Camino Portugues Day 14 - Barrantes to Vilanova de Arousa

Gary and Monica, the Rochdale couple whom I met a few days ago, were staying in the same hostel as me last night, and our journeys will now be the same as mine, we will be coming into Santiago on the same day.  It was good to catch up with them, and Monica was a fount of knowledge about  the admin involved with finishing the Camino. She is a member of the UK branch of the confraternity of St James, from which I ordered my Credencial before I left home.

Yet again I was so impressed with the quality of my ear plugs, I didn’t hear any of the traffic noise despite being on top of the roundabout.

Unusually there was breakfast included in my room today, a plate of fruit, (very welcome) bread and jam and a huge slice of cake. With tea (also very welcome) and fresh orange juice. And then a little while later, and rather unexpectedly, a fried egg with jamon. The TV was on in the breakfast room, I’ve not watched any TV for a fortnight - it was a travel programme showing other beautiful parts of Spain I’ve not visited. And the municipal lighting engineers from yesterday lunchtime were here for breakfast, seems they’re living here. I caught up briefly again with Monica and Gary before heading off, trying to get ahead of the rain. It’s only 12 miles or so today but I’ve got an earlyish check in time, so I could get started promptly and still have not too much time to wait at my destination.

Like yesterday, the path follows a river today, but this is a very different beast to the Armenteira to walk alongside, wide and slow with a flat easy footpath. My poles were back in the backpack.

There were so many snails on the path enjoying the damp from last night’s drizzle. I had to keep my eyes down for fear of a squashing incident.

The birds were loving the moist air too, at one point I paused to listen, to see if there was something fancy in the mix, but it was just chaffinches and robins, with the odd duck.

There were many more vineyards today, mainly using the granite supports of yesterday, but periodically there was other agriculture too. I watched the workers harvesting an immaculately neat lettuce field, wondering how far their produce will travel to be eaten.

After a couple of miles the path crossed a bridge and continued to  follow the river, now on the other side.  As it did, the clouds got lower and there were the first spots of rain. I stopped to do a bit of pack reorganisation. Pleased the path was empty, I whipped off my long trousers and replaced them with my shorts - I was too hot anyway and skin dries quicker than material. And for the first time I extracted my poncho. Only for the rain to stop. Fine by me.

In minutes I could see the rain on the water, but the shelter of the trees was protecting me, so I delayed the poncho action for as long as I could. But eventually it was just too drizzly, and I most particularly don’t want my documents and pack to get wet, (despite drybags) so on it went.

Whilst talking to David, excitedly talking through the details of our next adventure together in Norway, I realised that I’d managed to go quite significantly off track. I had to back track about a kilometre whilst a horse looked at me in disappointment. 

Feeling annoyed that I’d not been concentrating, I then met a group of Spaniards who’d done the same thing. And when I got back to the offending junction I spotted the Spiritual Variant sign in a rather discreet place. It was the first time on the Camino that the signage had really let me down. The photo below includes one of the origami paper cranes that somebody made many hundreds of and left along the Spiritual Variant. It has caused quite a lot of consternation from some of the rather opinionated people on the Facebook group for the Camino Portugues, which had been a useful resource for me before setting off. Some see the origami as art, and that they are put there for benign and good spirited reasons. Others see them as litter. I have enjoyed spotting them, and picked up one that had fallen on the ground and he’s been coming along with me since

After five miles I stopped at Ponte Arenelas for a coffee and a chance to let the steam out of my poncho for ten minutes before returning to trudge in the heavy drizzle.  This is the first time I’ve used a poncho, I normally wear a high quality Arcteryx waterproof top shell, some waterproof trousers and also use a rucksack cover in the rain. I decided to go for the poncho option for this Camino as the weight differential is a lot given I was travelling to a country where the weather isn’t normally as wet as the UK. And I think the fact that I’ve gone almost two weeks without using it probably bears that out.

