Somewhere Slowly

The next day we we retraced our steps to the Peregrina church and the square, in search of a coffee with a view. Turns out it was harder than we thought … but we did find a small café with a very busy lady serving coffee, toast and cake at high speed, and managed to bag a table near the window. And who should walk past – the Canadian ladies! We waved them in and they joined us for breakfast. A long breakfast, as it turned out, as we ended up chatting so much and having too much fun to get back out walking … Eventually we did get our act together though.

From Pontevedra some pilgrims leave the Coastal – well, we’d really been on the Litoral, following the coast as closely as possible – and take a few days on the Variante Espiritual. We thought about it, but decided to stay as we were. The Canadian ladies were also carrying on to Caldas de Reis, so we ended up walking together.

This was a new one for me, we had been seeing scallop shells on houses before, but this took it to a new level – whole sides of houses covered – literally tiled – in them, maybe a cross between a tribute to the camino and a cheap and cheerful natural weather protection?

We had a lovely day, a lovely walk, in wonderful company, as we chatted and laughed and stopped for Santiago cake and Aquarius (their first!) and met pilgrim friends old and new. Just one of those camino days that remind you why you do this, and sticks in the memory and keeps you coming back … but as we counted down the kilometres, there was already a tinge of sadness mixed into the joy. They flew by much too fast.

Our new friends found their accommodation right before the bridge over to Caldas itself, so we made plans to meet up for a meal later. Nanci and I couldn’t check in until 3, so we aimed straight for the riverside bar we could see on the other side, with tables in the shade and a smattering of backpacks around most of them. It was a lovely place to enjoy an anchor drink, though as we sat down, they were preparing to close until the evening. So we moved sluggishly on up the main street, found our accommodation – and discovered that we had to go even further up the street to check in and get our key. Oh well, that meant we’d seen most of the small town already.

Oh no, we hadn’t – I’ve since found out that there are hot springs there and we missed them! Or rather, we saw them but didn’t realise what they were … should have read the guidebook …

After some gentle furniture tetris, showers and laundry we had a message from Team Canada, who were also now refreshed and dressed for dinner. We suggested the same restaurant by the river – they would be opening soon, had food, tables in the shade, and it was halfway between us. After breaking out of the room – lock played up! – they arrived with great thirst and another story to tell. We were joined by three other ladies who had met walking the camino ten years ago and had come back to walk together again, so you can imagine the stories flowed. (As did the wine …)

All too soon the day was over, and we went back to our room for a well earned rest. Only two more days to go, and we’d be in Santiago!