Primitivo Day 9: Walking With Others

by | May 9, 2025 | Camino Primitivo, Spain, Trail Journals | 0 comments

Thursday – May 8, 2025

  • Start: Lugo, Spain
  • End: As Seixas
  • Distance: 33.3 km (20.8 miles)
  • Lodging: A Toqueria Albergue

I’ve been hiking around the same cluster of pilgrims for more than a week now. There’s Alexandra (from Poland), Lily, Naomi, and Theo (from the US), Dan (US Navy veteran), Tammy (from the UK), Harold (from Germany), Nacho (from Spain), Tatiana and her two 15-year-old twin boys (from the Czech Republic), and a so many others whose named I cannot remember but whose faces have become a familiar part of this journey. Today I spent time walking with many of them and sharing our stories, before ending the day with a communal dinner with 11 other pilgrims in a small rural albergue in As Seixas.

I really should have focused on getting a cup of coffee before leaving Lugo, because it would take me 19 km to get one.
I spotted this drink vending machine at the 10 km mark, and I got a meager €1 “mini coffee” during my first break. But this was a poor substitution for what I was craving.
To distract me from my coffee woes, I did a bit of walking and talking with Dan today
And I got to know all about Tammy’s job training horses for dressage competitions
I leapfrogged with Nacho
And with my German compatriot, Harold.
But I didn’t catch up with Tatiana and her twin boys until the end of the day
I also ran into a cluster of sheep on the trail
But a lot of today’s stage was flat walking with long distances between the services
At times, the Camino took me on interesting trails
And through lush green forest
Before heading through tall eucalyptus trees
Past newly cut fields of alfalfa
Over creeks on small bridges
And past a few horreos (elevated granaries common in Galicia)
At the end of the day, though, it was the community I would remember more than the miles.

Highlights

  • I left town with Dan, his brother-in-law Michael, and Tammy, and we spent the first 10 kilometers collectively walking at Tammy’s brisk 4 mph pace while having a great conversation about the many things we each saw in Lugo yesterday.
  • Although it was cold enough to need gloves when I left Lugo this morning, the day warmed up quite nicely. It feels like springtime again.
  • Today really was about the people I’ve met on my journey. With less than 100 km left until Santiago, I tried to talk to as many of my fellow pilgrims as possible. And I even remembered to take a photo with many of them.

Challenges

  • One of the pilgrims in my albergue got up around 5:45 am and left his phone in the communal sleeping area. I was just beginning to drift back to sleep at 6 am when his alarm went off. But since he was still in the shower, the alarm kept going and going and going, until the pilgrim in the closest bunk just got up to shut it off!
  • My biggest mistake of the day was walking out of Lugo without stopping for a cup of coffee. I was sure I’d see something on the way out of town. Unfortunately, I didn’t. I had to walk 10 km to a coffee vending machine (thank goodness I had a €1 coin in my wallet or I might have cried). And I didn’t drink my first café con leche until 19 km (11.8 miles) into my day!
  • This stage of the Camino was like a service desert. There were just long stretches with nothing but the countryside. But at least the terrain was super easy. Most of the big hills are behind me now.

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