Camino Portugues Day 12 - Pontevedra to Armenteira

I had breakfast in a local cafe instead of spending big money on the hotel breakfast. Freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee and croissant, all delicious. I will really miss the orange juice when I get home.

The first thing the Camino does to get out of Pontevedra is to cross the river, the day feeling lovely and cool even though it was closer to 9am than 8.

The path was taken on a diversion first thing as there was building work across the usual route, so I walked up a busy street past children being taken to school, some tired old buildings that would have been lovely once, and in photographing one, realising I’d captured a picture of the very cheerful  Belgian whom I met days ago, have seen repeatedly since, and whose name I’ve never learnt.

Then we veered down a side street and immediately it was green with small holdings and bird song. Shortly after I passed the Alaskan family I’ve seen every day since Tui, Joey and Heea and their daughters, Maria and Lydia.  They are walking straight to Santiago, like most people, and so will be in Caldas das Reis tonight. I told them about the hot springs there, I really hope that they got  to find some!

I was walking thinking about a conversation with Archie yesterday about ‘the Way will provide’ thing. We agreed that what it’s mostly about is a positive mindset, that the more you expect good things to happen and that you see the good in people the more likely it is that things will turn out well. It could be that that is as woo woo as the Way Providing, but we were happy with continuing to live our lives that way. It also reminded me of the message that I’d meant to add to the blog yesterday that Sophie sent me. It’s a most appropriate one that she had seen on a bench, which was ‘be nice, say hi’. That’s definitely what has been happening, there’s been a lot of openness on the Camino to engaging with a stranger. Always to the mutual benefit.

Today was the day I was going to veer off the main Camino Portugues to walk on the Spiritual Variant. This is going to involve an extra day of walking, and is going to get me to a boat in a few days, which will follow the route that St James’ body was taken when it was returned to the Holy Land.  Approaching the split, I wondered how many people would peel off with me, as I’ve only met two people so far who were planning to do it. I turned off to the left, and I could see nobody else following and nobody walking ahead of me. Reassuringly the signage was still there, though in a different format.

Whilst on my usual morning call to David I thought I saw a very short pilgrim ahead of me, but in fact it was a child weighed down by his rucksack. There was just me and the path, in the way that so many of my UK walks have been. As I was thinking that, I caught my foot on something and stumbled. I recovered fine, but it made me wonder if there would be anyone around to help with an accident.  Yesterday I saw a man who had tripped and grazed his arm quite badly. He had a crowd of about twenty around him, with various lightweight first aid kits. There would be fewer here.

The path took a sharp and rather unexpected turn to the right, on an overgrown track through a large plantation of ferns, rising steeply.

It eventually cut out onto the road, and finally there were some other pilgrims. But I passed them quickly and entered into a forest that was like magic. Tall mature eucalyptus and bright young versions, the birds singing, the scent, the peace.

Even when the path emerged and ran parallel to a main road it didn’t seem to lose the stillness, it’s an extraordinary contrast between the hubbub of yesterday and the lack of people now.

One of the sights for today is the convent at Poio. I couldn’t get in to look around, but enjoyed the outside of the buildings, particularly their gigantic horreo (grain store) the biggest I’ve seen so far.

And whilst queuing for my credencial stamp, and then later, just down the road at a cafe, I met up with a group of women from the States. Laurie, Rebecca, Janet, Gunild and Elaina

are friends who hike together. They are going to do some of the spiritual variant today and then get transport back to Pontevedra. Gunild kindly bought my coffee and impressively remembered that she’d met me on the Senda Littoral.

Leaving them behind I had my first moment of discovering myself a little way off the correct path, one of the downsides of not having so many people, where there’s always someone to follow. But taking an unplanned detour meant I got to see an excellent mural dedicated to strong women, and I eventually popped out onto the path along the estuary.

At the edge of Poio I was intrigued by a sculpture to motocross.  Maybe that’s a feature of the town? If so I could find no evidence.

And then in Parque do Memoria there was a sculpture by the Argentine artist Esquivei dedicated to emigrants. The views across the water were great, but there was a strong smell of either fish or sewage in the air. I was hoping it was the former.

And then from Poio it was an easy walk past people hoeing their fields into the village of Combarro, eventually walking along the beach looking across to the village with its many grain stores.

