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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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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