Day 8 Redondela to Pontevedra - June 25

Today I will be caught up with my blogs and hopefully I can keep on top of the daily blogs going forward. After all, I will be in Santiago in 4 or at most 5 days from today. I can tell I am getting closer to my endpoint. For a start signs like the one below are starting to appear. Also there seems to be more of a buzz of excitement at the Albergues as people realize they are on the home stretch - at least the ones who have waked from Porto or even Lisbon. For the others, the 100 km folks who started at Tui, they are just starting to get into the groove. According to this morning's distance marker when I set out, it is only 81 km to Santiago.

It seemed this morning that we had an eager crowd at the Albergue, as just about everyone was up and out the door by 6:30 or so. Considering that it was actually 5:30 Portugal time, I took my time and let the eager beavers finish in the bathroom before I got out of bed. I guess it was about 7:30 when I was on my way.

The weather was great today. It has become warmer again (low to mid 20s) and except for the fog this morning there are blue skies.

Can you see the bridge over the inlet from the Atlantic? It is mostly hidden by the fog, but was a spectacular view. From looking at my map it is over the "Ria de Vigo", but to me looks just like an inlet and part of the Atlantic Ocean.

We were soon walking along what I remember well as the sort of trails common on the Frances route through the Galacian countryside, from my last walk of the Camino in 2013.

At one point on the trail someone had created a shell mural by mounting a great number of shells and it was clear that it was an opportunity for pilgrims to leave their mark. Pilgrims passing by could eh scribe their name and nationality or some message on a blank shell. I found a blank one and left my mark for others to see.

After the town of Arcade there was a Roman bridge to cross, then it was up and over the hill you see in the distance.

The view from the bridge

A bit of residential area to navigate.

Soon we were walking through the woods following a path.

Roadside vendors Pedro and Manuel told us about the better route to get to Pontevedra coming up in a few kilometres. I also bought a cold pop, I am sure he doesn't make much cash from his roadside stand.

The sign which described the path beside the river into Pontevedra. I felt comfortable striking out without the arrows given that there was an official sign announcing the path.

The path was lovely and ran beside the little river all the way. I was amazed at how clear it was. There was a sandy bottom and it was moving quite quickly.

The pathway came out at the road just a hundred yards from the Albergue. Quite a nice walk!

The entrance to the Albergue can't be missed!

The Spanish like their bread freshly delivered daily. Odd that the white baguette is very popular (not much multigrain here!) and is probably what gets stuffed into this chute!

 

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Day 7 O Porrina to Redondela - June 24

The Albergue at Redondela

Yet another catch up blog, but this blog will be short and I will immediately get at today's blog (Thursday's) so I will then be all caught up.

The Albergue at Redondela

I had a bit of a technical picture issue today so there won't be many pictures uploaded with this blog since I seem not to be able to off load them from my SD card. I don't want to get too much into the why of it and bore you with technical details, suffice to say that my 32 gig SD card is larger than the photo software on my iPad wants to deal with. I will be able to sort this out when I get home using my desktop, but for today only 2 pictures. I was carrying a spare SD card so tomorrow's pictures should be no problem.

I was late awakening, still being on Portugal time, and was one of the last folks leaving the Albergue at nearly 8:00. However with the weather being nice and cool and my habit of not eating breakfast or having coffee before I have put in a good hour of walking, I soon caught up with a few folks the crowd somewhere near the village of Mos, which was 8 km from O Porrino. There was a nice cafe there at the town's Albergue and I stopped for my coffee and ate one of the few remaining protein bars in my stash. That was enough to fuel me for the bit of a climb over the wee mountain (ok, large hill), which came next. I treated myself to an orange at a roadside picnic table and watched about 10 pilgrims walk by.

The steep way up was followed by a steep way down and then we walked through the valley, which was mostly vineyards. It really was not a very pretty walk but with just 16.5 km I wasn't complaining.

The Albergue is a nice old stone building which also houses some sort of an art display. There are 2 dorm rooms, each with 14 beds (bunks) and hurrah! hot water showers. The Albergue few was 6 EUR.

I bought the makings for sandwiches (bread, cheese and meat) as well as fruit, so my lunch bag is well stocked for tomorrow.

I am feeling much more comfortable with the distances on this interior route. Today I was in town by 1:00, just when the Albergue was opening, which gave me its of time to do all my chores as well as catching up a couple of blogs.

I have decided that when I get to Pontevedra I will take a variation in the route to Santiago. The main route continues straight north for 2 days to Padron (16 km to Briallos and then 24 Km to Padron). Instead I will head in a bit of a North-westerly circle to Vilanova de Arousa over the 2 days (21 km to Monestario de Armenteira, then 24 km to.VN. De Arousa). The next morning I will be able to take a boat to Pontecesures which is just an extension of Padron. The catch is that the boat only goes at high tide, so I may be cooling my jets for possibly a day waiting for the next boat.

This route is called the Spiritual Varient, because it is supposed to follow the route that Saint John the Apostle's remains were carried (by boat) on their way to Santiago where they were buried, according to legend.

So tomorrow on to Pontevedra, which is a walk of 18.5 km. I will get onto that blog right away so I can then go out and celebrate with a pilgrim's menu dinner and some wine.

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