Photos Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis

In Pontevedra

The Ponte Burgo in Pontevedra

In the rain

At a coffee/Estrella stop

The elderly American ladies I chatted to

A Galician man working his vineyard

Some of the mud we had to walk through

Here, granite blocks have been placed in the ground upright.

From Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis

It's Day 4 of our Camino walk.  When we reached our destination today, Caldas de Reis, we had covered about 80 kilometres of the Camino trail, including today's 23 kilometres. There is some 40 kilometres ahead of us over the next few days.  

Today, the terrain was not unreasonable, but it was muddy here and there.  We passed through more lush, green fields, dense bushland, and lonely tracks.  Last night, we ditched a lot of stuff from our day time carry bags, and today just carried the one bag between us, which we shared.  I have to say I much prefer carrying nothing when walking long distances.  Otherwise, I don't know how anyone enjoys it.

A regular and unwelcome Camino companion has been the 'unseasonal' rain.  After we left picturesque Pontevedra this morning, and crossed over the Ponte Burgo, there was no rain for about an hour.  It then rained for at least two hours.  For the rest of the day, there was no rain, but occasional patches of mist.

We continue to see familiar faces, such as the English ladies and Welsh ladies who are staying at each of our hotels, and, like us, have booked this Camino through Camino Ways, an Irish company.  We continue to see Richard, who is walking together with his nearly 80 year old mother.  Richard has walked many different Camino routes, and is writing a book about it.  He has a website: marymichaelpilgrimsway.org. We met a young Ukrainian woman who has lived in Portugal for 10 years and who believes she now speaks better Portuguese than Ukrainian.  I saw the German lady from yesterday, and I said "Ich gruesse dich".  More appropriately, I should have said "Ich gruesse Sie".  But she smiled and greeted me back with "Ich gruesse dich". And we met a small army of elderly American women who, full of enthusiasm, are walking at least their second Camino.  

The American ladies' first Camino was the final stretch of the Way of St James.  One of them said that on that route there was no lack of coffee shops and facilities, unlike this route in which you have to pray for coffee to come up soon.  On this route, you also have to pray for the toilet to come up soon.

I feel sorry for women walking the Portuguese Way.  If one is in the middle of nowhere, a woman must often just hold on and hope to encounter a toilet soon.  Men, on the other hand, can 'pick their moments', and hide behind a bush, or take advantage of a secluded bend in the road where a field of weeds has grown quite high.  At one point today, I 'picked my moment', running on ahead of Jean at a time when we were well ahead of the American ladies, and quite a way behind others including Neil and Carolyn.  When Jean caught up to me, she gasped.  My hand was brushing against a stinging nettle.  I poured water on it in a bid to avoid any stinging sensation.  Throughout the afternoon, however, my hand has stung somewhat.  When it comes to stinging nettles, I should have known better.  Needless to say, matters could have been far worse.

In the last two hotels, my phone has managed to get the Internet at least a part of the time.  However, my iPad, from which I publish my blog posts, has failed to connect.

A roof with scallops as tiles

From Redondela to Pontevedra

We walked approximately 17 km today between Redondela and Pontevedra.  The route was not terribly difficult today; we passed along fairly easy pathways through fields, short secluded areas and populated areas.  As with the last few days, we passed ubiquitous vegetable patches of varying sizes.  The soil appears extremely good in Galicia - rich-looking soil in a lush-looking landscape.  As Neil said, it's lush because it rains so much.  We were spared rain for much of today.  However, it rained for an hour or two.

We spent a long time walking up hill and the same amount of time walking down again.  Anybody with a history of knee problems, like Jean and Neil, much prefer to climb hills, but they hate walking down hills.  They'll tell you the pressure on their knees when walking down hill is a lot to bear.  They'll tell you that with each step, the weight of their whole bodies presses down on the knee, making it very uncomfortable.  Hence, they walk down hill very slowly and cautiously.  Having had a sport-free youth, my knees are just fine.  I don't like walking up hill, and I lag behind everybody else.  But when the time comes to walk down hill, I can get to the bottom in two seconds flat.    

We crossed a medieval bridge...

...and through moist, leafy areas....

...past moss-covered rocks and vine-covered walls..

...we climbed uneven, stony pathways...

...and entered mossy forests...

We stopped for lunch at a cafe which must serve a lot of Germans.  Actually, I spoke to one German lady and an Austrian couple - auf Deutsch natuerlich!  The German lady, from Munster, said she started walking on 3 May.  In the 10 days since, she has had one fine day.  All the rest have been rainy.

More grapes...

The soil appears very good in this part of Spain.

They are growing corn here.

Now that we're on the main part of the Portuguese Way, we see more and more fellow-Camino walkers.  Here, Neil is chatting to the Italian couple we met earlier in the day.

In Galicia, so many of the houses are made of granite, and nice gates mark the entrance to their properties.

We arrived in Pontevedra, our destination for today.

A church in Pontevedra.