Day 1 for Luke and Ray!

Yesterday ended with the dishwasher... But more of that later!
After a brilliant night's sleep on Thursday night and a slow get-up, Julie and I waited around for Luke and Ray to arrive. Our diet has been sooooo carb based, we were looking forward to being able to eat some fruit, veg, yoghurt for breakfast - anything but bread and pastries, as lovely as they are! But it was not to be as it was Galician Literature Day, so croissants it was!🙄😂
Luke and Ray arrived just after midday, and after a quick catch-up, we all decided to go out for something to eat. We enjoyed our first camino beer together and ended up at a Chinese café, where Julie and I were able to enjoy a salad and the boys something oriental 😋😋😋. There followed a search for a gelato shop for dessert. They were few and far between and, because Ray had decided he wanted to put his feet into sand, we ended up walking about 5km to the nearest beach thinking we may have found something there. On our rest day! Still no gelaterias to be found but the sun had decided to show its face, so it was lovely to sit by said beach (all 50m² of it!) and enjoy a cold drink - water and cokes all round! Of course, we still had a 5km walk back to the apartment, but we did manage to find a gelato shop and stop for some delicious ice cream 🍦🍦🍦. Dinner was pasta pesto followed by a couple of glasses of Rioja in a local bar, then off home to bed before setting off on the boy's first camino day (our 10th...)
BUT!!! As Julie and I walked into the apartment, we noticed lots of soapy bubbles falling from the dishwasher, all over the floor! 😱😱😱 'Someone' had loaded the dishwasher and, because we didn't have any dishwasher tablets, had put a few squirts of washing up liquid into the machine 🙄😂😂. A quick mop up and the decision to leave it until morning seemed the best option!
After a fitful night's sleep, the dishes were removed (all squeaky clean), and the bubble removal began... The solution that worked best was to throw our bath towels in there, wipe out the bubbles. then put the machine through a quick 15 minute rinse cycle. Phew! So now you know what to do, should you find yourself in the same situation 🤔 😂😂.

Today's walk to Redondela was Luke and Ray's first camino day, and it started with a walk past the docks then onwards and upwards, and round the corner and upwards, then round another corner and... you guessed it! Upwards! It had begun to drizzle so raincoats were put on, then it began to rain so waterproof trousers were put on, then it really began to bucket it down - we got pretty wet!
It was only after 9km that we found a fab coffee shop in someone's front room, or so it seemed. By this time we were pretty hungry so we stopped for lunch. We sat with two girls Julie and I had met in Antas, and it was lovely to catch up with them.
When we left the rain had stopped and the sun was doing its best to come out. The final 6 or 7km were a level or downhill slog into Redondela where we stopped to celebrate our first camino day together with a beer.
We're staying in a great apartment that was decorated in the 60s, and it's ace!
It's a celebration of puppets here at the moment - watch the video!
We enjoyed supper out, with a quick whiz around the market stalls, and we're back for a good night's sleep before a lovely 20km tomorrow.Read more