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!

 

Posted with Blogsy

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.

Posted with Blogsy

Day 6 Valença to O Porrino June 23

I am still 2 days behind on my blogs, but at least I am not getting further behind. Maybe I will be able to get this one finished and posted today (June 24th) and then I will only be 1 day behind tomorrow.

Tuesday was another good walking day, both cool and cloudy and a shorter distance to be covered - under 20 km! I was able to sleep a little later and left just after 7:30, but lost an hour when I crossed the border with Spain since there was a time change between countries. So I did start much later than usual.

The route had us walk through the fortress on our way out of town and out one of the doors on the river/north side.

I said goodbye to Portugal but not at this bar.

Across the bridge then into Spain

After I crossed the river I was able to get this zoomed shot of the Fortress at Valença, high above the river.

The next stop was Tui and of course we needed to climb up the hill to see the Cathedral and I was confident that is where the arrows would lead us. And of course they did.

We started to see distance markers which were oddly precise and placed at random distances. We started to look for the 100 km marker. I remember the great joy in seeing that marker on the Frances route. Something worth celebrating 100 km to go. But not yet.

Adriaan did a stone exchange, take a stone, leave a stone.

The next big decision coming up was whether to take the new official route or the old route and the point at which the route splits in two was fast approaching. There had been many posters along the way in the past 20 km warning us about the route ahead. I say warn because there was a feud going on. The route somewhere past Tui to O Porrino used to go through a very unappealing area - industrial, on road and just not nice. So the local Amigos of the Camino decided to change the route and made a nice path through woods and beside a stream. Unfortunately, along the industrial patch were a few bars and restaurants and they resented losing the pilgrim business. So the feud started. We were warned that the yellow arrows marking our way may be painted over! Something to think about- which way to go?

We were dying for a coffee and that in itself may have caused us to take the nasty route, but an angel in the form of a Spanish woman named Fatima appeared with - you guessed it - she had coffee! She and her daughter ran an informal cafe in a garden beside a house (not sure if it was her house). She had coffee and fruit for donativo! We enjoyed our coffee sitting on the grass. There was also a clean and well equipped toilet! After she served us coffee she gave us a small sip of the local liquor- a yellow sweet firewater, which reminded me of a certain Hospitalaro in El Cubo de Vino, when I was there in 2013, who served the same stuff. We met a number of other pilgrims there from Brasil, and I bet she did a pretty good business and her expenses were low. :). Incidentally, there seem to be a bunch of new folks on this route.

When we got to the point of our route choice, it became quite clear that the new official route arrow painter had been there more recently than the "paint black over yellow arrows" guy. When you examined the signs it seemed that they had been painted over many times as well as new ones added which in turn had been painted over. It made the route even more obvious with plenty of yellow arrows with black background.

We were surprised how far along the route signs had been over painted with black. There also was another point nearer the town where the sign feud started anew and the yellow arrows on black background began again.

The path was great and for the most part was through woods and followed a small river/stream. There was a bar/cafe further along the way and we were able to stop and have a cerveca.

Before we knew it we were at the Albergue at O Porrino. Adriaan carries on as he was going to the village of Moss about 8 km further.

The Albergue sided the river and was just on the edge of the small town. For some reason today both baby toes blisters got big today, so I made a trip to the Farmacia and got iodine and some Compeed bandage and set about piercing the blisters so the fluid could escape and ease the pain when I walked. We don't have Compeed in Canada - it is a special bandage which is more like a thick second skin you apply to blisters. It worked well, the next day I was walking nearly pain free!

We never did see the 100 km sign marker!

Tomorrow I am headed to Redondela a mere 16 km!

Posted with Blogsy

Day 5 Caminha to Valença June 22

This is another catch up blog. I am a bit hampered by no internet in the Albergues but I am doing my best to get caught up in the next few days.

