Saturday (22.10) was finally the day we left. After over a week in captivity both of us were aching to get on the road again and so we had to calm down and check for any forgotten items before we finally closed the door to the appartment and went on our way. Due to pure luck we started just next to the old railway line I had wanted to take on the way into the city and so we enjoyed a few car free kilometers before we rejoined our old road. But opposed to our last longer pause in Dinan this time we only had less than 5km to repeat and soon we were in unknown territory again and happy to be on the road. But it was not only our minds where we could notice the pause, our legs had taken notice aswell and we felt every bit of it as we fought our way through the hilly spanish north, while admiring the amazing infrastructure that had been build for it, just sadly not for us.

During the evening we passed a beautiful ravine, but while I was enjoying the view Ida felt unwell and so we decided to press on as there was no way Ida would be able to sleep there.

But as we continued so did the ravine and with barely working legs we managed to reach a small town as it dawned. Ida asked the first person she saw for a place in the garden and we just realized how well mantained the grass was as we were placing our tent on it.

On Sunday (23.10) we were woken up by howling dogs. A group was going on a hunt and had decided to discuss their plan just on the other side of the fence. And as an incredibly strong wind had come up over night and was hitting our tent from the side, we decided to pack up our stuff even though it was unsually early in the morning. Thankfully we had done almost all of the climbing yesterday and so the first few kilometers where just rolling and freezing.
After 25 km or so we arrived at our planned goal for the night before, an albergue where Ida wanted to reward us for the hard day, even though we had read a horrible review. But you never know until you try yourself. Well sleeping there wasn't an option anymore, but Ida decided to ask for some hot water as it was a quite cold and cloudy day. She came back out a few minutes later looking for our wallet as they were trying to charge her 1€ but had only told her after they had filled the bottle. Now for those who don't know me, I am very hardheaded and so I went in and told them that for that price we didn't want their hot water and the owner quickly started yelling at us that we can't expect it to be for free, since "hot water not only costs the water but also heat and energy" (We later calculated that heating the water costs around 0.04€). At some point his wife got that we were not paying and decided to pour the water down the drain all while her husband kept yelling he insists on us paying him the Euro even if we don't take the water. So the moral is: when in doubt trust the review of Jesusin82!
When we finally got our thermos back and left (with an unchanged ammount of money in our wallet) we were both annoyed and so we decided to make a quick pause with a wonderfull view to continue happily afterwards.

During our conversation about how different people either support or exploit the pilgrimage we found out, that back in 1985 fewer than 700 people had done the way to Santiago. When compared to the 300,000+ numbers in pre-COVID years, the camino seems to be a rather modern tourist attraction.
Soon after restarting we met Florian, a german cycling to Lisboa. Together we went up and down the still hilly landscape until he left us in Tapia. As for us, we had discovered that we were really close to our 6000th kilometer and so we continued to Galicia.
Here we have to make space for a dishonorable mention of the bridge connecting Asturias to Galicia, as it was no wider than two people side by side and had a rusty fence which would sometimes lean into the path making cycling there a circus act.

Before our final climb of the day we decided to fill up our our water bottles which resulted in one of us getting soaked as for some reason the pressure on the faucet was way too high and would cause water to be everywhere but in the bottle.
And then we climbed and at some point completed 6,000 km only to notice that there was nowhere to sleep. But when you need it the most the avatar vanishes, the universe listens and so we caught a couple just as they were leaving, and who allowed us to stay in their garden. A bit steeper than most gardens we still found a few spare meters which were flat enough to put a tent and have a comfortable sleep.

Monday (24.10) was a hard day. We spent most of the time either cycling or catching our breath as we made our way back up to the plateau. All that climbing was only interrupted by a shepherd with his goats who chatted us up during one of the aforementioned pauses. He offered us walnuts which would help us with the extremly hard slope before us and when we accepted one or two he started to pour them out of his pockets and ignoring out "thank you"s and "that's more than enough"s. With our pockets now full with walnuts we slowly started fighting against the height meters. And after the first few we could still see the shepherd waving at us.

A critical point was when we had climbed enough that we could see the sea again. Ida was kind of disappointed we had done almost no distance and it took a lot of motivating to get us up the next few kilometers.

But once on the top, our training of the last few months showed as we raced across the flats. With the last minutes of dawn we found a couple in their garden who were a bit suspicious but offered us to stay in their orchard just across the street instead of their garden. And so we went to bed looking forward to a less climby day.

Tuesday (25.10) morning we packed our stuff, waved the owner of the orchard goodbye and went on our way. The first few kilometers were exactly what we needed: flat terrain where we could see the distance on the speedometer go up quickly. Our goal for the day were just 80km, so we could visit Santiago the day after and exit on the same day as getting a cheap place in Santiago seemed impossible. While cruising we passed a pilgrim who caught up to us when we paused for lunch shortly after. We talked a bit with her, which was fun because she only spoke some spanish and russian. When we had paused for long enough and decided to continue, she asked us if she could take a video of us. A friendly request we couldn't decline, which turned a bit quirky when she started to explain to us what she wanted to happen in the video as if she were a director in a movie! And so we mounted our bike, started cycling and wished her a "buen camino". But apparently not loud enough for her likeing as she kept repeating it as we continued down the road.

