Day 11: Vigo to Redondela (20km)


June 1, 2019
1193km completed, 84km to go            Route Map
Orange tree on street in Vigo
With breakfast starting at 7:00 we didn't leave the hotel until 7:40. The day started well with a walk down to sea level and then we had a long trek close to the sea. On three occasions we were unsure of the route and were advised by locals. Rightly or wrongly we are blaming this advice on getting totally lost. We knew we had to climb steeply to join the Camino Coastal but none of the streets in our viicinity matched the street names in our guide book. Google Maps offered a route to one of the named streets so we followed that, but three times locals tried to redirect us. We persisted with Google and another local came along. He agreed with Google and soon afterwards we saw a yellow arrow. It was most reassuring. By then we had climbed a number of steep hills, added up to 2km to our walk, lost more than an hour and were wrecked.
Ann wasn't quite ready when we were leaving the hotel, but she is a fast walker and we expected her to catch up with us. She hadn't by the time we lost our way and so a number of phone calls were made. To cut a long story short Ann followed the Coastal route and had reached our destination in Redondelo while we were struggling to get back on track. We still hadn't reached halfway.
At what we thought was the top we stopped for a snack and were passed by up to 40 peregrinos. They shouted “Buen Camino” to us and we shouted “Buen Camino” to them but the Irish accents never came through. Later in the day we learned they were in a group organised by the Travel Department. We would meet up with them frequently for the remainder of our Camino.
We walked along roads and paths as the temperature rose and had a wide variety of views of the Rande Bridge. Soon the track entered a forest and began to rise again, not a steep hill but a long, long, steady climb that seem to go on for two or three hours. It didn’t appear to be a problem for Liz so we sent her on.
Welcome relief
On a couple of occasions we came to streams into which I could plunge my feet, sandals still on, for some relief. At another time we were both seated on a rock asking each other “Why are we doing this?. When the climb finally ended we had a steep downhill into Redondelo. By the time we arrived we were sore and exhausted. We joined Ann and Liz at a bar and Ann went off to check out an albergue. Again she did a good job in finding us a five-bed dormitory, with sheets and towels, in the private albergue Santiago de Vilavella.
At the bar we chatted to Philip and Lucy McManus from Armagh city. They also have the Camino bug but Philip has a knee problem which restricts his walking ability. This time he has been cycling the Via de la Plata from Seville but eventually headed for Porto to meet up with Lucy. They are now both on the Camino Portugues, Lucy walking and Philip cycling.


Looking back at Vigo with Illas Cies still visible

Passing a horreo before we realised we were lost

we are now back on track - Rande Bridge at top right

Puente de Rande





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