Day 9: to Padrón

In many towns and cities I noticed these pavement stones which make the surface look like it's undulating, but it's an optical illusion created by the wavy lines.

I thought I should visit the hot springs from which Caldas de Reis (Hot Springs of Kings) gets its name. So I found a public one shown here. Not very inspiring but hey it's free.

The path ran roughly parallel with the rail line here. Smallholding farms and vineyards dotted the landscape.

Usually there would be other walkers within a hundred metres of me on this stretch.

At a rest stop halfway up a hill, a pool and flower bed. I overtook the Swedish pilgrims again, and said: You guys aren't walking fast enough to get rid of me. We are everywhere, said a guy in the group in a mock sinister tone. We all laughed again.

Only 33 km to go. Tomorrow would be the home stretch.

The landscape wasn't spectacular, just easy on the eyes, like this.

Nearing Padrón, we crossed the river Ulla at Pontecesures. There is a cluster of restaurants at the other end of this bridge that you can see in the far left, but I decided to wait until I reached the main town before taking lunch.

I felt that the town was a bit sleepy but that might have been the effect of the warm day. After walking around I found a restaurant more suited to my budget than some of the higher end ones for tourists. Besides I didn't want to eat octopus, which unfortunately is a Galician specialty.

The guest house was actually 4 km outside of town again due to shortage of accommodation in the town itself. It was a renovated old house just off the main road. Nobody was in attendance but there was a room key and written instructions on the side table. One of the instructions I discovered on second look was that we would be picked up by a car for dinner at a local gastronomic restaurant.

And these are the starter and main dish that I had: baked Coquilles St. Jacques (St. James, or Santiago) and veal fillet in breadcrumbs. It was good, but a bit plain compared with what the other patrons were having. I guess we were on a fixed price menu.

I got the impression the guest house was a side venture of the restaurant owner which is why the driver, an employee of the restaurant, was willing to drive us some 20 km on secondary roads.

There are few pictures from this day. I guess the scenery didn't make me ecstatic enough to pull out my phone. The road out of Padrón was a busy one with cars whizzing by.

Day 8: to Caldas de Reis

Time to get going again. After a decent breakfast in the basement of the hotel, I walked towards the old city, passing many of the places I had seen the previous night. I liked the lines of this building.

At a central square I bumped into the Swedish pilgrim group again. They were about a dozen and stood out because they were all wearing red shirts with logos of their sponsors. They worked for or were associated with a child heart disease foundation and were raising funds. This I knew because I had already bumped into them on the way a couple of times before. I said to them in mock irritation: You people again! We all laughed. I thought it was a great cause to do a Camino for.

Umbrella street again, this time in morning light.

Going forwards.

We emerged on the bank of the river Lérez and crossed it using the Burgo Bridge which dates back to medieval times. It has new paving and guard rails as you can see.

The view from the bridge.

The upstream view.

Downstream is another pedestrian and cyclist bridge of modern construction. You can see how calm the water is.

About an hour's walking found us on the path running alongside a main road with bucolic fields and farm animals.

About 1½ hours into the walk we were in a forest.

It was cooler and more pleasant than open fields. But there were a few steep climbs and sometimes I had to thread my feet between rocks.

A sign with wise words in Galician: O camino non se percorre, vivise. Piensa que puedes y estarás a medio camino. which translates to The road is not walked but lived. Think you can and you'll be halfway there.

This sign at the fork recommends a safer way to cross the highway.

At a vineyard, one of the family picking grapes cheerfully gave pilgrims a handful each. I found another intact bunch on the ground and saved it for later. They were wine grapes, not table grapes, so were a bit tart but still flavourful. The flesh was jelly-like.

At a rest stop, this cat came and flopped down at my feet. An Irish woman pilgrim complimented me by saying that I must be exuding good vibes and the cat was enjoying that downpour. And the stroking.

This is the last photo I took this day, of a pond that took my fancy. I guess I felt that the inland scenes weren't as picturesque as the coast.

I had a somewhat late lunch at a restaurant in Caldas de Reis, then trudged over to the hotel. The room was quite good, with air-conditioning.

The laundry machines became free just before dinner. In the dining room I greeted the Swedish pilgrims who were also staying in the same hotel. I had my own table though, and finished dinner quickly so that I could load up the dryer.