DAY 72 - ORDES to OZA DOS RIOS - Wednesday 03 July 2024

After a muesli breakfast in our room,  we left Ordes, noting some murals, a lavadero,  veggie gardens and of course horreos. We were soon in the countryside again,  and today we found lots of horses. We also found a few poppies, which we'd seen every day earlier in our trip but had missed for quite a while now. Once we'd rejoined the Camino Ingles, we found lots of pilgrims too, especially in a bar in A Rúa where we stopped to have a coffee.  Although the owners were hard-pressed to keep up with demand, they were efficient and friendly, as we've found elsewhere on our trip.

We didn't count pilgrims today,  but there seemed to be even more than yesterday.  We passed a couple of large groups,  including one which was probably made up of American school girls. The pilgrims did make finding the way easier, as we just had to look for the direction from where they were coming!

A dinosaur is not something we expected to see on the Camino Ingles, especially with two tractors on a 'roller-coaster' in front. There was this and more, all beside the road as we passed another bar.

We were very impressed a bit further down the road where we saw an horreo being used for its original purpose,  to store grain.  There were lots of dried corn cobs inside.

At Hospital de Bruma we had another bar stop, not as pleasant as the first so we moved on quickly. There were two albergues in this small village and already at 11.30am there were queues outside for beds, even though check in wasn't until 1pm.

After this we had a very long descent on a shady track - not so much fun for the pilgrims coming the other way! A highlight was glimpsing the sea in the distance, the first sighting in months.

A second highlight was meeting an Australian for the first time on this trip. He'd found a frog being eaten by a snake!  We compared Caminos, his quite a bit shorter than ours as he had to fly back to Melbourne soon.

Today we had quite a few locals concerned we were going in the wrong direction.  One stopped weeding her cabbages to check,  another two were out walking and three actually stopped their cars to make sure we knew where we were going. It would be hard to get lost on the Camino Ingles.

We had another quick stop in a not-so-friendly bar near Presedo for lunch before leaving the Camino and heading to our accommodation for the night. 

For the first time in 9 weeks, we saw the sea

Leaving Ordes this morning, we were soon into the country

These rooftop spheres are a noticeable feature of this area

Back on the Camino Inglés 

A quick coffee stop in A Rúa,  then back on to the Camino

The Camino Inglés towards Bruma

An unusual outdoor art collection on the way

Horreo being used for corn storage

On to the bar in Bruma, where the pleasant setting was unfortunately not matched by the attitude of the staff

Resuming on the Camino Inglés after our break

A view of the sea at the start of a long descent

Descending on the Camino Inglés. 

More descending on the Camino Inglés 

We had a lunch break near Presedo,  where  the pleasant setting was unfortunately not matched by the attitude of the staff

 We left the Camino for the last few kilometres of the day's walk 

Blue tractor

Birds 

Horreos

Horses

Animals

Day 72 - Map

Day:                               72

Distance:                      28.55 km

Walking time:              5 hrs 59 mins

Elevation gain:            502 metres

Cumulative distance: 1,456.96 km