We headed out in the dark this morning as Spain is one hour ahead of Portugal, so it was still dark at 7:45 am. We had an almost 14 mile trek ahead of us, so the earlier we got on the road the better.
It was a beautiful dawn, going past fields covered in morning mist and seeing baby goats eating breakfast.
We climbed to the town of Mos where we finally saw the sun come up over the horizon. Lots of pilgrims in the local cafes. Since Porrino is the last place you can start the Camino Portugues from and still earn a credential at the end, the Camino is becoming busier.
Today we had 2 climbs, the first long and steady but not too steep. At the top we decided to splurge on getting a wax stamp for our passports (2 euros). It was cool watching them melt the wax and affix the stamp to the passport. By the end of the day we had passed about 1/2 dozen entrepreneurs offering wax stamps of all kinds, doubtless there will be many more as we get closer to Santiago.
The descent was very steep in parts, brought back memories of San Francisco and Wellington. We were grateful it was dry, doing that in the rain would not have been fun!
Eventually we made it to Redondela, found an empty table and had lunch then a quick look around at the old church and square.
After filling up with lunch it was time for our second mountain of the day, this climb was shorter but steeper. First though, we passed the long line of pilgrims hoping to get a bed in the public albergue. That made us even more grateful that we already had a room (and our bags) waiting for us!
The views of Arcade didn’t disappoint and we were very happy it was about 10 degrees cooler than the last few days, it sure made the climb easier.
The rest of the day went quickly. We checked into our hotel, thrilled with the beautiful view from our balcony.
We were less thrilled to have to do laundry but glad to find one just around the corner that had available machines. I’m not sure I mentioned this the last time we did laundry, but you don’t have to bring your own wash powder or but it at the laundromat. It’s included in the price and come directly from the machine! Not so great if you want to use specific powder but it sure makes life easier when you are traveling. We met a lovely woman from BC Canada who is walking the coastal version of the Camino Portugues with her husband.
We ended the evening having the ‘Pilgrims menu’ at a local restaurant. Many places advertise set menus for pilgrims. We took advantage of the seafood choices and had scrumptious scallops and melt in your mouth fish with salad and potatoes. Yummy! Ice cream for dessert was an excellent topper. We managed to make it back to our room, write these posts and are now ready for sleep. Another day of walking ahead!!
