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Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire 🔥 (stovetop)

Our day started and finished with the same Korean pilgrims cooking up a feast. In between we hiked 15 miles with a 2,000 feet climb over the first half out of the fog, and mainly a descent for the second half with the sun on our left.


Many albergues and cafes are now closed for the season despite the marked increase in pilgrim traffic. To earn the Compostela, pilgrims must hike at least the last 100k, which starts just west of Sarria. Every open café is filled with peregrinos and at times I could count up to 30 pilgrims within sight on the Way. It's really starting to feel festive!

Getting back to the feast. This morning's feast was chestnuts. That's right. Old school pilgrim foraging. On the menu were boiled or pan roasted chestnuts. We only sampled the roasted as the boiling was not yet finished. After they had their fill and had filled small bags they offered us some and we dug in. They were delicious! Even better than we had had at the stand in back in Soria, possibly due to freshness. After all they had just been collected the previous evening. Clare decided then that we should collect chestnuts and roast our own the following day. I agreed. I bet a pilgrim could survive on a diet of figs and chestnuts between St. Jean and Santiago in the fall.


Leaving our mid morning coffee stop we bumped into Ted and Marek and they had just heard that a French woman had completed the Camino in 18 days! I guess she doesn't have that much vacation time. I wondered what her experience was like and how different it must be from others. Did she meet many pilgrims? How many café con leches did she enjoy? I'm not judging her decision to go fast. I'm just wondering.


In addition to the obvious increase in the number of pilgrims, the landscape is also changing. The chestnut trees are giving way to pines. The hills are rolling with very few mountains to see except in the far distance when we crest small ridges.


Courtesy of Liz Hackett's advice we are in a nice new hostel in Palas de Rei called San Marcos. We have hand washed a few items and punctured blisters on Amy's heel and Clare's little toe. We've wandered around town and purchased breakfast for tomorrow. Now to roast some chestnuts. We picked them up on our way into town. Prickly little dudes. Next Camino I bring chestnut gloves!

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  1. Mike DaytonNovember 15, 2016 at 1:20 PM

    Fig and chestnut recipe, washed down with white wine. Definitely worth a post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 15, 2016 at 1:55 PM

    Hi Guys! I just caught up and read every entry. Once again, I want to be you in my next life. Enjoy every minute of it. Joe

    ReplyDelete

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