Morgade to Gonzar

We made an early start this morning. Sunrise is only at about 8am so we walked for a while with our headlamps and torches down the narrow paths that run between dry stone walls, and negotiated a few large granite blocks placed down the centre of torrent courses bringing water down from the hills. The places we passed through consist of little more than a few stone houses with a barn or dairy shed and the ever present horreos - maize storage structures.

After about 8km we reached Vilacha and rang the bell at Casa Banderas where ex-Capetonian Gordon Bell lives. He ivited us in for tea and coffee and after a short visit we continued to Portomarin. The river Mino is very low and the layout of the old submerged town was clearly visible.
After climbing seeply out of Portomarin we continued for 8km through oak woods and small farms to Gonzar. In the middle ages this stretch of the road was notorious as an open air brothel but we didn't come across any suspicious ladies - only a dear white haired pilgrim in her eighties from Barcelona, dressed in an elegant black outfit, walking with her husband and her son.

                           

We stopped at the roadside cafe at Gonzar for lunch. Our bus arrived on time at 2pm and drove us to Mato Casanova where we checked into the Albergue A Bolboreta where we will stay for two nights. This is a tiny hamlet about 2km off the Camino trail with a few stone houses surrounded by fields and forests. Nearby is Pambre Castle, the best preserved military castle in Galicia. We hope to visit it tomorrow after we have trekked the 25km back to here from Gonzar. Our bus is fetching us at 7:50am to take us back to Gonzar.