Day 13: Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis (24km)


June 3, 2019
235km completed – 41km to go          Route Map

At Pontevedra Bridge just before the rain
Pauline and I were ready first, and we set off knowing that the other two would soon catch us. After a little more than a kilometre we found a café at which other peregrinos were seated. We ordered our usual breakfast of Americano, zumo naranja and tostados. Ann and Liz had joined us before we had finished. We headed on through the old town and stopped at the bridge for photographs. Just as we were about to set off again the first drops of rain fell and we had to don our rain jackets and put waterproof covers on our back packs for the first time.

Peregrinos on horseback
The rain turned out to be more persistent than forecast and our full length trekking raincoats would have been a better option. Liz and Ann caught up with us and eventually went on ahead. It was still raining when we caught up with them at a bar some eight kilometres further on. While in the bar six men doing the Camino on horses came along. Our paths crossed a few times over the next day or two.

The rain stopped soon afterwards, and we were well dried out by the time we arrived in Caldas de Reis. The first person we met was Philip. He told us that Ann and Liz had gone on to the albergue and pointed us in the right direction. I mentioned that I had to first put my feet into the hot spa water around the corner and he told me that it is apparently no longer acceptable to do that. There was, he said, a designated place somewhere else for bathing feet.

Testing the water - it was hot
We rounded the corner to walk towards the albergue and quickly came to the sunken well. There was no one around and the temptation was too much, so I put my sore feet into the hot water, as I had done eight years earlier. This time, however, I slipped and fell backwards onto the surrounding stone, but I was protected by my backpack and there was no harm done.

At the albergue Ann had worked her usual magic, telling the hospitalero about her elderly aunt and uncle being unable to climb down from an upper bunk. We were given a room with five single beds and no one joined us.

In Caldas we only came across two bars advertising the Menu Peregrino. One was back beyond the bridge we crossed to enter the town and the other didn't start serving until 8:30pm. We decided to settle for tapas in the bar next door to the albergue. As we were discussing the options the barman offered the Menu Peregrino. He didn't have an actual menu but informed us of the two options available as starters, main courses and desserts. My pasta starter of macaroni and chicken would have made a meal on its own but it was followed by fish, chips and salad and then a yogurt.

The bill came to €28 for the four of us and that included wine and soft drinks.
I use Leki Nordic Walking poles with an unusual mechanism for exposing the metal spike for soft or gravel tracks, while the rubber paws remain in place. By this stage the paws needed replacing, not a simple task which ideally required a light hammer. I solved the problem by going on to waste ground behind some houses to find a suitable stone.
Leaving through Pontevedra old town

Ponte de Burgo, Pontevedra

Roaes add colour to vineyard


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