Pontevedra

Today we are cycling 34+ km from Vigo to Ponteverde. We had breakfast in the hotel and were able to catch up again with our UK friends, Mary and Keith. They are a lovely couple and we chat about our rides as they are on the same route. Following breakfast, Joanne and I each bought some Galician jewelery ( sterling silver necklace with the celtic tiles in the center).

DESCRIPTION
Cycle along Vigo's city streets as you head northeast, leaving the urban area behind. Follow the line of the Ria de Vigo estuary for views of floating mussel farms, the Cies islands and the city and port of Vigo as you ride between villages and through a forest
A descent then takes you to the town of Redondela, where your Portuguese Coastal Camino merges with the Portuguese Central Camino. There are plenty of coffee shops and restaurants here, as well as interesting
medieval buildings. You'll cycle over a hill to pass through the riverside town of Arcade, where you can pause for juicy fat
oysters. Continuing on, you'll soon reach the atmospheric square of Pontevedra after enjoying a downhill section. Here you can
admire the medieval architecture as you sip a cold beer or wine with some tapas. This bustling city has a wonderful atmosphere and great Galician cuisine.

We decided to try using our gps to get out of this big city because Macs navigation hasn't been the best for these bigger centers.... Well, this turned out to be an adventure. Our gps took us to the bus station and here we had to go down stairs, through 5 barriers and a fence, all of which were moveable as luck would have it. We had bike paths for awhile and were overlooking the Rio de Vigo estuary with the vast amount of floating mussel farms. We were going under the overpasses, and then an incredibly long, difficult climb up to the actual Camino trail in a rain shower. It was a slog to say the least. Once at the trail we saw a lot more pilgrims for awhile again as we rode through a beautiful forest path. From here, we rode a steep descent into the Redondela location where the Coastal and Central Camino trails meld. We found a coffee shop and sat for about an hour and 2 coffees later because a rain shower hit. We had a nice conversation with a father and son from the Dominican Republic. The father had been doing sections of the Camino for many years and had completed approx. 800 miles. The son has been doing sections for 3 years. We carried on after the rain shower and came over a beautiful old bridge on the Rio Verdugo ( seeing lots of what we were calling crypt-like structures from Vigo to today and Anthony asked about them and they are used to store grains from the field, etc)then began another long ascent up and over to the town of Arcade. This was an incredibly hard ride. Many parts we had to walk because the grades were so steep. Our gears couldn't go low enough!! We had a perfectly timed videocall with Jacob to take a rest mid-way this climb🥰👌We had more very steep descents today with technical sections. It kept us on our toes for sure. We used our gps as we got closer to Pontevedra and found our Hotel.
We had a long line of Pilgrims checking in and as Joanne and I waited, Anthony and Andrew bought some beers at the supermercado and sat outside in the sunshine enjoying them. We got showered and ready to go find some of the Galician artisans. Our first stop was very special with 6 local women working on looms to make scarves, socks, blankets, dresses, etc. Joanne bought socks and I bought a small bag. The teacher made both products we purchased. They were all very talented. We were asking them about other shops to buy other types of products like pottery or jewelery, etc. The one lady kindly walked us at least 15 minutes to another shop and on the way she took us through the Medieval section of Ponteverde where at least 4 Michelin star restaurants are located. We walked past a medieval cathedral to a town center with the Sanctuary de Ponteverde is located and many pilgrims visit because it is shaped like a shell. She brought us to a beautiful shop. We took a picture with her and then looked around. We had a really fun tapas dinner together again, but this one we tried local Galician cuisine ( octopus, Padron green roasted peppers, grilled sardines, & mixed salad with olives and tuna). After dinner we enjoyed some delicious Gelato. I tried a chocolate neuro that was so incredible. It is made with Belgian chocolate and black cocoa powder, no milk or cream. We walked back to look in the Sanctuary and it was so beautiful. There were the clam shell symbols everywhere throughout the church. We walked back to the hotel to get ready for our next day.Read more