Somewhere Slowly

The next morning, Nanci had to take the Beast back to the café for the pickup, and with the skies threatening rain, I decided to just start off at a slow pace and let her catch up. Turns out I hit pilgrim rush hour, to the extent that when I joined a cluster* of them waiting to cross the road, someone jostled me out of position to race across before me! Whatever that was about, I hope they walked it off and arrived in Santiago a calmer person.

*What is the correct plural of pilgrims? A credencial? A kilometer? A limp? I think I’ll go for ‘a blister’.

Just as it started to rain, Nanci came into the bar where I was enjoying first coffee, and we ordered lomo, eggs and tomatoes for a hearty first breakfast. As soon the as the skies cleared, we moved on towards Arcade, where we would make a quick stop before the long stage through woods with no services. Trying to find the last possible café before the bridge, we overshot … and all the ones along the trail were full of pilgrims. So we veered off the camino and found a little square with a café that served arepa! I had never heard of them before Nanci introduced me to them in León last year, but they are maize pita bread things filled with delicious pulled chicken or pork, avocado, peppers etc. OK, so it was a bit much for a light lunch, but we didn’t see them very often and why not? They really were worth the wait and the delay!

Late and completely stuffed we moved on across the bridge and into the shade in the woods. We even met the Canadians from Viladesuso, though sadly they were feeling a little peaky and were slower and less bubbly than usual – even slower than us. We also met a little Polish lady with a huge tent, who was half camping, half albergueing it and having a wonderful time. The people we met and chatted to that day made up for the pushy pilgrims from the morning rush.

Now I said there were no rest stops in the forest, that turned out not to be true, they are just not mentioned in the guidebooks. We came across a gentleman (and his leprechaun doll) with a drinks and stamp stand, then a more permanent rest stop with pallet seats and a pilgrim statue. A bit further along there was a food truck/campervan too (but none of them have toilets, obvs).

The first place we came across after the woods was the Casa Fermin, which is a short hop and a skip off the trail. It has a garden with plenty of seats and a café and shop up the stairs, near the road. A German couple we were chatting to had had a yogurt and were given green, oddly shaped plastic spoons to eat them with, which they proudly showed off before they put them in the pack and left. We wanted some too, so Nanci went and got some yogurt for us with said spoons. On closer inspection they were kiwispoons – I never knew such a thing existed. With a serrated edge and a scoopy teaspoon end, it is the perfect pilgrim al fresco dining tool. And a great souvenir too!

Approaching Pontevedra there were options, and we chose to take the river walk into town. It was a green, shady, gloriously windy-bendy path following a little brook, ending in a narrow pavement path before you get up into an urban area. I was unprepared for how big a city this is, but we just powered on through the streets to our hotel.

When we got there, at least we were close to the lovely old town centre, with its round Peregrina church. We nosed about for a bit, then sat down for an anchor drink, followed by ribs and a crema de orujo for dessert …