Sunday 22nd November: Lugo

Today was an easy day. With rain pouring down through the morning I took the easy option and stayed in Lugo. I went down paid the lady of the house for an extra night and took the option of a sleep-in. In the afternoon as the rain cleared for a while I took a wander around the old town.

Lugo was built by the Romans on the site of an older Celt-Iberian hill-fort settlement. The Roman town was founded by Publius Maximus and Caesar Augustus (son of Julius Caesar). The old city walls erected by the Romans still survive though the interior of the old town is much altered. Some of the old medieval streets and buildings survive, including one old refugio for pilgrims travelling to Santiago, but it is the impressive city walls that still define Lugo. Apparently these are among the best preserved in the world! It is possible to walk a circuit of the old city along the tops of the ramparts and, to judge by the crowds of locals ambling by it is a very popular location, still, for a Sunday stroll.

Wandering throght the Plaza de Soidade, around the tourist office and up the rua de... to the cathedral you could feel you have walked into a different era. If Francisco de Cuellar passed through Lugo on his way home after his Armada travails or spent a night in one of the city inns i couldn't help wonder what might have passed through his mind. A year or two after the great failure of the Armada his family would doubtless have heard the account of his court-martial. If his letter had been read they would have known of his almost miraculous escape from almost certain death in Ireland. What kind of reception would he receive. Would he have cleared his name after the disgrace of his court-martial. How would he have travelled? Did he have hitched a ride on a merchants wagon over to Sarria or across the mountains to Leon? Was he wealthy?Could he have afforded a horse or would he have made the journey by foot? If the guy had the ability to charm his way across Ireland then perhaps, he was able to blag his way across Spain as well.