Portuguese/Finisterre - Day 13 (16-Oct-2018): Santiago de Compostela to Negreira (21.8km)

We only spent the one night in Santiago and today began the next phase - continuing from Santiago on to Finisterre and Muxia on the ocean. "Finisterre" means end of the earth and in ancient times was regarded as such and thought to be the westernmost point of Europe (in fact, a point in Portugal is slightly more west). Medieval pilgrims would often continue from Santiago to Finisterre to celebrate at the ocean. On our first caminos we chose to end in Santiago but have always wanted to complete this last piece of the pilgrimage.

We were up around 7am, packed up and had churros with chocolate along with our morning coffee.  On the way by 8:15am. The way out of the city was so much nicer than our route in on yesterday and we were walking on a forest path in less than a mile.  As we reached a hilltop we could see the cathedral with the sunrise - sunrise is ~8:45am here now. We were up and down hills walking on small lanes and forest paths.  After ~11km we stopped for a light lunch of tortilla, salad and cerveza con limon (beer and lemonade). Almost immediately after leaving lunch we had a fairly steep climb of 3km.  Stopped for ice cream and espresso and continued on. Weather was clear and cool in the morning and slightly warm in the afternoon. We passed through a few pretty villages, over a medieval bridge and continnued to Negreira where we scouted several albergues before deciding to stay at Albergue Turistico San Jose, a fairly large and well equipped private albergue.  It was probably only 25% full so we have adjoining bottom bunks in a quiet corner. What a pleasant and beautiful walk today!

Another view of the bridge

View of the bridge

Water flowing over a dam near an old bridge

Pleasant walking

A pleasant oasis for lunch - trellis full of kiwi fruits overhead

Flowers, stone wall and waymark

The cathedral in the sunrise - viewed

from several miles away

City very quickly left behind!

View of the cathedral as we left the central square

Portuguese - Day 12 (15-Oct-2018): Padron to Santiago de Compostela (25.7km)

We heard rain in the night and it was still raining when we got up.  Breakfast was simple - downstairs from the dormitory is a bar - croissants and coffee.  We waited a bit to let the rain ease up (not by much though) and headed out into the more-or-less darkness.  The route was easy to follow and enough light to avoid the water puddles. The first hour or so was split between lanes and walking on sidewalks along the busy highway.  We continued to be back and forth and along the highway for most of the morning. Stopped for coffee and continued. At the half-way point we had a “cerveza con limon” (beer and lemonade) and split a bocadillo.  The rain, which had been off and on for the past hour ceased for the rest of the way - a few times we put our parkas back on but the rain never really got going again. We were mostly away from traffic and on quieter roads.  As we entered the suburbs of Santiago we stopped for a snack and then continued. It seemed to take forever before we entered the town proper and reached familiar streets and finally our destination of the Cathedral of Santiago, dating to the 13th century.  From our first visit in 2013 until this last July, the front of the cathedral was shrouded in netting and scaffolding during the extensive restoration. The last of the scaffolds was removed last July. Now the front of the cathedral can be viewed in its entirety.  We did the usual photo taking in front of the cathedral and greeted several groups of pilgrims we had met while on the way. After a celebratory glass of wine we checked in to the The Last Stamp Albergue where I had stayed last summer - it’s a nice and modern place.  After doing laundry we wandered a bit and had dinner.

Night view of cathedral

A few pilgrims we met while en route from 

Porto who also finished today.

Enjoying wine in celebration!

View of the facade with no scaffolds or covering!

The coverings/scaffolds were there when we first

finished a camino in 2013 and finally came down last July

Happy to have reached our destination!

We celebrate 4 caminos and nearly 2600km

walking together in Spain

8.5km to Santiago!  Rain has stopped!

Some stretches along the busy road

Wet and still happy!

Neat stone walls and flowers

A bit bedraggled but happy

Started in the dark and rain - now can take 

pix between showers and in the daylight

Portuguese - Day 11 (14-Oct-2018): Caldas de Reis to Padron (19km)

