I apparently did not do a good enough job with my blisters, as my feet did not feel well when we started out. We were driven back to Cafe Fraga in Castro de Dozon and started out. The day before, I had seen signs for taxi services along the Camino, as well as signs for other services. As a precaution, I took a picture of one of those signs.
It was a good thing that I had the taxi phone number, as I needed it later.
After we hiked out of town, we eventually went along a dirt road. We came across these birds that appeared to be quails. They never flew, they just kept running before us and did so for several hundred yards before they went done a side road.
After about two hours, I had to stop. I removed my left shoe, tried treating that blister, put on a new dressing and did the same for the right foot. It was to no avail, as even with popping and draining the blisters, I could not walk comfortably. I stumbled along until we came to what our directions called the village of Pontenoufe. I hoped that there was a store or cafe from which I could call the taxi. it was not to be - the so called village was just a collection of a half dozen homes.
I sat down at the foot of the hill after going through the village and called the taxi. The only problem was that he spoke no English and did not understand where we were. I hung up and used the online translation to text him a message. No response. So I called back and tried again. After about five minutes of phone frustration, a women drove by and I flagged her down. I handed the phone to her and she gave the taxi driver directions. It turns out that even though we had just crossed over a major highway, we were really out in the boondocks. But thanks to this charming lady's directions, about 15 minutes later, the taxi appeared. We rode with him into the small city of Lalin and to Hotel Pontinas that was our scheduled stay for that night.
While the hotel was an okay place to stay, it was not a very good hotel - in fact, it was at best just a step above the hostals I have stayed in before in Madrid. They did have a bar and dining room. I got two beers and some chips and brought them to our room - that and our granola bars were our lunch. It turns out that the hotel was not in an area where there were other things in easy walking (or in my case stumbling) distance. So we hung out and napped, and had dinner there that night in Lalin.
One of the interesting things about our instructions was that the hotel was located on Calle del Puente (Bridge Street) but that is in Castillian Spanish - here in Galicia, including here in Lalin, all the street signs were in Gallegos, so it was really located at Rua de Ponte 82. This was all part of the learning experience.
It was a good thing that I had the taxi phone number, as I needed it later.
After we hiked out of town, we eventually went along a dirt road. We came across these birds that appeared to be quails. They never flew, they just kept running before us and did so for several hundred yards before they went done a side road.
After about two hours, I had to stop. I removed my left shoe, tried treating that blister, put on a new dressing and did the same for the right foot. It was to no avail, as even with popping and draining the blisters, I could not walk comfortably. I stumbled along until we came to what our directions called the village of Pontenoufe. I hoped that there was a store or cafe from which I could call the taxi. it was not to be - the so called village was just a collection of a half dozen homes.
I sat down at the foot of the hill after going through the village and called the taxi. The only problem was that he spoke no English and did not understand where we were. I hung up and used the online translation to text him a message. No response. So I called back and tried again. After about five minutes of phone frustration, a women drove by and I flagged her down. I handed the phone to her and she gave the taxi driver directions. It turns out that even though we had just crossed over a major highway, we were really out in the boondocks. But thanks to this charming lady's directions, about 15 minutes later, the taxi appeared. We rode with him into the small city of Lalin and to Hotel Pontinas that was our scheduled stay for that night.
While the hotel was an okay place to stay, it was not a very good hotel - in fact, it was at best just a step above the hostals I have stayed in before in Madrid. They did have a bar and dining room. I got two beers and some chips and brought them to our room - that and our granola bars were our lunch. It turns out that the hotel was not in an area where there were other things in easy walking (or in my case stumbling) distance. So we hung out and napped, and had dinner there that night in Lalin.
One of the interesting things about our instructions was that the hotel was located on Calle del Puente (Bridge Street) but that is in Castillian Spanish - here in Galicia, including here in Lalin, all the street signs were in Gallegos, so it was really located at Rua de Ponte 82. This was all part of the learning experience.
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