May 27, 2008 - Redondela to Pontevedra

This is close to my journal entry but edited to delete personal comments.

Bad start to the day. Karin and I had a falling out and when we left the refugio, she took off - turns out she was heading in the wrong direction. Joe went after her and brought her back but she and Joe kept a super fast pace and I couldn't keep up. I was pretty far behind and thought maybe I would get a chance to walk alone that day but Ray eventually stayed back. I don't know if he chose to go slower or was instructed to stay back with me. In any event, Ray and I did our own Camino and it was far and away the best day yet!

We walked along little villages that had tiny streets that twisted and turned - all up hill. We did our first real climb which was really tough but throught a forest. The forests here are unbelievable, so luch and dense - almost tropical looking. At the top of the mountain you could see the ocean and a bridge as well as boats and ships. Truly awesome! A group of Spanish guys asked us to take their picture at the top and they took ours. The Spanish guys looked like day hikers, they had no packs and were even wearing good smelling men's cologne.

The descent had one real tricky spot. The road was out and we had to take a short but very steep descent thru deep mud. I could not have made it without my stick. Ray did it carrying a grocery bag in each hand - truly wonderous! (The morning plan was that he and Karin would switch off carrying the bags).

After the descent we entered Arcade, a seashore resort town. We stopped at a bar and I had a cafe con leche with the free cookies that come with it. I love cafe con leche!

On the way out of town, this was so cool, there was an old lady in the regional dress chasing a little dog with her pitchfork. This was all happening in another totally scenic place.

Our second climb of the day was great fun. It was steep and we had to walk on stones thru a flowing stream. Extreme fun! Descent was through a forest and more beautiful countryside.

We arrived at the refugio before it opened so we headed to a little bar across the street. There, we saw the Brits and a Canadian girl who was at the refugio the night before. I had a couple cervazas and the bar gave us each a small but free bowl of Spanish rice and pulpo. It tasted so good.

Joe and Karin eventually showed up. They hit the town a while before and went looking for a post office to mail back some of their extra gear. I opted to just leave my stuff behind at the refugio. I didn't want to deal with finding a post office, a box to send the stuff and all that. So I hope someone will make use of my poncho and rain pants. I also left some makeup and my fel shoe soles. Every ounce counts!

The refugio finally opened and we all headed over. Even though the refugio was on a main highway, it was built on higher ground and you couldn't see the highway from inside, unless you wanted to! There were nice mountain views. The refugio was new and had a washer and dryer as well as a cafe con leche machine!

Karin and I talked about our issues but I felt something had clearly changed between us. At least we could all finish this thing in a cordial manner.

After showering, the two old guys who ran the refugio gave us a free glass of homemade port. It was great and the old guys were real characters - even though they didn't speak a word of English. It was so great to use the washer and dryer, to have truly clean clothes! I shared the laundry with Maia, a Brazilian woman, so it only cost each of us 6 Euros. So well worth it though.

When Joe and Karin were out about the town, he saw a Chinese restaurant that had advertised a multi-course meal for something like 6 Euros and that's where they wanted to eat dinner. I'm thinking why Chinese food - we are in Spain, let's find some Spanish food. But I promised myself I would not ruffle any feathers that night so I was like - whatever!

Turns out the earlier price was for lunch. Dinner was 8 something Euros. The meal itself was kind of funny, it was a multi-course meal and we ate it in like 15 minutes or so. The food was adewuate but my main course was awful, I couldn't even eat it - the fish was foul.

Pontevedra was an ugly town. The little bar across the street was the coolest place in town. Would have been fun to have eaten dinner there. Oh well.

Additional Thoughts:

Ray and I had lunch on some big rocks in the forest. Since he had all the groceries, we ate very well!

Dill grows on the side of the road like weeds here. We saw a few people harvesting it into giant baskets.

I left my stick at the bar in Arcade and realized it after we climbed up a very steep street. Ray waited there while I headed back for the stick and then had to do that climb all over again!

This was far and away the best scenery of all. We had it all, farms, fields, oceans, mountains and even a scenic town.

We also had a little bit of every kind of weather, though for the most part, the day was fairly sunny.