Today was supposed to be a short day of 15km. But tomorrow was supposed to be ~30km with some ups and downs. We decided to do something strange.

Since we actually stayed in Salcedo – 4km off the Camino from A Pobra do Brollón (which didn’t have anywhere to stay), the owner of the Casa Rural took us back to where he picked us up yesterday. Our walk to A Pobra was only 2km and a perfect 30min walk to a coffee and tortilla.

We then walked 13km through green farms, pine forests, fern lined streams and rolling hills until we got to Monforte de Lemos. A good sized town/city which has all the services we would need. One of the most impressive things was the sight as we crested the mountain 5km shy of Monforte, we saw in the distance an impressive castle sitting on a knoll surrounded by the city. Unfortunately, 5km is a bit far for a good picture from the phone.

Once we got into Monforte, we dropped our packs off at the Albergue and got a taxi to take us 8km down the road so we could walk back. The idea here is to take a 15km day and a 30km day and make them two ~22km days.

Walking the Camino backwards is… challenging. There are no visible arrows guiding you way and conflicting GPX tracks and “official” routes. One such conflict had us going through a field full of netles. Legs on fire anyone???

Tomorrow we will take a taxi back to where we got dropped off today and start our walk from there. Two ~22km days… easy.

Today we met a couple of pilgrims… K.C. and Fred. They have actually been behind me for quite a few weeks and we have exchanged DMs on social platforms. I was greeted with “Chris Williams – you’re famous”. It was good to have a conversation with fellow pilgrims and share a meal together – and a couple of bottles of wine.

Today was a beautiful walk and almost a stroll. I was so busy looking around at the scenery and just enjoying everything, I forgot to take pictures for the most part. But here are some…