A 9 km castle detour

So when I left today from Portomarin I knew I didn't want to stay in the next town with 20 albergues, which would have been Palas de Rei, a mere 24 km away. So with some Internet hunting, I found an albergue about 6 km further down the Camino, not counting the 1.8 km detour off camino to get there (actually the owners offered to come pick me up but that didn't appeal).

The walk was busier than yesterday, if you look closely you can see a line of young male Italian pilgrims walking the camino together and singing loudly and very joyfully. 

Today's walk went through lots of little hamlets, and nearly every one of them had a bar. Another day of pleasant walking. 

By 2:30 I was washing clothes in this little out of the way place (so far I'm the only one here). I had seen a castle turret and asked about it and was told it was 2 km away. So around 4 I set off, but unfortunately I took the long way, which I'll guess was another 8-9 more km round trip. The castle (Pambre is its name) is a square small sturdy looking thing on a river. I was a little disappointed to find the whole thing under renovation. I could see a lot of it but the cranes and construction debris kind of detracted from the aesthetics. 

Ah well, it was a nice walk and took me through a few little villages untouched by the Camino. The differences are astonishing, all these little places just a few kms from the passing of thousands of people and they don't get any of the $$$/€€€ that come pouring out of pilgrims' pockets every day. They are essentially dead places with a few old people left behind. Not sure how they will survive.