As I walked out one Midsummer morning …

Setting out from Betanzos

I can’t hope to be as poetic as Laurie Lee but today did start as a beautiful sunny day (although I soon realised that I should have saved ‘Uphill all the way’ as a title for today … ).

As we climbed up out of Betanzos, the scent of honeysuckle, the heather, broom, bracken and gorse gave everything a vaguely familiar look.  Strange to be seeking home comforts.

The first stop was at the home of a painter and historian who plans to open his home as a museum.  Beautiful pre-Raphaelite style/colour paintings adorned the walls and we were treated to a beer tasting of the most delicious Estrella Galicia beverages.

Arriving into Casa Julia

We stopped for lunch at Casa Julia.   Delicious tortilla, risotto and beef casserole.  Little did we know that our guides were fattening us up for the longest/steepest climb of the Camino!  Fortunately there were a couple of pipers at the top to welcome us, which was very motivating.

Musicians greeted us at the top of the climb

It rained a little (but nothing compared to today – I’m writing this backwards as I stayed in the refuge with no internet last night).

Oliver cooking up the Queimada punch in Bruma

At the Bruma Albergue, we had some wonderful jamon, chorizo, local cheese and yoghurt before brewing up a Queimada punch (a flaming liquor with orange and lemon peel, coffee beans and sugar, prepared to an incantation warding off witches and evil spirits – bit disconcerting the night before sleeping in a refuge for the first time … ).

You can catch up on other posts here:

Day One

Day Two

Day Four

Day Five

Thanks for reading and for supporting INTO!