For those that haven't heard it before "buen camino" means something like "[Have a] good way [of Saint James]!" and is often said to pilgrims either by the inhabitants or by other pilgrims. As there is no other form of bike-tourism in north Spain other than the way of Saint James, we of course had to be pilgrims and were bombarded with it on every turn. And as described before, the way has boomed in the last years, probably also due to movies and books on the subject, with more and more people embarking on it and seeing it more as a sporty vacation rather than a pilgrimage. And so the term, at least for us, lost a lot of its original meaning and has become some kind of greeting for a group of people whose trip revolves more around being a pilgrim than actual pilgrimage, and for whom the "Compostela" is more like an sport certificate than forgiveness for their sins. And as the density of pilgrims increased the nearer we got to Santiago not only because we hadn't really been on the pilgrim ways before, but also due to a lot of people starting just a bit over 100km from Santiago (the minimal distance to get a compostela), we heard it more and more often. And while in the begining it's fun, at some point it becomes annoying.
And as this is an immersive blog, you're going to get the same experience at least till we get to Santiago!
Buen camino

Soon after leaving we heard a familiar voice. Florian had caught up to us and so we continued in company till he decided to take a break himself. And so we went up the last mountain for the day. When we finally arrived on the top we stopped for a quick picnic enjoying the magnificent view. Soon 4 people without luggage on e-mountainbikes came up the slope and complained to us how hard the climb was, while not sweating at all and going a bit faster than you would expect … And then Flo caught up with us once again, so we descended together, with our aerodynamics giving us a bit of a speed advantage.

And even though we had put on rain gear when it started raining, by the end of the descent we we're completly soaked.

Buen camino

As Ida was a bit worried to get sick because of her weakend immunesystem due to the antibiotics, we searched for solutions. On Instagram we had kept up with Daniels trip and had seen that he had rented an AirBnB in Santiago with two people he had met since we left him two weeks ago, and so we asked if we could stay at their place. And while they were already hosting someone else, they kindly agreed to take us in. So now we still had 65 km to go but were motivated by the thought of not only a warm and dry place to sleep but also by a warm shower!
We left behind Flo at an albergue (buen camino) and went up one of the most horrible slopes since the Pyrenees, made huge progress in the following flat and as it was turning dark finally reached the last climb before Santiago de Compostela (or so we thought).

After reaching the airport (buen camino), we realized we still had one last climb to reach the city. And without any energy left I guess it was a miracle that we somehow arrived at the top. After a descent during which we had to remember to drive slowly and safely, we arrived at the cathedral. We took a few pictures and then jumped into a supermarket to get desert and join the rest of the cyclists in the 3-person AirBnB.

Daniel, Marvin, Lena and Dominico had even left over some of their dinner for us, and after a long chat we went to our airmatresses between bikes, while the others went out to the discover the nightlife of Santiago. Buen camino

Wednesday (26.10) was a really relaxed day. We woke up late and as Marvin had given up on leaving after their rather long night (more so for cyclists) we decided to stay for a day longer as well. And so we had a long breakfast which turned into a brunch while we got to know our hosts. At some time in the evening we went out for a walk to get to know the rather small city (buen camino). With some tips from the Julian, who Ida knows from university and who did a year abroad there, we explored Santiago. From the Cathedral, which had its holy door open (something that only happens on years where Saint James death day, July 25th, falls on a Sunday … and in 2022 because 2021 was a COVID-year and so God has decided it's ok to be a bit late in Santiago) to the parque de Bonaval from where you have a nice view over the city.

Sadly the commercialisation of the camino had taken its toll on the inner city with an extreme amount of tourists shops selling basically every imaginable items with a scallop on it.

At some point in the evening we went grocery shopping and made pizza for everyone as a thank you for taking us in. Which was way more dangerous than you would expect, as Dominico is italian and so we had a high bar to clear! Thankfully our dough was good and everyone enjoyed way more pizza than they could eat and then some more!

On Thursday (27.10) we had to leave the shared flat we had shortly enjoyed so much. But not before a long breakfast. A bit brokenhearted we headed south knowing that we would probably see Marvin soon as he was not only leaving that day aswell but also heading towards Porto. Daniel had fallen ill and so he would stay a bit longer, while Lena was waiting for replacements for her bike and had decided to go to Finisterra with Dominico in the meanwhile. At least we were sure to see Dominico again soon as he had invited us to come visit him close to Lisboa. Buen camino to all of them!

