In Negreira

Thursday afternoon, April 3

We have made it to Negreira with one very big climb and a couple of smaller ones and a few downpours. A good walk overall, though.  Temps in the low fifties.

We must have left all our helpful maps and guides, including notes I had compiled, at San Martin Pinario this morning.  To our amazement an information booth as we entered Negreira was staffed, and by a wonderfully helpful African American woman from California who was able to supply some of our missing information and suggested this comfortable pension, La Mezquita where we must have the deluxe room with a huge bed

They have even turned on the heat for us, and the shower was hot, although I am still cold.  We have had a few minutes of sunshine, and some dramatic clouds.

I'll try to get a picture.

It was good to be walking again today.  We encountered a total of 5 other pilgrims, plus a lone woman heading back toward Santiago.

Kent in Santiago in the rain

Linnea in Santiago in the rain

Santiago

We arrived in Santiago on Tuesday afternoon after walking in pouring rain all day.  We are staying at San Martin de Pinario right next to the Cathedral.  WiFi is iffy here.  We are taking a rest day.  We lined up to get into the Pilgrim Mass at noon, but for some reason it was canceled.

It is very cold here with a little sun now and then, and many big black clouds.  Cold and rain is predicted to continue for the next week, but we will probably push on to Finisterre, anyway, after our rest day here.

I am wearing fleece and jacket over 2 shirts, and rain pants over regular pants just to keep warm.

For some reason posts to Facebook are not going through.

Sunshine, Finally!

We finally had some sunshine and a beautiful day of walking to Pontevedra. It got colder and cloudy as we arrived here.  But, hot showers and a warm room at Hotel Ruas, and a delightful late lunch at a tapas bar with local scallops in garlic, and pimientos padron before we explored the old city.

Three more days of walking to Santiago!  But feet and legs are aching, so early to bed this Saturday night.

Friday, March 28, near Arcade

We spent Thursday night in Pension Maricaibo in the center of Porrino, leaving before breakfast as no one was around at 7:30 a.m.

We walked out of the city in some interesting morning light, and even saw a few patches of sun on distant hills.  We were glad to leave the highways and climb through country lanes, hearing crowing roosters and seeing blossoming apple trees and budding grapevines.  At the charming, clean, pedestrianized hamlet of Mos, high on a hillside, we stopped for coffee, about two hours from Porrino.  There was an Albergue that probably would have been fine, as the location was so lovely.

A whole group of Californians arrived at the cafe, and we later encountered others on the steep climb out of Mos.  They were a group of 12 with one priest, staying in hotels and having their luggage transported.  They were young as well as old.

We rested briefly in a park at the top of the climb, and somehow missed the church just off the route, passed a Roman miliario (milestone), and made our way downhill for another couple of hours, sometimes on narrow lanes where cars traveled at breakneck speeds.

We had taken off layers on the climb, and put some on again as we descended.  It was fairly long slog along country lanes and then through suburban streets and along rather dreary roads to the old part of Redondela, where we encountered a woman on a bench who insisted on leading is through the streets,talking a mile a minute in Spanish or perhaps Gallegos, to the best cafe.

Unfortunately, the empty tables we found in the square belonged to a different establishment, so we ordered our ham and cheese sandwiches from them.

I connected with the cafe wifi
And found a reply in very hard to decipher English from Casa Anton to call the from Hostal Jumboli about, 3 km farther on, and someone would pick us up.  I wrote back that we were in Redondela and had no phone, but would try to get someone to call for us.

So an hour or less later a sleek car slows and a man says "Linnea" and he is a driver from the hotel, who whisked us here in minutes, talking nonstop in English and Spanish and giving us a tour, barely avoiding causing accidents. At the hotel door we were greeted and whisked upstairs to this lovely room overlooking the Rio Vigo.  Cold, though!

Up. And off to Pontevedra this Saturday morning.

View over River Vigo