Day 9 Pontevedra to Monasterio de Armenteira - June 26

Today was a hard but very scenic walk. It was cloudy in the morning and not so hot, but it turned into a scorcher by mid day.

Plaza at the centre of the city. I stopped for morning coffee.

Last night's Albergue was at the entrance to the city, so this morning we got to walk through it from end to end

My route was to break off from the main one a few kilometres out of Pontevedra and true enough the path well marked with a sign caught my eye and I left the pack on what was going to be a solitary walk. I didn't see a single pilgrim until several hours after I got to the Albergue when a group of 8 arrived and broke the quiet.

The route deserves a bit of explanation. The area is mountainous (Monte de Castrove) as well there is an inlet from the sea to consider when plotting out a route. So the path meandered to say the least - as you can see from the route I painted on the map (in black) above very rough but gives you an idea. It didn't help that I must have missed an arrow and walked maybe 5 km in the wrong direction until I saw a sign which pointed back to where I came and that sign was pointing to my destination for the night.

I spent the first 4 hours winding my way around the coast, up and down until I reached the town of Combarro, on Pontevedra Bay opposite my starting point. The distance by car was 6.5 km but I think I had done maybe 10 by that time.

Then the real climb began. Winding upward and over the mountain.

The height of Monte de Castrove is around 600 mt judging by the colouring on the map I have. So it was a bit of a climb - not the Pyrenees, but a good climb for a half day anyway.

Stopped for a snack of oranges at a road side picnic stop

Here is the sign that sent me walking back the way I came.

The rest was downhill fortunately. I arrived at the Albergue about 4:30 and settled in as the first and only pilgrim to arrive. As I was walking to the bar to find wifi I passed a group of 8 pilgrims who would be my Albergue mates tonight.

Tomorrow is a flat walk of 24 km to the coastal village of Vilanova de Arousa. Should be a peice of cake after today.

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