Portugués Camino Day 17: Retracing the River Route of St. James’ Bones

Day 17 – VILANOVA DE AROUSA – PADRÓN, 25.5 miles (16.5 by boat, 9 walking), 20,606 steps.

“Your boat leaves at 7am,” she told us yesterday, explaining about tomorrow’s 10am boat we had booked last week. “Boat you book not functional; 7am has breakfast.” So at 6:45am today, we board the large luxury ship with 100 other Pilgrams for the last segment of The Spiritual Way, where we retrace the river route that the bones of St. James took after his martyrdom in 40AD.

6:45a and we’re ready to board the boat

How the Bones of St. James Came to Santiago

A bit of backstory: James, one of the Apostles of Jesus, came to the Iberian Peninsula, then known as Roman Hispania, to share the good news with its people. It is fair to say he confronted great difficulties in his missionary efforts and became discouraged. While praying one day, Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to James, accompanied by thousands of angels, to console and encourage him that his efforts would not be in vain.  Now, mind you, Mary was still alive and living in Jerusalem, so this was a miracle of bilocation. 

A few years later, James returns to Jerusalem, where the last Jewish King, Herod Agrippa I, martyrs him. According to legend, a rudderless stone boat then appeared. It was piloted by an angel who took his bones to Spain. The stone boat is said to have traveled up these same waters we travel today, where they met with the disciples of James, who then buried his bones in a forest near modern-day Santiago de Compostela.  In 800 years, those same bones would be discovered, and with some help from the Catholic Church, a cathedral built to honor St. James. Later, this cathedral became a pilgrimage site.   

Sunrise on the boat.

As expected, Suzanne comes alive on the boat, its either being on the water, or the ship’s coffee kicking in, but she is so happy. We spend 10 minutes below deck before going up top for sunrise.  It is beautiful, windy, and a bit of a reunion with many of the pilgrims we have walked with or seen in albergues the last week. What is it about water that breathes life into her? 

First of the 17 maritime crosses we will see

The boat takes us through Galicia’s hub for mussel production with island barges of mussels strung together on the river/bay. Stone cruzeiros line the waterway and they tell us to watch for them, but really, we don’t need to, as the boat captain announces each as we approach.   

Among the 17 maritime crosses, we also see the ruins of Oeste Towers, a 9th-century castle built to defend the region from Viking raids. And finally, the industrial smokestacks of Pontecesures pierces the skyline long before the village appears.  We’re dropped at the dock right across from their plumes of white smoke.  

Oeste Towers, a 9th-century castle built to defend the region from Viking raids

After Landfall

Disembarking from the boat, we now face a hot 9-mile road walk as the Spiritual Variant merges with the main Camino route. It is a large diverse group of pilgrims, some joining recently for the last 60 miles and others on Camino much longer. But we can’t tell when pilgrims started anymore, we’re all trail-worn pilgrims as we are united in a shared goal of Santiago.  Our sun umbrellas are their envy.    

The first mile or so, there are many places to stop for breakfast, but they are busy with long lines, so on we go.  Mistake.  Hours later, we find a coffee shop and meet up with the Italians we had shared a table with yesterday. Still a language barrier. It is an uncloudy day with no places to stop for a proper breakfast or lunch. Finally we settle for what we now call the Grim Hotel, for a rather grim lunch. 

Tonight’s albergue has a swimming pool but no nearby restaurants. We’ll make dinner and plan to stop at the next grocery store for dinner supplies. Unfortunately, it’s just a gas station convenience store, which is not so convenient for us. Suzanne goes on ahead while I backtrack to shop at a market we passed a few miles back. 

Arriving mid-afternoon at the albergue, first up is a refreshing swim, then a nap. Suzanne goes to the lounge chairs, and after my nap I settle down to blog in the living room. When Suzanne comes in, we meet Jennafer, a Canadian schoolteacher who walked the French Camino in 2017. Finally, someone I can compare notes on the differences between the Camino’s two routes, the Portuguese Way and the French Way.

Comparing the Two Caminos

“There is no way to compare them,” Jennafer tells me. “I’m a different person, in a different place in my life.” She talks about the end of the marriage that preceded her first Camino, and I think back to my own situation when I was working with God to figure out a way to help My Project, as I called Suzanne, in what would become our last year serving in Ghana. 

There is no way to compare them, I repeat in my mind.  You’re a different person. For the past 17 days, I’ve obsessed over how our experience has differed from my expectations of what it would be like, like my first Camino.  Suzanne’s strength and resilience have amazed me, and I wonder if more has happened in her than I’ve realized.  I tune back into their conversation to hear “I’ve learned I can still do hard things,” she tells Jennafer.  Maybe it isn’t so much that this Camino is different, as much as I am (and she is) a different person experiencing it. 

One  More Family Meal

We opened the local wine we packed in, and I start sauteeing eggplant, red pepper, onions, garlic, carrot, and mushrooms to make a vegetarian stir fry, but Suzanne is Italian deficient. I have a working theory that she needs Italian food about every five days, and she has gone too long without it. Marinara Vegetable Sauce it is! Suzanne pours in a box of tomatoes; I change up the spicing and start the pasta.  An impromptu family meal emerges as there is more than enough to share with other hungry pilgrims at our hostel.  The best part? They clean the kitchen afterward, and no left overs!

Tomorrow is Santiago.  

Day 17 feet.