September 14, 2023.
We arose early from our comfortable room at Hotel Bahia de Vigo and packed up our things in our habitual manner. At 7:30 we were out the door and walking up the empty streets of Vigo. Soon we saw lights from a charming little cafe, Delicatessen Martínez, founded in 1911. Our waitperson was a 5th generation member of the founding family. We enjoyed a more luxurious breakfast of whole grain croissants, orange mixed with mango juice, and café con leche. We were going to need ii as there were going to be few stores for the first 20 km
We were going to have to traverse a good section of the city and not waste time going in circles. I tried a new routing function in my navigation app, Gaia GPS, and it worked quite well. By 2.5 km we had climbed up to the official route of the Camino in the streets overlooking the city, about 100 m above the ocean front.
We felt a little vulnerable to have started with no food packed. My maps showed that we might have a better part of 20 km without services. On the positive side, the weather was cool and clear, and after the initial ascent to the Camino, it was relatively slow climbing. Then we ran into families selling oranges and Camino shells from their garage, and it was so charming.
Soon we cam up on the famous path leading out of Vigo called the Senda de Agua, that follows the historic canal bringing water to the city. The path is lined with pines, oaks and eucalyptus, which after yesterday’s heavy rain gave their scents to the air liberally. The floor was packed sand and pine needles and interrupted with gurgling springs or brooks.
With oranges in store and plenty of water, we pushed ahead, taking short breaks as needed. After 20 km, the path turned abruptly to the left, and dropped us down into the small bustling city of Redondeo, where suddenly 100s of pilgrims had appeared. This is the confluence of the coastal and interior routes, and also where those wanting to do the minimum 100 km start their journey. We feared we’d be overrun by pilgrims.
After a nice lunch in which we reconnected with Yuki and met her new friend Rosario, we headed up into the hills, and we were pleasantly surprised that pilgrims were very well spaced out. We didn’t feel pressed. It was getting warm and very sunny. But it wasn’t so long until we had crossed the hills and were heading down steep paths to the town of Arcade, where only 2 km shy of our hotel, we stopped for a nice cold beer and a couple of pintxos that really hit the spot. A couple for quick km and we were arriving at our humble and somewhat dated appearing hotel . No matter, it had a beautiful view of the lake and cool breezes.
Once gain our walking reached close to 30 km and we are happy to take a rest. We are getting close to Santiago now, only about 82 km remain.
So exciting into follow along on your journey! I love to hear about a cafe being run by the fifth generation of the founding family!
I hope Alice has healed from the bed bugs, those bites can be very bothersome.
Thank you, Cailin! She is doing much better with very little itching now. The hostel where she got them was very responsive, had the place inspected and fumigated, closed for two days.