Lugo to A Leboreira 30 km

Mikey jumps out of bed the minute I wake him this morning which is something of a record. It wasn’t a very peaceful night – there was much coming and going to the loos, and many items dropping to the tiled floor from Mikey’s top bunk because he hadn’t bothered organising himself before going to sleep. But we are all packed up and ready to leave before 7:30.

I have a bit of a panic when we get to a bridge guarded by a statue of soldier, which I distinctly remember seeing when I last exited from Lugo by a different route. I quickly consult my track and see that we are headed in the right direction and I’m guessing that there’s a soldier guarding every bridge out of Lugo. 

We’re on quiet roads walking out of the city and into the countryside, in the fog with no sign of a sunrise this morning.

Well it’s now gone 09:00 and 8 km into our stage and it’s still foggy and we’re still walking on a path alongside a road. Not a particularly busy road so not too much passing traffic but what scenery we can see through the fog is not very inspiring. 

Half a km further and the path vanishes so we are walking on the narrow winding road with barely room for two cars to pass. It’s not pleasant. There must be some hunting event taking place in the area because a flotilla of vehicles pass us towing trailers containing barking hounds. 

We make use of a self service cafe with vending machine at 10 km. 

The road goes on and on, straightening  for a while which makes it a bit safer. The countryside opens up to pasture land with a few grazing animals and barking dogs. There are also some stunning stone properties alongside the road.

We walk right on the road for a full 4.5 km before we finally reach a track at 13 km. It has been a bit of a slog. 

It’s such a treat to be off the road and onto a beautiful woodland path, mostly oaks with a few beech, and ferns and moss. Some of the trees are ancient and huge.

The fog is still around although not too close and not too heavy but there is certainly no blue sky nor any sign of sunshine.

There follows more road and more track until we reach a bar at 19.2 km. There an American guy noticed that we are both using Pacer poles and engages in conversation about how very good they are.  

And finally the sun puts in an appearance and the sky is slightly blue. The dreaded Galician eucalyptus plantations make an appearance – they create so much debris and apparently take so much from soil whilst putting nothing back.

There are quite a few pilgrims on the way today. There will be the 12 from our albergue last night plus many people we’ve not seen before, and it will only get busier as we make our way towards the Camino Frances and Santiago.

Mikey wants to stop again at 23 km when he sees a sign outside bar for smoothies.  He enjoys a mixed berry smoothie whilst I treat myself to an ice cream and make a fuss of a very sweet and friendly pup (he didn’t get any!)

We arrive at Albergue Merlín in the tiny hamlet of A Leboreira at around 15:45. It’s been a long day, especially the foggy slog on the roads

There were options to stop sooner but I liked the look of this place and it doesn’t disappoint.  12 beds with duvets (yes, that’s a very special treat), well equipped kitchen, washer/dryer, and fabulous bathroom facilities. There’s nothing to do here except relax, there’s a supply of garden furniture in the field opposite but it’s not really the weather to make use of that, no shops or bars, but a food truck calls at 19:30 so we are all looking forward to see what that has to offer. The hospitaleros supply all manner of goodies for us to consume and seem to be jolly good people. 

The food truck was a bit disappointing. But we bought a few items to see us through the evening.