This is an extremely beautiful historical village, famous for its line of horreos and also for its witches, or meigas in Galician, who were reputed to be rife in the area back in the day. Now there are just witch models in the many gift shops for the people who quite rightly want to come and enjoy this lovely place.

I wasn’t hungry, but knew that I had a big afternoon ahead of me.  So I ate a big tuna salad, full of protein with a bit of bread for the boosting carbohydrate. I was a bit nervous about the climb ahead, it’s widely described as the toughest on the Camino. But I also knew that I was fit, that my experience would suggest that I would cope. My lovely friend Sophie sent me an encouraging message as I was feeling a bit wavery, and I bought some of the magic Aquarius electrolyte drink to revive me if necessary, and set off. It was undoubtedly very steep at the beginning, I was walking on tip toes leaning forward into the hill to keep my momentum going.

For a little while I walked alongside a Uruguayan and Dutchman who had made friends in a hostel. I marvelled at the Camino’s ability to bring nations together as I listened to them talking animatedly about the pros and cons of barefoot shoes in English while climbing the hill.

This was a long climb. Maybe about 5 uphill miles.  But after the initial steep section it was much easier than I’d feared.  It was mainly a dirt track, with only one vehicle using it in the time I was on it, and about 5 other people climbing at the same time as me. There were two younger  German men, 2 friendly South African women, and a silent older man with his hair in a pigtail, carrying a staff like a Biblical prophet.

Although during the climb I exchanged a few words with the two pairs, and nothing with the prophet apart from a smile, we walked in our own space for the whole journey, through woods, with glimpses of big views.  It was one of the best walks I’ve done.

Then, as the slightly tricky descent started, I got to know the South African women,  Lillan and Wendy a little. They are old friends who now live in different countries, and have both made a journey to do the Camino together. They are carrying fish on their rucksacks instead of the scallop shells ‘just for fun!’

We admired the sight of my accommodation for the night in the distance before they walked on as they had another couple of kilometres to go. For tonight I am staying in Armenteira monastery, founded in 1168, and home to a community of Cistercian nuns.

The information I received when I booked my room here told me that because I’m only staying for one night I am not entitled to eat with the nuns, unlike those people who are staying two.  But they encouraged me to get refreshment at the bar outside the gates. And as I was early for check in that’s exactly what I did, grabbing a beer and an ice cream, afternoon snack of kings. It was great to meet up with the American friends of this morning, before they returned home. The bar area was absolutely humming with people, apparently as many locals as peregrinos.

But stepping through the open gate and into the courtyard of the monastery it became calm and quiet. Although there were some people there, they had been affected by the environment to talk less loudly, and people were sitting peacefully on the stone walls or looking round the large church that is used for festivals and village services such as funerals and weddings.

My room looks out over the courtyard, and has walls about four feet thick. It is very quiet. I also had access to the cloister and the garden, and really enjoyed strolling round and drinking it in. The sense of peace was tangible.

At 7 pm there was a service for pilgrims. Regular readers will know that I am not a person of faith, but I am particularly curious about those who give up everything because of what they believe. The service was a sung compline in Spanish in the small chapel as opposed to the church.  There were nine nuns and a priest, with a couple of the stronger singers alternating with playing the organ, leading with a few notes before the sisters started to sing. They sang sometimes antiphonally, sometimes together, and with lovely voices that were obviously well used to singing this ancient music together. I enjoyed the singing, but I also loved the glimpses of the humanity of the nuns aside from their thick habits and wimples. Some were wearing sliders on their feet, one had her arm in plaster, one turned up late to the service and the others flashed a flicker of annoyance, a fly was bothering two of them and someone found it hard to find her place in the hymn book. But alongside that there was something other about them, with their calm beatific faces.

At the end they blessed the attending peregrinos (many of whom were like me and didn’t know when to stand up and when to sit down) in four different languages. I’ve been blessed by various religious people that I’ve met whilst walking over the last few years. It always moves me, the intensity of the feeling that they have which they’re happy to share, even with someone who doesn’t have the same feeling.

I crossed through the gate to have some dinner at the bar feeling nourished, and delighted with the day.

Stats

Distance travelled - 14 miles / 22.5km

Total ascent - 2050 feet / 625m

Local tipple - tinto verano with tortilla and salad at the bar outside the monastery

Message of the day - from the pilgrim’s blessing at Compline. ‘May the road rise up to meet you, and may you return to your home full of joy.’