Camino Ingles - Getting to the Starting Point Via Madrid, Santiago de Compostela and Ferrol

Well, I made it to the official starting point for my hike, Ferrol, Spain. The flight from Midland, Texas to Dallas/Ft. Worth and then on to Madrid, Spain went off without a hitch. I had a 4-hour layover in Madrid until I could catch a flight to Santiago de Compostela. I arrived there at 9 pm local time. Luckily the little cafe attached to the hotel served food until 11:30 pm. I was starved by the time I checked in. The veal and potatoes they served me were delicious although a bit rare for my liking. It didn't stop me from eating it all.

The only problem on the trip over here was that the duffle bag that I checked didn't make it. This is the first time that I have ever checked a bag. Usually, I just carry my pack so I don't have to worry about it but this time I figured I would try going the tourist route and have a checked bag that included my hiking poles since you can't carry them onboard with you. Luckily, I still have my pack with my essentials except I threw all my toiletries, t-shirts, and underwear in the duffle I checked. It is okay to live like a dirtbag on the Appalachian Trail because all of us stink there, but this hike goes through towns, so I need to keep myself somewhat socially acceptable. They did manage to find my duffle bag which was still sitting in Dallas and they told me that they put it on a flight to Spain. Hopefully, it will catch up with me in the next day or so.

I had a ride lined up to haul me to Ferrol which was an hour away from Santiago. Once my ride dropped me off in Ferrol, I figured that I had better go find a few toiletries to hold me over, so I located a little Mercado that had what I needed. Then I found a little clothing store that sold some men's items. The challenge was to find underwear, socks, and t-shirts to fit this bulldozer body of mine in a store that seems to sell mainly to people built like sports cars. Luckily the internet had a conversion chart for US sizes to European sizes. We will see if it is accurate later tonight. I will be here in Ferrol for another day before I start my hike. I always like to give myself an extra day at the starting point to settle in and get over any jet lag. I did a bit of walking around this evening and found a great place for a ham calzone. I am not much of a beer drinker, but it sure tasted good with the calzone after trekking around town for a few hours. Tomorrow I will head to the pilgrim office and pick up my pilgrim credentials and do some more exploring. Right now, everyone is in the plaza visiting and enjoying the evening as they do over here. Old people are busy chatting with their neighbors, young couples are walking hand in hand with love in their eyes and married couples are enjoying watching their kids kick a soccer ball around. Not a bad lifestyle if you ask me.

I managed to get a few photos of what I saw this evening. I love the architecture here. I also got a picture of a National Police officer and his motorcycle. We talked bikes a bit and I asked him if I could take a photo of him and his bike. He smiled and said of course and immediately struck an official pose for me. I guess photos are serious business when you are on duty.

Well that pretty much brings you up to date on my trip so far. I will put a few pictures here but so save space and upload time I have posted todays pictures on my YouTube channel. Here is a link to todays pictures: https://youtu.be/xhjpP9PTGXk?si=NLOFRWJwRZM5jR4K

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