Camino Portugues Day 10 - Porriño to Redondela

I was, as ever, very grateful for my excellent ear plugs last night which have helped me sleep in many noisy places. But they couldn’t block out the sound of one of the Spaniards’ alarms going off at 6.15, and being left ringing for about 5 minutes. That led to a lot of Spanish swearing whilst they all tried to find the phone.  But miraculously I managed to go back to sleep, and when I woke an hour later (the luxury!) I was almost the last person left in the dormitory.

I had coffee at my pastry shop from yesterday, where they gave me a free slice of croissant with my coffee. So that was breakfast sorted, for just over a euro.

There has been a change in the weather, and after a quick chat with a group of Aussies eating breakfast too who had done the Coastal route and were joining at Porriño I set out in cool temperatures and under grey skies.

There were lots of people with just day bags who’ve started out today. There are lots of reasons for doing this, and my view is that if carrying less is the difference between walking the Camino or not then that is the thing to do. But it made me want to find my heavy bagged grubby tribe.

It wasn’t a picturesque start to the day as the route wound past Burger King and conglomerations of roads.

I noticed a pair of Dutch girls, one very annoyed by the sound of her friend’s shell banging on her rucksack. She grabbed it and wound it round a strap with little ceremony. Maybe she hadn’t slept well, certainly they were both headphoned up and walking away from each other for a lot of the day. Similarly, I was getting frustrated by a lairy group of young men behind me, I accelerated to get away from them. People talk about how during the Camino one is supposed to be nurturing a a feeling of cceptance of your fellow pilgrims, I wasn’t feeling it so much this morning.

What did lift my spirits was a group of smiling young women filling the path from side to side. I spoke to them and said how much seeing them had cheered me up. They greeted me with such warmth and joy. They are part of the Community of John the Baptist, all friends from church in Slovakia. They were so happy in each others company, laughing and singing. They’ve been friends since school.

I then spoke to a family from Alaska, a pastor and his family, I talked about our holiday there last summer, and moved on. It’s like the United Nations here.

The road was soon out of the busy area, cutting through the little village of A Rua with the hills in the background.

It was still grey and cool, and the first day I’d not spent every minute with sunglasses on. I spotted a new roadside flower, like a yellow poppy.  Google Lens tells me that they’re Evening Primrose? 

With some astonishment I followed a young couple with their Labrador who was walking the Camino off the lead.  He pottered on between them, sometimes lifting his head to one of their hands for reassurance, calmly making his own Camino. I had so many questions about where they were staying and how long the fog was walking every day, but sadly my Spanish wasn’t up to it. I also laughed at the idea of our dog Saffy doing it, and how much less of a calm experience it would be!

Then the path took us into the village of Mos, where there were breathtaking displays of petals in patterns on the pavement with names inscribed. I was told that these are to mark the village children’s first communion. What a lovely way to mark a big moment.

There was a coffee shop I’d been au

Img for at which I met Austin and Tina who I first bumped into days ago. We were all really pleased to see familiar faces in the sea of strangers.  The queue was so long with pilgrims, I decided I’d rather chat to them than eat.  Austin very kindly gave me part of his sandwich, not allowing my refusal, and very delicious it was too. Ari joined us briefly, but I decided not to linger in the crowds. The walk had a very different feel today.

There were a couple of hills today, and on them I’ve tried a different strategy that Lizzie told me about, that she was taught by the Sherpas in Nepal. Instead of doing a hill at the same pace as the flat, as I normally do, they deliberately steady their pace, presumably aiming for a similar heart rate as opposed to a similar speed. It felt more controlled and because there wasn’t as much need to stop to take a breath, probably as quick.

Following a sign, (in the form of an advertising board, not a holy visitation) I took a short detour off the path for coffee in an almost deserted cafe. There I caught up with Hans and his wife Saskia whom I’ve seen virtually every day on the Central route. We agreed it was so much nicer than being with crowds. We compared what was in my English and their Dutch guidebooks about Redondela - that there is a ‘chocos’ (a cuttlefish or squid) festival in May. Which would explain the octopus Christmas decoration that I’d seen earlier.

Going through the villages I admired the beautifully tended small holdings with goats and chickens, and the lovely views towards the hills. It is such a privilege to walk slowly through this beautiful part of Spain. I’m very grateful that I’ve got the time to do it slowly, without having to do monster long days. It gives me time to breathe it in.

I was catching up again with the Slovakian women singing and clapping along. We walked together for half an hour, in their excellent English they were telling me that the 1st June is Children’s day in Slovakia and they are celebrating it by being away from their children!  They filled me with complete delight when they agreed to sing me one of their favourite songs from church. I was walking down a steep hill, beautiful views ahead of me, surrounded by lovely people singing so beautifully like I’d formed a new choir to take on tour. I couldn’t have smiled more. My WiFi won’t let me add a video of it, so you will have to imagine their joy in their praise, and my joy in their singing, all surrounded by spectacular scenery.

We stopped at a great selfie spot, they took a photo of me and then I chatted to the French speaking Belgians whom I’d met days ago. When I say chatted, I said various words in a French accent and they looked a bit mystified. We completely fell apart when we were trying to find the French for blister (referring to their feet, not mine, my incipient one has been held at the pass by Compeed).

Then it was just a little way into Redondela, where I am staying tonight. I arrived in the town feeling cheerful and so pleased that I’d negotiated the really steep descent without feeling any pulls in my legs. And then it all took a bit of a turn. I saw a couple of people from last night’s hostel, and as I was standing talking to them a gust of wind flipped over the heavy metal cafe sign I was standing next to. It then crashed down on my leg. Everyone in the cafe gasped. I watched the skin change colour immediately, and it obviously hurt. But remarkably it didn’t seem to have done serious damage, although the bruise looked quite spectacular.

I thought the best thing to do was to see if I could walk, and so I made the final mile’s journey to the centre of the town sat at an outside table and ordered my new favourite electrolyte drink, Aquarius, plus a more medicinal drink to go with it.

There were some English people next to me from whom I asked for arnica (of course it’s Sunday and the pharmacies are shut, and it hadn’t occurred to me to put arnica in my first aid bag - rookie error!). Brilliantly, they had some, so I applied it and then had some special beer medicine too. I was sitting feeling a bit stunned by what had happened when Austin and Tina arrived and immediately diverted me. They joined me for a lovely hour or so, talking about the challenges of their early life together when they were posted overseas apart, and then them sweetly asking for my tips on marriage, given David and I will celebrate 40 happy years together in October. We had a fantastic lunch in the square surrounded by people who had been doing a charity walk to beat cancer.  But then we remembered that they still had another 3 miles to walk and therefore couldn’t get too relaxed!  They arrived at that restaurant at just the right time for me.

So tonight I’ve upgraded myself from a dorm to a single room so that I can have a proper shower and rest my leg. I have got ice and anti inflammatories and will go to a pharmacy in the morning for some more arnica cream. Although it looks awful, it hasn’t broken the skin and really doesn’t hurt that much, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be ok to walk tomorrow. I took myself out in the evening to have a look at the river to see how it felt, and so far so good.

The great development is that this hostel has a washing machine, and so although I might look horribly bruised I will smell less intriguing!

Stats

Distance travelled - 11 miles/ 18km

Total ascent - 924 feet/ 281m

Message for the day: there were none in underpasses or suchlike today, so this is from me. ‘If you get bashed in the leg with a restaurant sign, walk on into town and order a beer….’