Kiwi Roaming

Our plan had been to get away really early to beat Hurricane Gabrielle’s impact but that terrible nights sleep meant we were closer to 9am before we got away.

Today we walked from Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis. Before leaving town we stopped at a cafe Imogen had scoped out for breakfast – toast with eggs and avocado for Steve and I, toast with tomato and avocado for Imogen. Bellies full we enjoyed walking out of Pontevedra’s narrow streets, over the river and into the countryside.

Our first stop was at the top of a hill in a small town at midday, we went to a lovely cafe with a courtyard covered in grape vines and while Steve was inside scoping out the food selection the first spots of rain arrived. We scurried under one of the tables covered by an umbrella and Olya (who was walking with us) decided she would push on immediately to try and minimise the time she would walk in the rain, she wasn’t the only one – about 30 people cleared out at the same time. We finished our sit down time and donned our coats before heading off again. Luckily the rain was on it’s own and the wind didn’t arrive until tomorrow so unlike at home the rain drops fell down vertically which meant our caps kept it off our faces. Interestingly we saw less people from here on in, no idea where they went – maybe they hunkered down? went to the next albergue and stopped? got a taxi?

Imogen has been fantastic at keeping me occupied, we have played 20 questions, guess who, I’m going to the moon and other games to keep my mind off sore knees. I should however mention I went to the chemist today and purchased paracetamol 1g tablets, and it changed my life, so tape, paracetamol and poles were all I needed.

We reached the 60,000m marker today – yay! and we’ve all paid more attention to the km markers ever since. The rest of the walk was in the rain which made it a little trudgy and we were very wet when we reached our destination. I should mention there are exercise equipment parks all over Portugal and Spain, so impressed to see them even in the smallest towns.

Countryside – I have talked about the forest in northern Spain so thought I would talk about the farming. There are no quadbikes here, instead every farmer seems to drive these cute wee mini tractor trailer units. The main crops are corn, grapes, kale and growing everywhere at the sides of paddocks is mint which smells great. I have been heard saying things like “no we can’t have a Camino kitten” and “no foraging on the other side of the world” while walking in the countryside.

Are we coping? Other than our illnesses and my knees we are finding this walking much easier this second week. In the first week we all felt our packs on our backs, now they are just there. Everyone says feet are the most important thing to take care of and that is very true. Steve and I both have one hot spot on the sides of our heels so have a compede on those, otherwise we rub arnica cream into them every night and our injini toe socks have been the perfect choice. When you stop walking for a while and get up again everyone – and I mean everyone – does what Imogen has called the Camino Shuffle, a slow unbalanced walk, like a toddler trying to learn to walk kind of thing, a few steps in and the feet/leg combo starts to work again but it’s amusing to watch.

Imogen was ready to crash by the time we reached the Caldas de Reis so headed up the hill to our guest house. Steve and I wandered around the town and went to the supermarket for supplies first. We had booked 2 rooms which were on the first floor with shared bathroom (something I was worried about) and kitchen space, there was only one other room on our floor so it worked out pretty well.

Steps 39,313 or 24.7km