Somewhere around day eight of the Camino Primitivo, a pair of pilgrims learned the lesson every long-distance walker eventually faces: sometimes the trail wins, and the smart move is a bus, new shoes, and a day off.
The day started before sunrise with a 6.30am departure from their hotel, walking in near-total fog. They briefly lost the trail within minutes — an easy mistake when you can't see five metres ahead — and spent the early hours listening for other pilgrims' headlamps in the distance. Around 8.30am the fog lifted enough to make out their surroundings, and they were joined by fellow hikers Jane and Ian for the morning's walk, which included a welcome stop at a small cafe for coffee, cake, and an enthusiastic greeting from the resident dog.
The real story of the day, though, was feet. Preston had been nursing ankle problems, and after a helpful stop at the pharmacy in O Cádavo — where he picked up a new brace — and a chat with a Canadian pilgrim who echoed the same advice, he accepted that continuing on foot was a bad idea. The compromise: a 45-minute bus to Lugo to rest, shop, and rejoin the route later.
Lugo turned out to be a genuinely rewarding detour. The city is wrapped by the Roman wall of Lugo, a remarkably intact ancient fortification you can walk right up to and around — one of the best-preserved Roman walls anywhere. Inside the old walls, an outdoor sports store had exactly one pair of shoes in Preston's size, and they fit. The couple's hotel sat on top of ancient ruins, and the day closed with a proper dinner and lemon pie, turning an enforced rest day into one of the trip's better evenings.
Why does this matter if you're planning your own Camino? Because pushing through pain is how pilgrimages get cut short. The Primitivo — the original route from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela — is hillier and rougher than the popular Camino Francés, and small injuries snowball fast. Knowing that buses connect trail towns like O Cádavo to bigger cities like Lugo takes the pressure off. A rest day with good food and Roman ruins beats a forced end to your walk, and the pilgrim infrastructure (pharmacies, sports shops, supermarkets right on the route) makes recovery logistics simple.
This kind of honest trail reporting is also useful for anyone weighing which Camino route to choose: the Primitivo rewards you with quieter paths and greener Galician scenery, but you should build flexibility — and spare rest days — into your plan.
