Portuguese Glamino 2024

We slept for an extra hour, having lost it yesterday, and so left later than usual. Today was a 20km day, most definitely! After a lovely Spanish breakfast (freshly squeezed orange juice and tostada with jamon and queso), we got on our way. It was already quite late, but it didn't matter, it was only 20km!
A walk up and out of A Guarda took us to a rocky headland, which was absolutely stunning. The waves were pretty fierce but the sun was shining and we were doing well. Neither of us had worn our waterproof trousers, but had them handy, just in case... (yesterday's 'light' showers were far from it😱). Well, the time came to put them on, and thank goodness we did - the rain lashed down and the wind blew. We had a great time trying to get our trousers on without the wind blowing them, or us, away 😂. Honestly, it was amazing and absolutely spectacular, but a massive pain to walk in! Still, we soldiered on and on and on... there was almost nothing to stop for until we reached Oia, 15km away. No wonder our feet were killing us! We'd had no option but to carry on walking because there was nowhere to stop in the rain. Not the nicest day for walking!
We stopped at the small Ermita de San Sebastian, just before Oia, and Julie lit a candle for Nigel 🥰. It was good to take the weight off our feet and sit quietly, remembering.
It had started raining again then, so we walked as quickly as our poor little feet could carry us into Oia, where we found a sandwich for lunch.
It didn't take long for us to convince ourselves that a bus or taxi to our accommodation at Mougas Camping was a pretty good idea. It was only supposed to be 6.5km... well, after a taxi ride of at least 10km, we finally arrived. No, we're not camping! We have a small room with a balcony and the most amazing view!
Vigo tomorrow, but that's nearly 40km and I think I'd cry if I had to do that, so we're walking as far as we want (probably to Nigrán, about 20km away) and taking a bus.
The boys arrive tomorrow and I don't know who's in for the greatest shock...😱😂😘Read more

We had a really good night's sleep at the campsite, sharing our room with Maria from Peru (although she's lived in Germany for over 20 years). Half way through the night we were woken by howling wind and rain - all good because we were snug in our beds and hopefully that was the weather front passing, leaving us with lots of dry weather when we woke up!
We weren't disappointed because the sky was blue and it was beautiful walking weather - we still had the breeze from the Atlantic but the sun glasses were on 👏.
After about half an hour of roadside walking, we took a right turn up into some amazing woodland. The path became large (and small) boulders, grass and mud, but it was such beautiful countryside, albeit quite steep in places, that nothing mattered. We wandered through small hamlets, past sheep and a couple of goats, but no pop-up stalls for a drink stop in the sunshine. Still, it didn't seem long before we reached Baiona, a seaside town, where we stopped at a café for our first tortilla of this camino, and were we disappointed? Yes!🙄😂 It was very dry, but that didn't stop us eating it! Sid had a good go, too!
We found the Tourist Information for a stamp in our Pilgrim Passports and were off again, on the lookout for a Gelato shop. But there were none to be found 😫 until, according to Google maps, Playa America, close to Nigrán, so we headed there! Were we disappointed? Yes!🙄😂 It was closed... But we found a small café/restaurant place and stopped there for a cold drink.
We'd already decided this was as far as we were walking and were ready to take the bus into Vigo. We used our phones to find the closest bus stop to Vigo, found the timetable, and took ourselves off. The bus stop wasn't signed but we were definitely there, so when the bus arrived, and drove straight past us, with the driver giving us a shake of the head and a finger wag, we started looking again! Another bus passed us, so we walked a km or so onwards to the next 'real' bus stop. Whilst we were waiting there, the heavens opened, so it was a quick change into waterproofs. Despite sitting there for well over an hour, probably closer to 2, not one bus arrived, despite the timetable telling us they would🙄. What next? A taxi!!! We went into the local tobacconists and two very lovely Spanish ladies booked us one, which quickly arrived and sped us off to our accommodation here in Vigo. But... they keys were at the office, a 10 minute walk away... Another lovely lady (I'm in 2B, come for a coffee!), said through translation with her neighbour in 2C, that the owner of the flat was Galician and should 'have the balls' to come here😂. Anyway, we walked quickly to the office, picked up our keys, and walked back - all in the pouring rain. We were drenched!
A quick trip to the supermarket next door for provisions found the lady again, who began to tell everyone who we were😂. But we're in, and it's great. We've finally managed to wash our clothes (thanks, Yvonne🤗), and now we're waiting for Luke and Ray to join us. But they've been having their own issues getting here, so are a day late! It's now our rest day and I've been out to find something healthy for breakfast, only to discover (remember) it's Galician literature day so all the supermarkets are closed🙄, so more carb it is... And it's due to rain heavily tomorrow when we start walking again... 😂😂😂
Looking on the bright side, my foot's healed 👏🙏👏.Read more