The Albergue at Caminha did not have a hospitalero, nor did it have hot water for the showers. It was only 5 EUR so I guess you get what you pay for. The cafe owner around the corner collected the money and we filled in the register and stamped our credentials by ourselves. There were only maybe 10 people at the Albergue for the night and they a nice group of people to chat with and share a few drinks with. Some of my friends from previous day's headed on the ferry to Guarda and they will be continuing on Da Costa route. I met a nice young woman from Denmark who was going in the opposite direction. She has been travelling for months and started out in Holland! There are 3 of us that I know who are headed to Valenca, a young woman from Slovania and a man from South Africa. There will for sure be more as we join the people who have been walking from Porto on the interior route and also as there will be more folks starting at Tui, which is just over the 100 km mark. You must travel at least 100 km to earn your "Compostela" or certificate of completion and there are quite a few, I understand, who do just the 100 km.

Monday was much cooler, under 25 all day and cloudy. I welcomed the change and for the first day in quite a few I can say I enjoyed the walk and ended the day tired but not totally dead. The route today was across the bridge and then to Valença which is up river a distance of about 28 km. It eems I am destined for 28 km days still. At least today there are no hills and it is along the park.

I left Caminha at about 6:30 and after crossing the river lost track of the arrows. I was in no state to fuss with them and after consulting with my map saw that the highway looked pretty direct from here to the small town of Vila Nova de Cerveira which looked to be just a bit short of the half way point. The highway had a nice wide shoulder, so that settled it. After a coffee stop in the sleepy village of Seixes I set out down the highway at a good pace. The weather was cloudy and cool, perfect for walking and I listened to tunes on my iPod.

Before long I was at V.N. de Cerveira and admiring the pretty town. It seemed to have as its mascots both a big stag deer and also ladybugs - they were everywhere. It is billed as the city of the arts. If you check the wiki link I provided above, you will note that there is a legend which tells a tale of a big King Stag deer and a duel with a Nobleman for this land, the land of the stag deer.

I am sure you can't see it in the picture above, but from the plaza in the town you could see a statue of a huge buck stag. I zoomed to show it in the shot below.

At the tourist information I discovered there was a pedestrian pathway all the way to Valença. After topping up with a bocadilla and a cafe con leche I set out to walk down to the river Minho and the walking path.

The path was just perfect and I was very surprised that the 5 ft wide yellow asphalt walkway continued beside the river through virtual wilderness, beside the river for I guess about 15 km to Valença. Much of the path was brand new it seemed and even a few small sections had not been finished as yet.

The downside was that there wasn't a bar, cafe or store the whole length of the way, until we arrived in Valença.

Valença is a town with the most complete "living" fortress I have seen yet. By that I mean that not only is it still complete with all walls and fortifications intact but there are also people living in the houses and there are stores, restaurants and even a couple of churches. I was very impressed. Too bad it was so cloudy and overcast, not the best for pictures.

Valença is also the last town in Portugal before we enter Spain at the city of Tui. The two cities are separated by the Rio Minho, a wide and majestic river even at that point about 30 km from the sea. At the Atlantic it is, I would guess maybe 5 or 10 km wide. Apparently the fortifications were necessary at Valença (and Tui) to protect against marauding English pirates of the day who would sail up the river from the Atlantic.

The Albergue was outside the walled city beside the Bomberos (fire station)

 

 

 

The view from the walled city of Valença over the Rio Minho toward Tui, in Spain.

I am losing two of my Camino buddies tomorrow. Katarina, from Slovenia, is taking a train to Vigo at the coast to continue walking the coastal route from there. She is short of time and also wants to be near the ocean, so is skipping forward. She flies out of Santiago on the 29th. Also, Adriaan, from South Africa, is going to be walking further than I am tomorrow - he is also trying to make up time since he is short of time to finish also.

Me? I am headed for Spain tomorrow, over the bridge to Tui and then on to O Porrina, just over 18 km. In my next blog I will tell you about thenroutenchange I am making at Pontevedra - 3 days walk from here.

 

Posted with Blogsy