Today's stage involves Bro. William travelling nearly 23kms - or over 14 miles.

It is an uphill climb towards the villages of Barbadadelo, Morgade and Ferrerios and onto Alto Paramo at 660M. The journey is spread equally between quiet Country roads and natural pathways.

Apart from the bare flanks around the Penfia do Cervo at Momientos (above Portomarin) much of this stage is along tree-lined roads and pathways.

So we have good shade from the sun or shelter from the driving rain. We will pass through many small hamlets that seem to blend seamlessly one into the next and few offer any facilities.

So again we should bring some provisions with us.

Barbadelo - was originally part of a large monastery that housed both nuns and monks, a co-habitation arrangement that didn't sit well with the powers at Samos, who staged an ecclesiastical coup in 1009.

The church wesee today was built soon afterwards and is the only monastery building that remains; it's dominated by a fortified tower, which has strange and fantastical animals carved into the stone blocks.

The slate-roofed stone farmhouses that dot the surrounding patchwork fields look like they should be on the western fringes of Ireland rather than in Spain. More distinctly Iberian are Barbadelos' horreos, rectangular granaries built on stilts that are used to dry corn and keep it out of the zeach o& zodents.

They usually have a cross on top for divine crop protection. Barbadelo's albergue (18 beds, kitchen, open all year) is on the right about 500m after the village.

We continue along road through woodland to Rente with a lovely Casa Rural - Casa Nova de Rente. We now find ourselves on delightful wooded pathways through ancient oak and chestnut groves to Mercado de Serra (Sarria to Vilamaior road) and just beyond the village as we continue on paths to cross the main Sarria to Portornarin road into Leiman.

Leiman - with bar-restaurant and, being close to the main road and Sarria, is one of the few villages in the area that has seen any modernisation. Off the route is another Romanesque Church at Velante.

We now pass, in quick succession, the tiny hamlets of Pena, Peruscallo, Cortinas, Lavandeira, Casal, Brea and just before entering the next hamlet we find an official marker post telling us that we have less than 100 km to go to Santiago (99.5!) and into Morgade.

Cruce - Pena do Cervo - after which we find another string of small hamlets as we descend down towards the rio Mino and its vast reservoir. Moimentos. Mercadoiro. Moutras, Parrocha before entering Vilacha.

Vilacha - just off the route to left is the village of Cortes and beyond it the remote and beautiful valley of Loio with the ancient ruins of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Loio. This is reputedly the birthplace of the great Order of Santiago in the 12th century. Today little remains but the tiny Chapel of Santa Maria.

We now follow the road and make our way over the modern bridge towards new Portomarin.

In Portomarin, all roads lead to the chunky, fortified Iglesia de San Juan, built in the thirteenth century by the Knights of St John.

The church, which is also known as San Nicolas, has four towers and battlements on top, and it looks more like a castle keep than a place of worship, although its militaristic outline is softened by a magnificent rose window and carved doorway.