The morning was a bit misty on the beach in Razo but the surfers were already out. We got going before noon, looking for the isolated beach aire we were originally trying to find.
We wound up and over some very narrow roads and finally saw the lovely beach, but there was nowhere to park and we almost got stuck in a field. After I’d gotten out so I could direct Colin back to the road he started shouting ‘Get in! Get in!’ so I quickly jumped in and shut the door – there was a swarm of very large, very angry hornets at the front of the van and they followed us, attacking the windshield as we got going up the road.
We finally got onto a better road and had a little break at the beach just outside the town of Ponteceso. It was a lovely area, but marred slightly by an older fellow telling us we couldn’t take the dogs onto the beach – which we weren’t going to do anyway. Another older guy got into a discussion with the first one and we wondered if it was going to get physical they got so heated about it. We just continued on and went to the cafe/bar where we had a very nice coffee.
After our short break we continued around the northwestern point of Galicia, and stopped at a nice campground just outside the town of Louso.
We took a walk along the beach – dogs are allowed here! – and had a nice chat with a couple originally from Wales that now spend three months a year here – they have their own spot reserved and everything.
The next day we took a walk back into the town, all on paths and sidewalks overlooking the ocean. Partway along one of my flip-flops broke – I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to walk with a broken flip-flop!
I managed to make it to the restaurant where we ended up – finally – having a nice lunch. The place was very busy and apparently they only had one waitress that spoke english to serve us, although we could have made ourselves understood to anyone – it took forever, but ended up being pretty good.
After a very hot afternoon it finally cooled down a bit, but we noticed that we suddenly had very little battery power left. In fact we had to shut down the lights and the fridge even went off. The solar panel should have been plenty so we hadn’t hooked up to the electrics – we think there’s a problem between the solar panel and the battery – it works fine in the daytime, and charges while we drive, but suddenly seems to be losing power quickly as soon as the sun goes down.
Wednesday morning we left the campground and headed inland past Santiago de Compostela and on to an aire in the town of Portomarin, another of the many large stops on the Camino.
This close to Santiago there are now hundreds and hundreds of walkers as the various trails converge.
We walked around a bit, then chose a restaurant to have dinner in – it was quite nice.
The town is just packed with walkers – almost every business in the place is something catering to them – cafes, bars, pensions/auberges, pharmacies (we’ve seen the walking wounded, with every kind of bandage possible!) – good business for the locals, I hope.
Again in the night the power all failed, with the fridge going out in the very early morning. We can’t even make tea in the morning as the gas goes out automatically when the power fails.
We took the ‘scenic route’ to Ponferrada the next day to stock up on groceries – the GPS spent almost an hour trying to get us to turn back and go north thru Lugo before giving up and acknowledging that we were taking the more southerly route.
Along the way we experienced an interesting incident – we got behind a line of vehicles that were all slowed down because of a very large, wide loaded truck ahead. There was a huge dump truck on the deck of a low-bed, with the tires stacked with it. It was moving extremely slowly and then it wasn’t moving at all – it had become stuck under an overpass that was just inches too low.
Luckily it was right near a slip road that everyone behind snuck around on, but the oncoming traffic was held up by police as the low-bed was going down the middle of the road where the overpass was supposed to be high enough to clear – not!
We made it to Ponferrada, did our shopping, then continued northwest a bit to a campground we’d found four years ago just outside the town of Trabadelo.
There was a lovely swimming pool just outside a large, very crowded restaurant. I made use of the free wi-fi for a bit, then had a fairly early night. Thankfully it was a bit cooler than the previous couple of evenings had been.
The next day’s travel was almost across the Apennines to a campground we’d stayed at two years ago just outside the village of Zocca. This time we didn’t have quite as frustrating a time finding it, although the gps was, once again, not totally accurate.
The old dog is still there, but is moving a bit more slowly.
We pre-ordered dinner, and were both very pleased. I think it’s the same chef who was very new to the place two years ago, and they still have a lovely organic garden for many of the meal’s ingredients.
My lasagna was obviously handmade, and was delicious – no meat or tomatoes, but zuchinni and cream sauce – very nice, and just the right amount.
After only one night we were on our way again, this time taking the paege to make better time – although at times we were barely moving because of roadworks and on/off ramp backups at every large city we passed.
When I went to bed Mo was full across my pillow – as I tried to nudge her over she growled and snapped at me! After mollifying her and almost falling asleep we were kept awake by a prolonged lightening and thunder storm.
Before leaving Conzano the next morning we had a nice walk around the village. 
There’s an art exhibit all summer and the artworks are all over the place – it was very different and made for an interesting morning.
We eventually made a wrong turn – the pink arrows weren’t up yet to guide us – and we ended up in Casorzo, where we stopped for a quick snack just outside the town.
It was a rest-stop and had fantastic views, as well as some wall art of fairy tales.
We then made our way to the town of Montemagno, which has a castle – the oldest part is from the 12th century, with major additions in the 13th and 18th centuries.
We walked up and around it, but it was all closed up – it did have, of course, more incredible views.
We parked for the night in a large flat parking lot next to a pasta and sauce making place – Colin popped in and checked with them and they didn’t mind us being there.
Sally McKenzie's European Adventures 