The other night, somewhere between the time I published Episode 2 and the time I fell asleep, Redondela changed from being the day’s destination to being a stopping point on the way to Pontevedra.
Back in my room after dinner, I was unable to fall quickly asleep due to circumstances that at that point were beyond my control. It wasn’t because of the extra glass of Albarino I had at dinner, at least not exclusively.
It was more due to my inability to resist the entreaties of my waiter, “devia experimentar o nosso leite creme, é o melhor leite creme do Minho” and my further inability to enjoy a nice leite crème without a nice espresso.
So focused as I was, I began to focus on the next day’s planned walk and realized that half of it involved walking into, through and out of Tui, the border town, in morning rush hour traffic on surface streets, asphalt and exhaust fumes.
So I got the idea to skip all of that and instead start the day from Porino, in which case, I figured I might could make it all the way to Pontevedra. And then I’d have a whole day free to explore so that’s what I did.
I woke at 7:00, got a taxi from the Pousada and was on the Camino outside Porino a little after 8:00 AM. I completed both Stages 20 and 21, total of over 20 miles, walking into Pontrevedra a little after 7 in the evening.
The first half of the day was absolutely delightful. The sunrise was gorgeous and I was so excited to be in Galicia!
Porino is a little more than 100 kms from Santiago which is the minimum distance required to earn a Compostela so lots of people start the Camino Portugues in Porino and it was crowded with pilgrims.
The ascent from Porino to Mos and the further ascent to the Sanctuario de Antas were very steep and challenging but not as steep or challenging as the descent from Saxamonde to Redondela. This descent was one of those which demonstrates with clarity the virtues of hiking poles. Many more injuries happen going down than going up and the 2 km descent from Saxamonte was so steep that it would have been safer for me to shimmy down on my butt if I hadn’t had my poles.
So it was slow going at the start but after that, the Camino to Redondela is really wonderful with long stretches on natural pathways through beautiful pine (not ugly eucalyptus) forests.
It was going on 11 and I was hungry for breakfast but I didn’t find a place that could fix me a nice plate of scrambled eggs until Redondela. They were so good with the fresh squeezed orange juice. I just love scrambled eggs in Spain, Not enough to order them for my final meal but they are really delicious.
And in Redondela I made the acquaintance of 2 women from Valencia who were walking the Camino Espiritual together and who saved me from wandering off in the wrong direction when I had missed a detour sign, very pleasant company and good listeners, I walked with them off and on all the way to Pontevedra, learned about Valencia and had fun practicing my Spanish.
I was pretty spent when I got to Pontevedra, the last 10 kilometers after the ascent to Alto de Canicouva were a real slog. But my spirits brightened as I walked into Pontevedra’s historic center and saw that preparations were under way for the celebration of the feast of the Virgin Peregrina and realized that by complete happenstance I would was really n town.
I spent the day seeing the sights of Pontevedra. It’s about 70,000 people, a bit smaller than Santiago and is the Capital of the Camino Portuguese. The historic center is large and so pristine with lots of small squares and plazas and countless bars and restaurants.
The Sanctuario de Virgin de Peregrina is really special because of its unusual round shape. And there’s a really cool museum up in the third level within the cupola. Crowds descended on the historic center in the evening, every square and plaza filed with people, marching bands and fireworks at sunset. It was such fun.
Tomorrow it’s stage 22 from here to Caldas de Reis, next day Stage 23 to Padron and then Stage 24 the final stage to Santiago!
Buen Camino!
