Well, so much for my fine words about not waiting a week between posts! All I can say is that life gets busy, and then free time gets used for rest or going out, and writing gets pushed to tomorrow, and then tomorrow again.
Day 8 was a day of good weather--highly unusual and much appreciated. For a change I was able to enjoy nature instead of fighting against it.
Towards the end of the day, I approached the city of Lugo. One thing I learned about myself on the Camino was that I am not a city person. Whenever I would pass through a town of any reasonable size, I felt really out of my element until I had safely passed out the other side and was back in the countryside. But I didn't feel that way about Lugo. Lugo was, is a beautiful city, a Roman town, with an entire Roman wall encircling it!
Atop the city wall. It was 2 km to walk the entire circumference, which I did, even after hiking all day. Totally worth it. :)
Just as I was coming to the edge of the city, I was met by an old pilgrim, a man who lived in Lugo but said he had hiked all the Caminos of Santiago. He was excited to meet another pilgrim and walked along with me for a while, guiding me to the municipal albergue and showing me the stairway up to the city wall--it was hidden in a little courtyard.
View from the city wall
I didn't end up staying in the municipal albergue he showed me, because they didn't have blankets provided, but I very soon found another one, that had a fancy electronic self-check-in (which of course I had to ask for help to figure out) and where the bunkbeds were like little Japanese hotel pods, so you basically had your own "room."
I dropped my stuff off there and went exploring around the old town. I had a good meal in an actual restaurant for a change, and then wandered around the cute little shops and streets. Like I said, I'm not a city person, but Lugo ended up being one of my fondest memories of the Camino!
Lugo Cathedral
After dark I spent some time listening to old science fiction radio dramas on my phone inside my pod. The room was extremely warm, so I agreed with the other hiker staying in the room to open the balcony doors a bit. The music from the bar below wafted up to us. And I was happy, because I decided to shoot all the way for Santiago, and believed I could make it.
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Thanks for following along with me on my journey! All upvotes, comments, and follows much appreciated! Have you ever hiked the Camino de Santiago?