The Hunting of Pilgrims

 So, we are nipping under the disused railway and rising up through the village of Quintans. The Bar Estanco Noya only has five reviews and all of them five stars. About two months ago Xeitoso X said ‘Traditional Village Tobacconist Bar. Good deal. Good tapas. Recommended’ Sonia was even more excited. 'Perfection in service in treatment of good people... in their calluses hahaha. 100 x 100 recommended.. they are the best!!!!!!!'


The station on the disused line was once a neat little thing. It is abandoned and a bit vandalised these days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv_WYd8aqGE

https://galiciapuebloapueblo.blogspot.com/2019/10/antigua-estacion-de-berdia-santiago-de.html

Out of town we will enjoy the following countryside and turn left at San Pedro de Busto parish church. We have passed a group of huntsmen. The hunting season begins in Mid October. Reports have it that bars open at 6.30-7.00 so huntsmen can breakfast. According to Tincatinker [and I report in full for your amusement] ‘'Coto Privado / Reserva (de casa)'' hunting reserved, is the commonest method of preventing "free" hunting over land. It's not so much about rights-of-way as a right to hunt. The birthright of every freeborn Spaniard. There is of course some semi- feudal history bound into this. The right to hunt vests in the land-owner, not the occupier, so the peasant on his patch has no more rights than the pheasant on said patch. If those rights are not asserted by the land-owner then there is a potential free-for-all. You will see signs "Coto Reserva" with some sort of licence number attached, or the name of the parish / commune, that generally means that hunting is licenced, and controlled by a local co-operative. Under an ordinance dating back to 1086' pilgrims are not classed as game and therefore cannot be shot without prior permission. Now is the time to request Perdiz Asado for those pilgrims tired of Lomo & chips.’



Tomorrow we turn east. A minor error in navigation has put the river Tambre and no crossing point ahead of us.



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