Day 15 Palas de Rei to Melide (15.5 km over 6.5 hours)
We had a bit of a late start and got out the door around 8:15am. We followed the steady stream of pilgrims leaving Palas de Rei and headed out of the city on asphalt, then forested paths with overarching tree canopies that never cease to amaze us. The morning was cool but it heated up fairly quickly.
Along our Camino we’ve been seeing these little houses that are made of a variety of materials - wood, brick, cement, tiles, and we weren't sure what they were...we have learned that they are storage houses for grain called horreos. They are interspersed along the Camino paths in Galicia.
A fun highlight of today's Camino walk was passing through the small hamlet of Casanova, pop. 15! It came at the right time. We needed a pick me up after tackling one of today's steady inclines and there was a quaint Albergue Taverna Casanova with a small food stand. We had colocao, coffee, and chocolate croissants. We felt right at home!
Today was a warm one and we were really ready to reach Melide, pop. 7500, where we’re staying tonight. This small town is a pilgrim hub where the Camino Primitivo joins the Camino Frances. We expect to see more pilgrims on the Camino tomorrow. We are doing laundry, will head to the supermarket, make an early dinner and will call it an early night. Tomorrow we’ll log another 15km on our way to Santiago! We hope to reach there in 3-4 days.
What a clever way to store grain, now that you sleuthed it out makes perfect sense, plenty of ventilation to inhibit molding of the grain and up high enough to protect from "critters". So smart and simple.
Debbie, such a beautiful picture of you and your mom, all fancy in your matching tops ;)
Thanks again for the wonderful writing, it's appreciated.
Grandpa Ed