STAGE 31 - PALAS DE REI to ARZúA

Guess what?! Nearly 19 miles of wet. And, it appears to be raining more than the day before. It is stunning how much water can fall from the sky. The excessive rain is saturating the ground to the point that the runoff is impressive. We passed through areas where in our previous trips you could jump a little creek or barely discern a stream flowing under the bridge, to wide and deep flows. Here is a good example. Just beyond the town of Melide there is a medieval "bridge" that is a series of large stepping stones; very large stones. In 2022 this is what the bridge looked like...

This year things were different... The photo below is what we saw when we came to the bridge.

Below is what we could see after we had crossed it. Scary!

It goes without saying that we got very wet. One of the several positive things that came out of the foul weather was a greater sense of community among some of the pilgrims. We stood here after crossing and cheered on a grandmother and her grandson as they crossed.

Here are some other things that we experienced along the way...

On our way out of Palas de Rei we stopped at this little church, the Iglesia de San Tirso. The local priest was there attending to visitors. We took a moment to visit with him. He shared with us the challenges he and other priests are facing. At one point there used to be 25 priests that performed mass to the surrounding communities. Now there are only five! He was telling us that he was tasked with performing five Easter masses on Sunday. He said that the reason is there is a declining number of young Spaniards entering the priesthood. 

Here is how the early part of the trek was working out with all the rain...

A lot of puddling and areas where the movement of pilgrims has created muddy conditions...

At some points huge pools of water were just appearing where there wasn't a river or spring.

Sometimes the Camino got really messy. At some point it becomes useless to try to stay out of the water and mud, and you just trudge through it fearlessly.

The compensation is that of beautiful, misty vistas.

One of the small villages that we passed through was Leboreiro. We were drawn to this little church, the Iglesia de Santa María do Lebroreiro (early Gothic, 14th century). The bell tower would have been a later addition, probably in the 16th century. It is clearly a structure with a single nave. Sadly, it wasn't opened but the exterior had some wonderful surprises.

The tympanum of the main doors show a Crowned Virgin Mary holding a Christ Child. On either side of the central figure are angels with incense burners (that often suggest sanctity, holiness, and cleansing).

Just below the tympanum are two figures that bracket the doorway. Though they are severely weathered you can still distinguish their cherubic faces. The one on the left appears to be holding a book while the one on the right appears to hold what might be an incense burner.

Going around to the back you can see the church's very small apse where the main altar would sit if you were inside. It appears that the apse was a later addition to the original structure.

Just below the roof's eaves are "canecillos" (corbels). Unlike the elaborate and sophisticated corbels found on the Iglesia de San Martín de Tours de Frómista, these are simple and rustic. Most of them have not withstood the weather, but some still reflect the humor associated with them. Like this smiling face...

The roofline is interesting. Notice that the roof is supported by flat, horizontal stones that sit rather precariously on the the randomly placed corbels.

Just a short distance down the path we encountered yet another obstacle. The path slanted down towards a medieval bridge. However, the water from the saturated fields was pouring over and running down the path and escaping the fields into the river, creating a very large stream over the path.

Below is the Ponte da Magdalena (14th century; possibly replaced a Roman bridge). Ironically, this bridge crosses over the "Río Seco" (Dry River)!

And the adventure continues... We were always grateful for those tender mercies when the path was paved or graveled so that we didn't have to maneuver through too much mud...

Just outside of Melide is this Ponte de San Xoán de Furelos. The Codex Calixtinus speaks of a bridge in this vicinity in the 12th century. The one today most likely dates from the 13th century, though it has gone through some restorations, the most significant in the 18th century. The bridge leads to the village of San Xoán that in many ways maintains its medieval character.

Again, it is difficult to measure the impact of the rain until you begin to cross the bridge and see the heavy flow of water down the river...

And the rain continues... Sometimes we would get wind that would drive the raindrops into our faces. We would be walking along thinking that the rain had slowed down when all of a sudden a breeze would brush by and the rain that was accumulated on the leaves above us would fall on our heads like little buckets of water being tossed at us.

(Just to give you an idea of how thick the forests can be). There are also those unexpected surprises along the way. Out of nowhere this guy in his little pink car zipped past us. I wasn't fast enough to get my wet hands into my pocket to get my camera out but managed to get a shot as he sped away. He owned a little Oasis that sold food to pilgrims and he was clearly heading home for lunch.

View as we move towards Ribadiso and then to Arzúa.

This is a medieval bridge at Ribadiso that dates from the 12th century, although there is evidence that it has gone through some reconstructions in the 13th and 14th centuries. Again you can see how the flooding is impacting the area. Here you can only see about half of the bridge's single arch and the ramp that takes swimmers down to the small river is completely underwater.

This is our view of the valley where Ribadiso sits as we climb up to enter Arzúa for the weekend.

HAPPY EASTER