Day 9: Ponte Sampaio to Pontevedra

Friday 27 September

We left Ponte Sampaio before sunrise - easy to do, as it only starts to get light here just after 08:00. Thursday’s long walk meant we wanted a much shorter day on our feet, so planned about 15 kms to Pontevedra. As always, there were some interesting people on the route. Take 76-year-old Jenny from Florida. We walked together for a while and she told me that she was travelling solo for the first time in her life. She had blisters, she’d tripped and hurt her knee, but she’d walked every kilometre from Porto and was determined to reach Santiago de Compostela. I just had to take a pic of her.

Luckily our pension let us check in early, which meant time for laundry, exploring Pontevedra’s historic centre, a glass or two of Albarino, and some delicious croquettes, empanadas, patatas and Padron peppers. Many, many carbs!Read more