Camino De Santiago - Day 10

Time of Visit: October 9, 2022

I had planned for today to be my longest day of walking, with nearly 35km between the towns of Palas de Rei and Arzua. Some people opt to take it easy and rest in the town of Melide in between, but the town didn't seem particularly interesting so I decided to follow the canonical route. Plus, my legs had gotten used to long distances, so I felt up to the challenge.

Pretty sunrises as usual.

And foggy as usual.

Guardian of the horreo.

Morning walks in rural Galicia are a veritable assault on the nostrils. Livestock, grass, and fertilizer create a potent odor that is compounded by the dense mist, and being outside is akin to standing in a shower fart that won't dissipate. A farmer's boy from North Dakota told me the smell made him miss home, as if I needed any more reasons to not visit North Dakota.

The terrain was quite flat, so I made steady progress and reached the midpoint town of Melide by midday. I stopped for a chocolate croissant and latte and chatted with a Finnish forestry engineer. He told me he had inquired unsuccessfully about saunas in every town for 32 days straight but that he had finally booked a Finnish-style sauna in Arzua and was incredibly excited about it. You really can't make this stuff up.

Bridge into Melide.

Downtown Melide.

A beautiful, well-maintained church and garden on the western outskirts of Melide.

The villages appeared increasingly wealthy and well-maintained as I closed in on Santiago de Compostela. No doubt that these places benefit greatly from locals looking to escape to the countryside for a weekend or holiday. Indeed, zoom into the houses west of Melide on Google Maps and the area is actually quite heavily forested - less barns and more pools and casas rurales.

A vaguely Japanese-looking horreo and garden.

Fall colors.

With 5km to go, the road descended 200m into a valley and climbed back up the other side, delivering me to the brink of death. The only thing that kept me going was an amazing-looking Italian restaurant in Arzua I had found on Google Maps.

Burrata and tomatoes.

Galicia has incredible tourism potential - they've got scenery, infrastructure, culture, and history. All they need to do is lure a bunch of Italians to open restaurants throughout the countryside and the whole province would become a climate-change-proof alternative to Tuscany.

Ground beef and homemade tagliatelle. The best meal I had on the Camino.

song of the day: Kettel - Purple Jacket Trot - sentimental IDM that helped me through some tough times in high school. Kettel has an absolutely incredible ear for melody.