Even after taking on the mountains to the south of Santiago, we still had a weird feeling. Firstly we had basically reached the westernmost part of our journey and were now only riding south before turning back and getting closer again to our departure point. Then somehow these strangers we had left behind didn't feel that strange and we were missing their company. I guess it's easy to make friends when they share your love for nature, tents and bicycles. And lastly we were heading for Portugal, a country we had both never visited and of which we had no idea what to expect.
But in order to get there, we would have to continue riding and so we did. With the sky being on our side and keeping mostly dry we kept making our way to the south until it was getting dark enough to look out for a camping spot. Sadly at that point we were just in Arcade and to the south there were only cities and more cities. And so we were forced to go up the mountain where we would have less civilisation and better chances of finding a place to sleep. And find a place we did, just next to a building for the water management of the city, which was great as it was getting kinda windy. And as soon as we put up our tent it started to rain. Dry in our tent we were having dinner when we got a call from Marvin who was wondering were we had ended. As it turned out he passed our camp site within the last 30 minutes in one of the few moments where we weren't looking. With a hard slope coming up, he was maybe 1 km away and heavyhearthetly decided to loose all those height meters to set up camp next to ours. When he arrived the rain was falling worse than ever and so we decided to invite him as the first sleep over guest into our tent so he didn't have to set up his.

Friday (28.10) started with bad news. The rain gutter dropped all the water just next to out tent and so the splash was slowly turning our tent into a swimming pool. As it was already 4 in the morning and only one part of the tent was affected we just moved stuff out of the way and at least I fell asleep soon after (apparently both Ida and Marvin were not able to fall asleep as fast).

Two and a half hours laters we packed up our stuff and left. I had designed a route which would avoid the horrible slope in exchange for a few more kilometers on the nacional, a deal we were all willing to take.

As neither our host in Vigo nor their planetarium had responded we decided to head directly to Portugal and so we continued to ride with Marvin. When an extremly heavy rain started we took refuge in a steel depot. The workers there were quite ammused about these 3 weird Germans riding in this bad weather and even showed us where their coffee machine was.

When the worst part of the rain had passed, we realized that it wouldn't completly stop and decided to continue riding since Portugal had to have good weather, right?
And when we arrived in Portugal the rain did stop and the sun welcomed us into this new country!

We continued cycling next to the river Minho which would take us to the Atlantic and were really happy with the quality of the cyclepath. Not only was the asphalt great, but it had few crossings with cars. Well until it didn't and we had to share the road with portugese drivers, which was a complete culture shock! Even though we could still see Spain on the other side of the river, the driving style was completly different. As mentioned earlier spanish drivers pass you with at least 1.5 meters if they don't completly change the lane, meanwhile portugese drivers seem to see you only as a static inconvinience and pass you with barely more space than a bridge between Asturias and Galicia. Buen camino (you thought this would stop in Santiago? So did we! But there is there is also the camino portugués and we've even been told quite often, that we're cycling the wrong way)

Fearing for our lives we reached Caminha, and then the apocalypse started! Or as the more positive riders amongst us prefer to see it: a free water based facial acupunture! With heavy wind and thick rain, Portugal wasn't holding up it's part of the deal. But everything was going to be fine since the EuroVelo 1 starts in Caminha! Well so we though until it began on a wooden path which explicitly forbade bicycles. No big deal, we just took the road next to it, till it turned into the forest … a road that might have been fine when dry, there was no way for us to remotly trust it. And so back onto the road we went!

Now you might think that wooden road sure looks slippery, but it's not that bad. Well that's not the EV1 either! The EV is that barely recognizable path to the left!

After a few more bad passes we hid in a bus station to contemplate our options, but there were few. We could take a parallel road for a few kilometers but most of the distance we would have to take the main road. And so we rode through thunder and rain, stopped quickly to get dessert for our WarmShower hosts, said bye to Marvin who had booked a hostel and finally arrived in Viana do Castelo with enough water in our clothes to fill a swimming pool, or a tent.
Jose recieved us warmly and knew exactly what was needed: a warm shower! And while Ida was coming back to life under the hot water, I talked with Jose about the thing that had made me want to be hosted by him. He had done Paris-Brest-Paris, a randonée (an event with no winners, just finishers) over 1240 km with a time limit of 90 hours, not only once but twice! And he was looking forward to doing it again next year (as it takes place every four years)!
A bit later his wife Maria Jose came back from work, and we had dinner. Because of the wetness of our clothes (and based on the amount of rain that fell, of our souls) we accepted their prior offer to stay for a day instead of leaving the next morning and so we went to bed, with one of us having wild ideas about participating in Paris-Brest-Paris in 5 years …

And that's all for this week. Please forgive my lazyness when writing. Also this is our first entry to appear first in English in order to prevent possible complaints of people with cats named Felicette about the priority given to our German readers.

Buen camino,
Tilman and Ida