Paul H

Rain, rain, go away…

…and eventually it does.

Left Vigo under torrential rain. Ok, maybe not “torrential”, but it certainly feels like it after you’ve been walking for 30 minutes and all your clothes are sticking to you. Yes, I should have bought a poncho, like all the Camino FB groups warned me, but I guess I like living dangerously!

Left the hostel (20 people in bunk beds in a room, yet surprisingly quiet) at around 8am with Sasha, and along the way picked up two others - Rita (UK), who I had actually shared a room with a few days ago, and Nicola (Czech Republic) who I’d walked with from Caminha to Oia. And we had such a laugh! Maybe it was the rain forcing us to keep our spirits up, but we chatted and shared jokes about sexy surfers and “alpha” males, Rita’s new van, Nicola’s dinner of undercooked potatoes, and came together and then slowly said goodbye as we neared Vigo and went off to our respective accommodation for tonight. Apart from Nicola, who I invited to sleep in the spare room of the apartment I have for the next three nights, as she could find no accommodation for this evening. And in case you are wondering how you can invite a complete stranger to share an apartment with you, please note this woman is not a stranger to me. Also, I knew she was one of my “people” when I saw her random act of kindness a few days ago, when she kindly bought hiking poles for someone who was stuck in an albergue with a broken toe, and who had no way of getting out and buying some themselves.

It was a long walk today, the longest so far at 31km exactly, but we walked through towns, beaches, woods, horrible roads and industrial areas, stopping at coffee shops and restaurants when we felt like it. And we made it to Vigo, smiling but tired.

Tomorrow, Nicola will leave, and I will have a rest day, when I will visit https://lasislascies.com. Hopefully the rain ease off and the sun will shine again, like it did today.

No cats were met, but plenty of dogs!En savoir plus