Our fifth day on the Camino Ingles started with a spectacular pilgrim’s breakfast of chocolate croissants, tortilla, coffee, and juice at a cafe in the heart of Betanzos. Following breakfast, we made our way out of the city under cloudy and warm skies. Having walked through rain for two of our first four days along the Camino Ingles, we were happy to see a weather forecast projecting nothing but sunshine, clouds, and warmth on our remaining journey to Santiago.
Stage 5 Overview:
Point to Point: Betanzos to Presedo (As Casas Novas)
Distance: 5.9 miles / 10 km
Elevation Gain: 900ft / 275m
Trail Conditions: Mostly paved roads, concrete paths, and side streets. A few natural paths mixed in. The final stretch is along the busy DP-0105 roadway.
Food and Water: Adequate on-trail food options for being such a short day. Water fountains were plentiful.
End of Day Accommodation: Rectoral de Cines
The walk out of Betanzos felt a lot like the uphill climb out of Pontedeume. From the city center, the Camino Ingles cut through the heart of the downtown area before climbing uphill on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t long until we were once again passing through lush greenery and leaving the traffic of a densley populated area behind.
After reaching the 1.5 mile mark of hiking for the day, we crossed over a bridge that spans the A-6 Highway. We took some time to enjoy the beautiful view from high above on a beautiful day along The Way.
Reaching the day 5 benchmark of this Camino was an important one in my planning leading up to our walk. I knew the first few days would be a challenge for Owen physically, and he blew past those without issue. The second challenge I spent a lot of time considering was how Owen would enjoy ‘life on the trail’. Many pilgrims don’t consider what it’s like to be on their feet for hours each day with nothing by friends, family, and their own thoughts to entertain themselves. My little guy cheered my heart daily with how much he enjoyed every moment we spent together. He told stories, shared snacks, talked about every topic under the sun, and was genuinely thrilled to be on his was towards Santiago.
There was a lot to keep a kid entertained on this walking day. As we continued to distance ourselves from Betanzos, we passed by multiple friendly dogs, chicken coops, camino markers in lush settings, wildflowers, and more.
At the 3.5 mile mark for the day, we reached the town of Limiñón and stopped at Bar O Camionero for what turned out to be our one of our best lunches on the entire trip. We started out with our traditional order of coffee, tea, and juice. For food, we ordered cheese burgers and tortilla. The burgers had fresh veggies and grilled onions, which is one of my favorite ways to have a burger. At this point, Owen was feeling confident enough with his Spanish to order for himself, and proceeded to order peach juice after peach juice to rehydrate.
From Bar O Camionero, the Camino Ingles follows side streets and passes residential areas before following a busy main road into the Presedo area. The miles ticked by pretty quickly at this stage in the day, as the weather was warming up and the skies were beautiful.
There are very few accommodations in the Presedo area, so we booked lodging at Rectoral de Cines in the town of As Casas Novas about 3km out of town. Our end point along the Camino for the day was at Bar Carabel where we ordered refreshments and called a taxi for a ride to Rectoral de Cines. Alongside our drinks, they served up an appetizer tapas dish that I thought was potatoes and ham. I enthusiastically popped a few pieces into my mouth only to realize it was salted pork fat. The taste was okay, but the texture was definitely unfamiliar.
Our taxi driver picked us up along the Camino at Bar Carabel and dropped us off at the amazing Rectoral de Cines. Rectoral de Cines is an enchanting countryside hotel built up in the remains of an old monastery. You can even see and visit the 12th century Church of San Nicolás de Cines on the property.
Rectoral de Cines also has a full kitchen for dinner and breakfast, so we decided to stay on campus that evening and enjoy the amazing food. Our meal started with some cervezas for Julia and I. On this trip we really took a liking to the Estrella Galicia 1906. Owen went for his customary zumo de melocoton.
Our first plate was an appetizer of langostinos, and then I enjoyed a wonderful veal dish as the main course. Owen had some chicken and potatoes, and Julia ordered tortilla, which is a very common order for her given her vegetarian diet.