It rained hard in the night and we were worried about today.  However, it was calm and cool in the morning. We had coffee and yoghurt in the albergue and got on the route a bit later than usual.  Weather was good for walking and the route was quite pleasant. It did start sprinkling fairly soon but not too bad. We did have the rain ponchos on and off fairly often.  Walking route was nice with a combination of narrow lanes and routes of gravel in the woods. The vineyards are changing into the fall colors. We had a nice 2nd breakfast (tortilla and chocolate croissant) after 8km and continued on.  With the cool weather and knowing it would be a short day we had a pleasant walk. We entered Padron on a route along the small river that led us through a busy Sunday market. Our Albergue Rossol is above a bar of the same name and in the center of the town.  It is a small albergue and the facility seems quite nice. There are 4 bunk beds on our “aisle” and so far we’re the only two persons. We dropped our gear and went looking for food. On Sunday afternoon and with an active market things were fairly busy. We found a really nice tapas bar / restaurant (O  Alpendre) and had two nice red wines (Rioja and Ribera del Duero) plus our favorites - pimientos de padron (named after this city!) and chipirones fritos with garlic mayo. Padron played an important role in the story of Saint James. According to the story, James preached in this region of Spain, returned to the holy land, was martyred and then his body placed into a stone boat that somehow ended up here in Pedron.  The body was buried in Santiago and re-discovered 800 years later. At least that’s how I understand this version of the tradition. After lunch we showered, etc. and then wandered the town. Now we’re enjoying a local white wine and waiting for dinnertime. Dinner will be more wine and a snack.

Cindy in front of our latest "favorite" bar/restaurante - O Alpendre

Healthy garden crop of "berza" (collards)

Nice stretch between rain showers

Cindy in rain poncho

Vineyards and gravel track

Morning look back into Caldas de Reis

Portuguese - Day 10 (13-Oct-2018): Pontevedre to Caldas de Reis (23.7km)

People started moving around in the dormitory so we got up at 7am and were walking before 8am.  We found a pastry shop and had coffee - they gave us a nice selection for free with the coffees and we had a big chocolate croissant as well - all of that was less than 4 euros.  We walked more than 1km before reaching the old part of town (wish we had been able to get that room at Hotel Vila Boa - I hesitated before booking and it was gone when I “clicked”).  The city was quiet in the morning and nice walking. Leaving the city we were walking on narrow roads without much traffic and quite nice. Only a bit of traffic here and there but otherwise quiet.  The route followed that of the railroad and a highway but was nice and quiet. We stopped after ~8km and had refreshments and a omelette and cheese bocadillo. Weather was cloudy and comfortable. Stopped for ice cream by the trail (no place to sit and rest) and then not far after that at a bar where we could sit in the shade - cafe cortado for me and cerveza con limon for Cindy.  The overall distance was a bit longer than expected since we stopped last night before the city center and although it was not hot we were both tired as the end neared. Caldas de Reis has (or had) hot springs in the old days and is a smallish town on a river. We are in a double room with bath in an albergue - on the 4th floor of an apartment style building. After cleaning up we had a glass of wine while waiting for the 7pm dinner time and then got a table at a tapas place on the river.  We had a carafe of local red wine plus pimientos de padron, chipirones plancha con cebolla and a plate with 4 types of local cheeses. Yummy!

Bridge in Caldas de Reis

By the river - we had dinner later at this bar

River in Caldas de Reis

Neat section where path went

under an arbor of grape vines

Cindy and "friend" at a bar where 

we stopped mid-afternoon

Quieter and typical for today

Typical track - paved but quiet

Iconic view of "Saint James as Pilgrim"

Neat way-mark on the pavement

Sunrise view from the bridge

Bridge across the river/estuary in Pontevedre

Tower and stained glass in Pontevedre

Not a bad breakfast for $4

We were up before 7am, earlier than normal, and on the path before 8am while still a bit dark in the morning gloom.  Getting out of town was easy and walking was mostly on narrow tracks, some on asphalt and some on gravel. The weather was gloomy, misty and with periods of rain.  Not too bad but still not nice. Today’s route basically crossed a ridge line then followed on estuary for then down to the estuary at ~7km where we crossed the river emptying into it and up and over a peninsula to the next estuary, ending at Pontevedra.  We stopped for coffee and snack after an hour or so and had cerveza con limon and sandwiches at noon. In Pontevedre we checked in to the Albergue Aloxa, did laundry then had a nice lunch at Restaurante Peregrinus - pimientos de Padron, chipirones fritos and a nice bottle of Rebeira Sacra red wine (Mencia). Now back in albergue at ~6pm for a bit of relaxation before bedtime.

Lots of granite - so much that they use it

for posts to support the grape vines

grape vines changing color

Ascending on path "paved" with

large flat stones

Old stone bridge across estuary

Town at the head of the estuary

Pretty flowers on a house

Gravel track

View of the estuary

Morning gloom