Redondela to Pontevedra – 20.2km, 5.25 hours, Wednesday, 25 September

That was my breakfast this morning and it rivaled the scrambled eggs and Brie on toast that I had the other day for lunch as my best meal in Spain. It hit the spot along with the large fresh squeezed orange juice.  I’m glad we were early for breakfast because none of the cafe’s pastries, croissants and donuts had been delivered yet.  That’s what I usually go for. 

That stop for breakfast was only 190m into today’s walk so we hadn’t really earned it yet. The only other stop in a cafe today was more for a toilet break but we had a soda / fruit juice.  That’s even hard for me to comprehend…. how do we survive on only two breakfasts.  Actually, only one and a half since we didn’t eat anything at the second place (except for the big bowl of chips that comes with any drink at the bar.

While on the subject of food, I have to mention last nights dinner.  Our B&(not)B host recommended that we have dinner at a nearby restaurant named Casa Cosejo, supposedly the best in town. They only opened at 7:30pm so we went for a walk first. Melanie was rightly worried about crowds so we headed back there at 7:20pm.  That was a good move.  Sussing out the siruation, there were a bunch of people sitting on benches nearby the restaurant, all watching the front door. At the door itself was Melanie’s former colleague and several of her walking companions.  We went up to say hello to them then a queue started behind us. Moments later, the front door was opened and the owner said that he would seat first anyone with reservations.  Several people walked past us but it turned out that they didn’t have reservations but now they were at the front of the queue. Another older American pilgrim couple standing behind us asked me if they were in the right queue for people without reservations.  I said it was but they “had trouble” hearing me so they came up next to me to hear the answer again.  A moment later they were directly in front of us and had the cajones to turn around and say to me “I hope we get in”. As it turned out, few people got in and we were the last without reservations and got the seats next to the front door. Scores more tried their luck (unsuccessfully) to get in either by holding open the front door or coming in and standing and waiting over our table. Irritating as all get out!  We got seated at 7:40.  Our drinks and food order was taken at 8:00pm.  Our food was delivered at 8:30pm. Our dessert was delivered at 9:00pm. We finally were able to pay and walk back to the apartment by 9:30pm. That’s a normal time for a normal dinner out but not for a pilgrim dinner.  We are often in and out in 45 to 60 minutes.  We have socks to dry!

Today’s walk was rather hilly with many very steep sections up and down but nothing over 150m climbing.  The gradient slowed us down whether we were going up or down. I wasn’t keen to be found rolling down a hill either forwards or backwards.  There were plenty of lovely trails but once again, most were on roads or beside them. We were usually within earshot of other people’s conversations which was a little irritating but I need to learn patience anyway.

In the town of Arcade, just after breakfast 1.5, the predicted rains first appeared.  The forecast was that it was supposed to start around 11:00am but the sky was black with clouds all morning.  It turned out the we got a ten minute warning of the real rain.  It started to drizzle hard quickly but only lasted long enough for everyone to remember yesterday’s rain and quickly get on any rain protection they had. Then it stopped. Soon, half of us took off their gear but ten minutes later the skies opened up and we smart ones had to rush again to get everything on.  We are just too clever. It rained all the rest of the way to Pontevedra but the last kilometer in the city was dry enough to take off the coat.

Once we got into the hotel, the fun started. We were third in queue to register but it took a half hour to do that. One couple was in the wrong hotel but they were certain someone else made an error. Eventually they gave in after speaking to their travel agent but then they needed help with booking a taxi, finding their luggage, etc.  Everything was a problem for them. Once we finally got into the room, we still couldn’t do anything because our baggage had not arrived yet.  Melanie wrapped up in a dry towel and I stood by the hotel’s front door in my cold wet clothes, looking out for the delivery truck as well as at my AirTag app.  I could tell our bags were on the way to us but they stopped at many places for earlier deliveries, zig-zagging across the town.  Uggh yet again!

After finally showering, warming up and changing into dry clothes, we set off to a nearby laundromat to wash and dry the walking clothes and a few other things. The walking clothes were too wet to dry overnight in the room so this was important.  At the  laundromat we met two people. The first was a non-pilgrim who arrived one minute after us.  He decided to wait 30 minutes for the smaller machine that we were using because it cost only 3€ per load instead of the available 4€ machine.   I’m cheap but that is beyond my grasp.  The other person who walked in the laundromat was a Filipino pilgrim but he was wearing a Baltimore Ravens jacket. He lives in Missouri but hated the Chiefs so he chose the best team in the country to support.  That’s the way to make friends!

Final note to anyone following us – in the rain, we could not find a restaurant in town that was open for dinner before 8:00pm. We weren’t doing that again.  We then checked Google maps and found a “cafeteria” open all evening and night, only 200m from our hotel. We got there at 7:15 and we were finished by a delightful meal by 8:15pm. It’s a hole in the wall type place and the decor and menu don’t breed confidence but the food was plentiful, well cooked and reasonably priced.  The mixed salad and shrimp dishes were outstanding.  Visit Cafeteria Milano if you want to eat before the late night news is on. 

Peace y’all. 

Goodnight George & Leo