Day 9: Ponte Sampaio to Caldas de Reis

October 15, 2023

Fall has arrived in Galicia: the temps have fallen and the rain is expected almost every day. Today we decided to take on a long day, to take advantage of an only mildy rainy day. I had to store the camera in my pack today and today’s post relies on cell phone pictgures mostly.

We arose at 6:30 and headed across the street to the BP station that operates a little cafe to one side. This saved us a lot of walking hungry. There we had our typical cafe con leche, tosta with butter and marmalede, and fresh squeezed orange juice. This was enought to keep us going for quite a while as we did not know what would be open on a Sunday in a relatively unpopulated area.

It was still dark, so we struck out onto the highway for a couple hundred meters, and then, with our headlamps on, took the sketchy route between two factories to find the pitch black Camino winding its way in a forest. The forest was dense and the path climbing on large smooth rocks. Our lights were essential. The rain strengthened . No one slipped as we climbed the hill for about 100 meters elevation, then alternating between climbing and descending. The path converted to crushed stone and sand and became less challengeing. After about 40 minutes the predawn light started to show in the sky, we cleared a hill and we could begin to see lights from a distant town. We were not lost and we’d eventually emerge.

We followed the path, knowing that we’d find food and rest in the town of Redondela at about the 12 km mark. By 9 we entered a sizeable town, and spotted a bakery/pastery shop teaming with pilgrims. We managed to catch a table, cast our wed poncho aside and took a seat for a rest and second coffee. Alice tried a tart with fruit on top and I had a simple ham and cheese toasted croissant.

Leaving Redondela, the rain increased. We rearranged rain gear trying to stay dry and not get too hot. There was not much place to stop for a break as everything was wet. We kept going until Pontevedra.

Pontevedra turned out to be a gem of an ancient city.

Following the well marked Camino out of town we entered an area of rolling hills, forests and vineyards. We were tired , but needed to keep going. Eventually we came to a remote town with a cafe-bar and there must have been 50 pilgrims there. We stopped just as the rain rose another level higher to heavy continuous rain. We decided to take our time there and ordred two sets of food and drink to outlast the heavy rain. We also knere there was nothing to eat or drink for quite a while and we needed to get to our destination where our hotel was after 32 km

Our wait turned out to be a good idea. We outlasted the heavy rain and the rain gradually tapered to a drizzle. We stopped to check feet and tape up and questionable areas. Avoid blisters was paramount

Eventually we were able to remove some layers of rain gear and managed to keep our central core and backpack contents dry. After 32 km we found our rental aprartment, and then quickly scouted out a laundry to dry clothes and to find a supermarket to have food for tomorrow. As we wandered through the supermarket, there was our friend Andrea. We exchanged contact info. We will certainly connect in Santiago to celebrate our entry to the city.

Tomorrow promises to be a day of light drizzle, so we plan to make a good distance before our final entry to Santiago the day after. That day promises to pour all day, so we’d like to minimize our outdoor time that day.