Day 1: It’s only a few hours ride, about 20 kms, to Arzua so we had a leisurely breakfast. Somoza is a nice place to chill.
Interestingly the family of Anastasio Somoza, of Nicaraguan dictator fame, are from this place, Somoza. And Castro too. The ancestors of Fidel Castro, of Cuban dictator fame, also came from Galicia, from a place called Castro. And Generalísimo Francisco Franco, he was Gallegan too. Gallegans don’t really talk about it much but 3 of the 20th Centuries best known and most accomplished dictators were Galician.
Be that as it may, Casa de Somoza is lovely. The guest house is wonderful so we hung out until mid morning and rode out among lots of Peregrinos. We rode through Melide, the pulpo capital of Spain, on lots of woodland trails arriving in Arzua just ahead of the thunderstorms.
Day 2: Arzua is only 39 kilometers from Santiago. Only the rest of Stage 32, 18 kms, and Stage 33, 21 kms. remain. On horseback you could do it in one day. On foot too. I actually walked it in one day on the last day of my Camino in 2017.
But on horseback you are required to arrive in Praza Obrodoiro by 8:30 AM so most riders stable their horses a few kilometers outside the city and mount up before day break.
And that’s what we are doing. Rafa uses a stable on the other side of Monte del Gozo, at 35 kms, the longest distance day of our Camino.
It was raining when we set out from Arzua (another chance for me to wear my new riding slicker). We rode fast, lots of trotting and cantering on nice improved natural paths through and around countless peregrinos on foot and bicycle.
On the Camino, like the Vermont 100, people on foot and on horseback, cover the same route at the same time. Most people love the horses and greet you with smiles, take pictures, wave and call out “buen camino” as you ride by them.
But there are some who don’t like the horses and question why horses are even permitted. I overheard one man in an elevated voice comment as we passed him, “es una trampa!”
I don’t know if he was serious or joking but either way he was dead wrong, riding the Camino on a horse is anything but cheating. In fact, the very first person to make pilgrimage to Santiago did so on horseback.
It was Alfonso II, King of Asturias, in the year 813. Seems that a shepherd boy named Pelayo after reciting mass early one morning saw stars in the pre-dawn sky casting light on a hillside.
He ran to nearby Iria Flavia to report the sighting to a Bishop named Teodomiro. The two of them followed the light to the place indicated by the stars and found a cave with a stone tomb that Bishop Teodomiro immediately declared to be the fabled marble ark containing the remains of St. James.
As soon as word of the discovery reached his court in Oviedo, King Afonso II of Asturias set out from Oviedo to the place we now know as Santiago to verify the discovery.
Thus creating the Camino Primitivo (in this case meaning the first Camino) and becoming the first peregrino making the first Pilgrimage and he did so astride a horse!
The Camino Primitivo is among the most difficult. You spend days in the mountains on the way to Melide with frequent inclement weather. Rafa’s done it once on horseback and I’ve told him to count on me if he is ever able to organize a group to do it again.
I’d really love to do the Camino Primitivo. After all it is said that:
Quien va Santiago y no al Salvador. Visita el criado y no el señor.
In the meantime we covered more than 6 kms an hour, were in Garca for lunch by 2:30 and by 6:00, the horses were stabled 4 kms from Santiago.
The plan is to wake at 5:00, mount up before dawn and be at Kilómetro Zero by 8:30 AM.
Pardon my boyhood like enthusiasm but I’m pretty excited and probably won’t sleep a wink!
Buen Camino!
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