Abadin-Martinan-GoirizAs Casonovas-A Casilla-Vilalba    Walk Day 30

15.1 miles, 2,500′ elevation

The lovely female driver, Elizabeth, picked me up from the monastery at 8:00 am and drove me back to where I stopped, Abadin, and had left  the rest of the peregrinos yesterday afternoon.  It was major league foggy! Cold! Windy! I found a rare open cafe and had a cafe con leche(grande) and a breakfast roll I’ve grown fond of filled with light chocolate, and an aqua pequena and I began walking.

More cattle ranches, larger farms, vinyards,  and at one point I actually followed a herd of cows as a rancher moved them from one field to the next. Talk about walking lightly to avoid cattle land mines. There was shit everywhere.

Caught up with Michael, a Brit who teaches English in Barcelona, and his girlfriend, Ahelenna(sp?). He has the great wit and she the incredible charm. Then caught Jerriie and Rene, the two Dutch guys. 

Nothing totally exciting today except the conversation. Multi-cultural anecdotal yarns and ways. Fun for the entire family. One interesting conversation involved the Camino del Norte Concha shell signs. In all other states in Spain, the main part of the shell connotes the direction to go to Santiago de Compostela, and the spines, the various “ways” one could/would/may walk there. So the direction points the way for peregrinos, pilgrims, to walk and follow to arrive at the inner part of the shell(Santiago).  In Galicia and only in Galicia, the concha shell  is turned around. Meaning that the spines of the shell point the way a  peregrino needs to walk, opposite of all the previous signs for over 400 miles.

Unesco just deemed “Camino del Norte” official historical status, which means……I have NO idea. But one of the comments along the route today suggested that the Unesco consultant in Galicia must have been one of the first major governmental agents to substantiate, verify and absolutely establish and identify himself as Dyslexic! For four previous Spanish states,  and who knows how many thousands of Santiago Concha signs, now and only now they are opposite or backwards. Hard to imagine and or to explain the confusion this has caused over the years to peregrinos.