It’s very good at keeping the pack dry, and for this is better than my usual system which always leaves some sections exposed to the rain. It has a very good Velcro pocket that kept my phone completely dry, and there was an efficient hood tightener stopping it from blowing off. There is ventilation underneath the poncho at the bottom, meaning that my lower half felt quite comfortable, but the top half is noticeably less good than my waterproof, with its lack of breathability making me completely wet with condensation by the time I stopped walking today. And that can be a real issue if walking in cold weather.  But for these circumstances, I think it works well on balance, but I was very glad to eventually take it off once the rain stopped.

I just had my head down until that happened, listening to my audiobook (Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis) and noticing that much of this day would have been gorgeous in the sunshine.

The path winds past vineyards and little woods, but the clouds were down to the ground, and the 4 Spanish pilgrims, the only other people I saw walking today, were disappearing into the grey.

Eventually it hugged the coastline, past dejected wet campsites and beach bars, and the impressive bridge that connects Illa de Arousa to the mainland.

And at this point the rain receded, so that I was carrying my poncho by the time I took the smaller bridge into Vilanova da Arousa.

I was expecting more of a seaside vibe, but this feels more of a fishing town, and my apartment for the town is right at the heart of the old town, named Peregrina, after me. It’s delightful, clearly very old with thick stone walls and even an ancient crucifix carved of stone. It’s so quiet, and had a foot bath and massager there for me to use. Never had that before!

On the owner’s recommendation, I went to Faro da Lua for lunch. I’ve been unusually lacking in appetite recently.  Whilst making sure I’m nourishing myself, I’m not feeling the ravenous desire to eat that I normally have. But I felt I did a lot to repair that today. Lunch was an excellent 3 course menu del dia, with croquetas, skate and a stunning chocolate tart. With bread and a drink. Absolutely restored me after such a soggy day. I also followed the instructions on the English translation of the menu, ‘we recommend you to open your mouth’. It is a partner message to the one on the menu last night, which suggested ‘let’s go with the strong’. I think that was a translation for ‘main course’ or similar. I’m keeping it as my message for the day

After a lovely interlude chatting to my mum, I later took myself off for a walk round the town, which was very quiet at siesta time.

Then when things had woken up again after 6.30 or so I went to the museum dedicated to the Spanish playwright and poet Ramon Maria del Valle-Inclan, in the building in which he had lived. I have to confess that I’d never heard of him, but he was a son of this town, and people are very proud of him. I looked up his poetry, and here is one about the disorientating sensations experienced under anaesthesia, ‘Sanatorium Rose’ which probably sounds better in the original Spanish:

Under the sensation of chloroform

they make me tremble with an internal scream,

the aquarium light of a modern garden.

and the yellow smell of iodoform.

Cubist, futuristic and strident,

by the feverish chaos of drowsiness

the sensation flies, which is finally erased,

green fly, buzzing on my forehead.

Pass my nerves, with joyous cold,

the violin lunatic bow;

from a B flat the transparent peep

trembles in the aquamarine light of the garden,

and my boat goes down the wide river

that divides one border from another border.

I really enjoyed the museum, looking at the first handwritten drafts of his works, and thinking of the effort that went in to create something like that without the help of technology. And then upstairs the house is set out as it would have been when his family lived there, which I always find interesting, though it had plastered walls unlike the bare stone of my house for the night (even in the shower - I’ve got questions about how they seal the stone!)

And then I took a walk round the docks, watching a man and a woman sorting through their mussel harvest on their boat, and then looking out to sea to what I guess are the mussel farms. Seafood is big business here.

And although one might have thought that I wouldn’t need anything else to eat today, I was very keen to finally get a glass of Albarinho. And it would have been rude not to have a home made tuna empanada with it, with a pistachio ice cream chaser. My calorific intake is secure for today, I think.

Heading back home, I was delighted to bump into Deb and Kurt. I really thought that I wouldn’t see them again on this Camino, and they tell me that the New Zealand women, Jan and Sally are around too. It’s possible we might coincide in Santiago on Saturday. I’d be so pleased if that came to pass.

Early start tomorrow in an open topped boat for a couple of hours, with the forecast for rain.  So it’s great that everything is just about dry now before I make it all wet again!

Stats

Distance travelled - 11.6 miles / 20km plus a couple of extra miles sightseeing

Total ascent - 485 feet/ 148m