Today the walk from Pontevedra to Caldas de Rei started with an overcast sky and eventually rain which turned into a very muggy and humid afternoon. In comparison to our walk out of Lisbon this was a wonderful way to walk. The path was very much through woods and fields and led to some great time walking through vineyards interspersed with corn fields. We knew we had a medium length walk and we started at 8.30 – what we didn’t count on were the number of people on the path and in particular the number of secondary students completing their Camino at the end of the school year. The path to Santiago cannot be considered to be quiet or contemplative with this amount of kids speaking high voltage Spanish – however, they spend little time in coffee spots other than collecting their stamp/selo for their pilgrim passport which leaves all us “oldies” some space to recuperate.
We were pleased that there were a number of places to stop for a break and have a coffee and perhaps one of the most interesting things was watching David’s reaction to men cooking huge vats of Octopus outside these coffee shops and stops along the way. Clearly the Spanish LOVE their octopus and we continue to marvel at the size of the octopus and the size of the serves!
We are in Caldas de Rei tonight which is a small town that is known for it’s thermal springs. Melinda, David and Denise took the chance to soak their feet in the thermal springs and were taken with how hot the water is. Out hunting for a venue for dinner, we spent the night dodging large school groups who are eating out in huge numbers.
Tomorrow we have approximately 21 km as our penultimate walk before walking into Santiago on Friday…for Melinda, David and Denise a great accomplishment having covered the distances they have in such a short time – for Lori and me – a very different sensation to last year – a sense of the surreal having walking over 600 km in a relatively short time and really under such different conditions. Let’s see how the next two days go.
It all looks brilliant… again green!! The team are fresh and smiling… food, alcohol and now shopping!!! Beautiful!
I’m surprised to read your comment about the noise of the Spanish school kids – any Croatian gathering usually results in a cacophony ( or do I mean a euphony) of sound that would easily trump a group of school kids. How’s Lori – has she been able to hold her own and get a word in.
You all look very happy and to be enjoying the pilgrimage together.
Don’t worry Lori is holding up her own – and let me tell you that THE Principal “stare them till they are dead” is very quickly resurrected when required – AND it works!!