Stage 3 – Betanzos to Hospital de Bruma, 24.4 kms

Regardless of conditions, a walk on the Camino is always made better by good company. My brother and I walked together through the whole stage. Normally, he’s an early riser and I’m a late starter, so we travel together but separately, ending the day in the same place. Today, we walked together through the rain in good conversation and pleasing silence.

If you’ve read anything I’ve previously written, you know there are a couple of other things that I love about walking the Camino (even in the rain & uphills) – hospitality and economy. We experienced both at Casa Avelina in As Travesas. The sisters that run this place are famous on the Camino Inglés, and rightfully so. Their hospitality, especially on this cold & rainy day, was over the top. And the prices are incredible, as if they have chosen hospitality over profit in every transaction. Casa Avelina is a must stop on the Inglés.

The photo on the left is the bocadillo we were served – 18″ in length, 6″ in width, with fresh bread, jamón de serrano, queso, olive oil, and a knife barely big enough to make the cut. The photo on the right is Carmen’s Point-of-Sale system – 9 euro 20 for the massive sandwich, two cups of coffee, water, cookies while we waited, and cookies to go. All served with a sincere love, I hear they treat everyone this way!

Two notes about our destination today – Hospital de Bruma. Pay attention, this is legit guidebook level information. One, plan your lodging for the night. There is a convergence of paths here – the main path from Ferrol and another that comes from A Coruña. The tiny town has two albergues – a private with 22 beds and the municipal with 19 beds. We arrived in the village around 2:00 pm, the private albergue was full and we got the last two beds in the muni. If you haven’t reserved beds at the private AND you lose the bed race* to the muni, Mesón do Vento with a couple of hotels is less than 2 kms away (off Camino).

* For the record, I loathe the bed race mentality on pilgrimage.

Second thing about Hospital, there’s only one restaurant in town, Casa Graña. Don’t miss it, good food, good prices, and the service is good (not quite Casa Avelina good, but still good).

Per the guidebook, the distance between the Betanzos and Hospital de Bruma is 24.4 kilometers (as noted above). My actual distance for the day was 26.4 kilometers, the extra distance caused by the short walk to the only restaurant in town and multiple walks to the clothes dryer to see if it was available. There was one washing machine and one dryer at the Municipal Albergue in Hospital to share between 19 soggy pilgrims. We had all walked in the rain today (I suspect 2 guests rode in taxis, but who am I to judge). The Municipal made a fortune on the dryer today.