Camino Inglés - Day 1 - Ferrol to Fene 08/10/2023

20 km (estimated because I forgot to interrupt my camino counter when I took the taxi)        8 hours, 1 hour of which for lunch, another hour to go back by taxi to the albergue where I had left my second shirt on the drying rack (the only garment I had washed last night)), 40 min. siesta in lovely shade and the numerous times I checked my camino navigator because there are several alternate routes intertwined with each other.  Terrain flat most of the time.

So last night going from the Estación de Autobuses to the Albergue I got lost once or twice, but did remember just before arriving at the Albergue to hop into a bar and buy some food for my evening meal and for the walk today and of course a bottle of red wine asking them to uncork it for me. Have done that on previous caminos - nothing like sharing a bottle of wine to bring people together. However this time there was only one taker to finish half the bottle and I filled the other half into a spare plastic bottle which I am enjoying now in my private room in a pension in Fene.

This has been a very peculiar day. People got up and started leaving before 6 o’clock into complete darkness. I made my coffee to have in bed at half past six watching a last lot leave. In the end we were six who only left at day break, three German women together (they too are in this pension where I am now - no other accommodation in Fene). The other three have gone on to ???

I left at 8:30 h when I could see where I was going. Nice fresh morning, but the weather forecast was for 29 degrees - in the shade of course, but there were long stretches in the sun and finally I set up my hands-free umbrella. Even with that it was very hot! 

Well before midday (I was still in Ferrol) I remembered that I had forgotten my shirt on the drying rack at the albergue. But between 8 am and 1 pm the albergue is closed! So no point going back then. So I continued until after midday and then stopped in a pension/bar where I had a delicious platter of cheese and lomo and rested before having a taxi called to take me back to retrieve the shirt. The taxi put me back to where he had picked me up and I started walking again. But I do need my siesta, found a place in the shade between two young trees and slept for 40 minutes, completely gone, did not know where I was when I woke up.

There is a lot of water between A Coruña and Ferrol, and where I had my siesta they are trying to retrieve large areas of wetland with long stretches of boardwalk and explanatory panels telling you all about how this is done and the flora and the fauna being saved.

And it was getting hotter and hotter with a bit of a breeze occasionally. At the end of today’s walk my feet where beginning to be quite bad, but maybe that was because I was coming up to my pension, letting myself go…

The special “regime” I had planned to make sure I would survive: make myself stick to having  at least 15 minutes rest after one hour, 30 minutes after the second hour, 15 again after the third hour, a long pause for lunch and siesta somewhere in between - well, I did not manage to stick to it. I have brought a kitchen timer which I keep in the rucksack belt. Set it for one hour and did not hear it go off. Was at almost two hours before I remembered to check. By then I was worrying about my shirt…

Have not gone out at all tonight. I have plenty to eat  - finish off all the old stuff tomorrow. Does not merit a Michelin star, but is still eatable. I cannot throw food away!  Tomorrow evening I can stock up again, freshly!

Have just made a reservation in a hotel for tomorrow night. The following night I will get to a place where the albergue municipal is the only option for accommodation, so back to basics.   

                                             

                      Ferrol - the Old Fort

                                         Coming out of Ferrol - the autovia bridge in the distance

                                                               

                                    Drinking fountain - there are many such, unlike other caminos

                                         

                                                                      Fountain detail