Camiño Portugues Day 10: Soutoxusto - Barro

Even if you are familiar with the Camiño Portugues you may not recognise the names of the places where we are starting and ending each day. As I did on the Camino Frances this Spring, we are spending the night "off-stage", i. e. not in the classic stopping places mentioned in the guidebooks, but in the little villages in between. This time it wasn't intentional, but just sort of worked out this way. In some cases this makes it easier to find lodging, but today it made it harder! 

We set off this morning from Soutoxusto - and not even the lady who works at the bar downstairs from where we're staying tonight knows where that is, even though it must be less than half an hour's drive away - and walked what is possibly the most dangerous stretch of camino I have ever walked, along a busy three-lane highway with no sidewalk or guardrail and trucks whizzing by at (Spanish) highway speed. Luckily it was only a short stretch, perhaps a kilometre, into the town of Arcade, where the Camino crosses this busy highway - with no crosswalk or traffic light - and continues through town up a side road, before crossing the river over an old stone bridge at Pontesempaio. 

After the bridge we climbed through the laneways between the houses and horreos before stopping for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake on our way out of town.

Our path followed an ancient roadbed of flagstones with deep cart tracks carved into them over the centuries. 

The path continued through forests of eucalyptus, chestnut and oak, cornfields and vineyards for another ten kilometres before we arrived in Pontevedra. 

An agricultural procession

It's not all alboriño

Pilgrims help a farmer with a wheelbarrow across a muddy spot on the path

Chestnuts are everywhere 

We stopped for lunch in Pontevedra, where I discovered that just because a sandwich is called "sandwich mixto vegetal", translated in the English menu as "mixed vegetable sandwich", doesn't mean the Spanish won't slip a slice of ham into it just the same! 

Having successfully convinced the waitress to fix me a vegetable sandwich without a slice of animal in it, we proceeded into the old centre of Pontevedra, entering the town via Rúa de la Peregrina and Porta do Camiño, leading us to Praza de la Peregrina and the Santuario da Peregrina. We must be getting closer to our goal, judging by the abundance of pilrimage-related place names! 

Praza das Cinco Ruas

Basílica de Santa María A Grande

This morning's section of the Way was quite crowded, but almost everyone stopped for the night in Pontevedra, so in the afternoon we had the trail pretty much to ourselves. We crossed the river and left Pontevedra behind, heading back into the forest of eucalyptus trees and bright green ferns in a slight drizzle. 

After about a dozen more kilometres we came to what we hoped would be our resting place for the night, A Portela hostel, in a former school. But it was full, and we had a choice of either sleeping on a mattress on the floor or walking another kilometre and a half to a truck stop café with a few rooms for rent upstairs. We opted for the truck stop, accurately described in the guidebook as "very basic", and here we are, hoping for the best and wondering whether we made the right decision! After walking almost thirty kilometres, perhaps we are too tired to care. 

Camiño Portugues Day 9: O Porriño - Soutoxusto

Passed the 100 km marker this morning on our way out of O Porriño!

Stopped for coffee in Mos, next to a church where Sunday mass was in progress and a well-equipped little shop selling Camino souvenirs as well as practicalities such as socks and bandaids.

The route then headed uphill to the Chapel of Santiaguiño, which turned out to be closed, and not particularly interesting architecturally, but right after it we passed a Roman milestone.

We continued through the forest, passing a natural spring just before the steep descent into Redondela.

Here we were reunited with Annette, who had taken the train for one stop to give her feet a break, as she was suffering from blisters. Another German pilgrim, Sonia, joined us and we ventured off the trail to a restaurant that provided one of the best meals we have had on the Camino - though I must say we have been enjoying the food everywhere! 

Tarta de Santiago 

From Redondela, we climbed another hill, with views of Vigo inlet from the top, and descended toward our hostel in Soutoxusto, where we purchased a few snacks and spent a quiet and restful evening.

Ultreya!

With Miguel from Albergue O Recuncho in Soutoxusto

Camiño Portugues Day 8: Tui - O Porriño

Welcome to sunny Spain! - Er, sorry, make that welcome to rainy Galicia!

Every pilgrimage must include at least one day of walking in the rain, and we had ours today. 18 kilometres, from Tui to O Porriño. Only half of what is probably the longest of the standard stages between Porto and Santiago, Tui - Redondela, 32 km (by the book - the stages always seem to work out longer than they're supposed to be!) 

We set out, wrapped up in our waterproof gear, in a gentle drizzle, which soon turned into a steady downpour. But as I learned last year in Scotland, it is possible to walk in the rain, and as I realised in France in May, it can even be quite exhilarating - for a while. And as long as you don't stop walking, and start to feel the chill of the wind through your damp clothes...

The path took us into an enchanted forest of eucalyptus trees and ferns, along a stream and over ancient stone bridges, amongst pilgrims with rain ponchos over their backpacks, looking like so many hunchbacked forest gnomes!

We stopped only for coffee, at a bar in Ribadelouro packed with dripping pilgrims in colourful raingear. We have now joined the Camino Central route and there are more pilgrims along the way. 

From the bar we booked beds in the next town and bravely set off again in the rain. After only 18 km - which is, however, a long way to walk in the rain - we were happy to find the Senda Sur hostel open, with hot showers, a hot chocolate machine, and a clothes dryer!

While our clothes were drying I ventured out as far as the nearest supermarket to buy some soup to heat in the microwave for our lunch. We strung up a clothesline between the bunks in our already narrow sleeping space and took an afternoon nap before venturing out into the town, where preparations were underway for some nocturnal festivities. Stands were being set up to sell sweets and toys, while sound technicians prepared two stages and festive lights were strung up over the streets. However, we focused on getting a new pair of sandals for Annette and eating dinner as early as is possible in Spain, which is about 8:30 pm, and then retired to our hostel at pilgrim bedtime, missing out on all the festivities!

We need to save our energy to walk the last hundred kilometres into Santiago!