day 36: Walk 24.92km to Villafranca del Bierzo

Day 37: Walk 21.95km to Las Herrerías

Day 38: Walk 22.79km to O Biduedo (also known as Viduedo)

Day 39: Walk 23.93km to Sarria

Day 40: Walk 23.69km to Portomarín