Somewhere Slowly

Leaving Vigo city centre is about a 4 km tarmac walk, but fairly easy. We followed a straight street for ages, stopped by small bakeries and fruit shops to pick up tiny Santiago cakes, bananas, apples and an avocado – the upside of being in an urban area. We were aiming for a bar where the trail would turn uphill, and planned to stop there for second breakfast. But when we found it, it was flooded! Staff were filling buckets, the pavement outside turned into a small brook. After this, there was nowhere to stop for several kms though, so we started looking for other places nearby. A concerned postman tried to point us back to the uphill alley, until we explained that we were in search of a café; then he googled and pointed and explained, and we thanked him kindly and walked back the way we came. The place he suggested was really nice, with tables inside-but-outside and avocado and salmon toast.

When we walked from Fao, we were told to follow the red path, when we walked to Caminha there was a yellow one, but leaving Vigo, you end up on the green squiggly path! Then further up, into the shady and cool woods, keeping our eyes on the bridge down below. After we were past it, there would be a little bar somewhere, but not easy to spot. Unlike the random goldfish painted rock.

It wasn’t so difficult though, because we heard it! Lovely chilled music streamed out of a wonderful little bar up a dreadful little hill, but it was so worth it. The lady who runs it is such a joy, and though we didn’t eat, we shared a table with a young English couple who did. The bocadillo was huuge, and apparently the cake was divine.

From there the trail started winding steeply down towards Redondela, so we broke into slalom switchbacks to save our knees and took our time. Nanci’s suitcase, the Beast, had arrived before us. The transport company didn’t have access to the flat we had booked, so they arranged for it to be delivered to a café by the central roundabout. This meant pulling it along to our flat, and then pulling it back to the café again the next morning.

So first things first, we picked up the Beast, went to check in, and were completely baffled by the cute micro house inside a seemingly dilapidated building. A narrow spiral staircase went from the kitchen/living room up to the master bedroom and bathroom, and then wound its way up to the twin room and small balcony at the top. We took turns claiming the big beds in flats – Nanci had it in Coimbra, I had it in Ancora, so now it was her turn and I was in the room at the top. The stair looked scarier than it was, and we soon got used to it.

After showers and laundry we went out to find food, and a bar by a small square served chicken wings in an inside-but-outside tenty extension, so that was perfect. It wasn’t that hot anymore, rain was forecast and we could feel the chill of the wind, so we decided to get some snacks and spend the evening in our flat to make maximum use of it. While we were there, we sent pictures and messages to people we had met the year before, in Canada and Slovenia, Germany and Portugal. Some replied straight away, and it was lovely to hear how they were doing. Some were planning another walk …

(No pics as I was too tired to remember. The building above, courtesy of the internet, is in the centre, and in 2010 I stayed in a municipal albergue there.)