Plaza de la Estrella

After a good night's sleep for some of us (I think two bears' bed was too hard🙄😂), we feasted on yoghurt and granola, and a little cake from our host, Gustav, before setting off on the 20km to Pontevedra. The weather was really kind for much of the way, and we were happy walking in just our tops (and other clothing!) - no fleeces or waterproofs for ages!
We stopped at a café in Redondela for coffee and sellos (stamps for our Pilgrim Passports) and Luke was made up to be given FREE cake and croissant 🤗😋.
We were soon walking through small hamlets and forests of eucalyptus, which were delightful. But this section of the camino was absolutely jam packed with pilgrims. Okay, it's Pentecost, and it's Sunday, but this was ridiculous. It was just like the last 100km of the Frances - filled with very noisy Spaniards (sorry🙄😉) who were out for a walk and not respecting the peace of the camino! One woman in particular just didn't stop taking/shouting, and it made a good section of the walk disappointing.
We stopped after about 9km in Arcade for a drink and, thankfully, the 'tour' seemed to vanish 👏👏👏. We could hear a brass band playing in the distance and wondered why... and as it got closer we realised that, as it was Pentecost, the statue of the Virgin Mary was being displayed and walked through the town. It was too far away to see properly, but the town seemed to be celebrating noisily. (We'd also heard lots of gun fire and reckon it marked the start and/or end of the procession!)
We left the café after a chat with some pilgrims from Dunstable and stopped at a panaderia to buy our lunch - sandwiches and extremely large chocolate croissants para llevar - and continued just 1.5km to Pontesampio where we crowded the Medieval bridge. This then led us up through some beautiful villages and past buildings built from stone, whose walls were probably metres thick. The roads through the first hamlet were narrow and the houses were really interesting. In fact, the 'Way' was great. There was quite a lot of uphill walking (Luke and Ray, who are young and very fit, walked on ahead with no problems whilst Julie and I kept each other company at a more sedate pace😂). We passed quite a few pop-up stalls selling everything from food and drink to painted shells and stones, umbrellas, lanyards and every kind of pilgrim paraphernalia you can imagine!
Lunchtime was a very welcome break. The boys had found a couple of granite rocks to sit on, so we enjoyed our sandwiches there, not knowing that the area behind us had been used by countless pilgrims as a toilet stop 🙄😱😂. Sid also enjoyed a few bites of my chorizo butty!
Then it was onwards and ever upwards until we reached a cross that marked the highest point of the day's walk - the cross, however, wasn't anywhere to be found! But, thankfully, from that point on it was downhill all the way towards Pontevedra, our stop for the night. We stopped at a beautiful little chapel to sit quietly and appreciate all we'd seen, done and heard, then chose to take the green route into town. It wasn't so much green as brown and muddy! But it was away from the road and, as long as you were careful where you placed your feet, you could appreciate the trees and the river. This eventually led us to Pontevedra where the boys were waiting for us. We found a bar for the obligatory celebration beer and the barmaid also gave us THE BEST plate of chips with loads of salt, tomato sauce, mayonnaise and mustard. They were gorgeous 😋😋😋.
Our accommodation is a fab little flat. We've washed our dirty clothes (see Ray's genius drying socks hack), been to a Pilgrim's Mass (didn't understand a word but it was very nice!) and eaten at an Italian restaurant. Ice cream or Pastel de Nata followed and now here we all are, tucked up in our beds and ready for the Spiritual Variant tomorrow. It's going to be very interesting... (big hills😱). I'll let you know!
Oh, and Luke said it wasn't him (see previous post on dish washers😂)Read more