Camino: Almost There!!! Day 12, 13 & 14

Day 12 - July 1, 2023

We got breakfast included with our stay in Armentiera. Since there wasn’t a grocery store to grab snacks and water in town we decided to stay for breakfast and take along some things if we could. It meant getting a later start than we had been doing. But we thought it would be fine….

Not so much!

It started out great. Breakfast was delicious and we were able to snag some food to wrap up and take along for snacks along the way. We got started and it was overcast so it wasn’t hot. The trail took us along a creek that ran through a forest area. It was green and beautiful. It felt like we were walking through a fairy land or maybe a path to get to the Shire. 

There were old aqueducts and stone houses that were all along the creek as we walked. The path was lots of ups and downs over rocks and tree roots. So even though it was only a couple of miles through that part, it took quite a while. 

It also didn’t help that I was stopping a lot to take pictures. 😜

We came out of the woods and continued along the path. Joe and I got a bit ahead of Josh and Wendie and eventually found a cafe to stop and have a snack and take care of my feet for a bit. Josh and Wendie caught up and weren’t ready for a break yet so they kept on trucking along. (One of the best things about traveling with them is the freedom to do what is best for ourselves and know that we will connect later at some point.)   

We got going again.  The clouds were breaking up and the sun was out. It was getting much warmer. Eventually the path took us along a river. It was a good trail and the river was pretty but we were on the side with no shade so it didn’t take long to start feeling the heat. 

We did cross and get on the other side of the river which was so nice because of the shade. 

In my head I had broken down the day into 5 mile segments, hoping that we would be done before I got to mile 15.  

I did pretty good for the first 10 miles and then I really started struggling. 

It was hot!

My blisters were seriously pissed at me!

After crushing the hill the day before it was a bit demoralizing to have this day be so hard!

But we kept moving forward. 

We got to a point where the Camino path would take us out to the ocean, and then bring us back toward the hotel, or we could turn and follow the road in a straight shot to the hotel. 

We decided to do the straight shot. 

We still went almost three miles to get there but it would have been more than five to do the round about way. 

Total for the day was was 14.4 miles. It was hot, and long and tiring. We started at about 8:15 in the morning and didn’t get done until almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon. That was a long day and I was very glad to be done! 

Josh and Wendie had a place down by the water and my feet weren’t wanting to walk over a mile to meet them for dinner and then walk a mile back to our hotel. So we decided that we would fend for ourselves. 

Joe and I ended up in a local bar just down the steer from our hotel. The kitchen didn’t open until 8:00 pm but we went earlier than that to get some well deserved drinks. 

Our waiter looked like he was about 13 and the young lady working with him looked maybe 16. We think they were brother and sister. Good thing Joe can speak enough Spanish to get understood. 

We enjoyed our drinks. Then the young waiter came and told us that the kitchen wouldn’t be going until 8:30 pm. 

Oh well! So we had another drink. 🤪

Another pilgrim couple came in and sat down next to us. We hadn’t really talked a lot to them during the Camino but we saw them almost everyday. Joe had met them on one of the days I wasn’t walking and we referred to them as the Dutch couple when we saw them. 

We chatted quite a while with them. Didn’t realize it until later that I never got their names. We were just so busy talking and sharing that I think we all forgot that part. 

After all we had been seeing them and saying hi all week so we were already friends. 

Joe and I finished dinner and headed back to the hotel. 

The next day we would be taking a boat ride most of the way to the next town of Padron. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 6:50 am so we needed to be there by 6:30. We had a little over a mile to get from our hotel to the dock so we had to be up and ready to go pretty early. 

Day 13 - July 2, 2023

Joe and I head out at oh dark thirty so we can meet up with Josh and Wendie to catch our boat.

It was kind of strange to be starting out the day knowing we weren’t going to be walking very far at all. 

The boat took us most of the way to Padrón but slowed down a few times to show us cool things on the water and along the river banks. 

We got to see how they farm mussels out in the ocean. Pretty cool process of how they get the mussels to grow along ropes that dangle from a platform. Then the bring the rope up and it basically goes through something that scrapes them into a basket. The basket then is swung up and the bottom opens up to drop all the mussels into the holding tank on the boat. 

After we watched that we continued up the river. 

Next we saw crosses along the shore line. The boat captain told us there were 12 sets of crosses that were on both sides of the river. They had been placed there to help guide boats in so they would know the sections of the river that had dangers. 

While we were traveling there was a woman next to Joe that was very tired and she put her head back and was sound asleep in no time.  Not just light dozing, I mean out! Eventually she started leaning toward Joe. It wasn’t long before she was all tucked in next to him. We were all giggling about it, including her friends. I’m pretty sure she heard the laughter because she woke up and realized what she had done. She was embarrassed but Joe reassured her that it was all fine. Later when we were walking in Padrón we saw her again! We all smiles and waved but she stood up and gave Joe a huge hug and told him he made a great pillow.

I love those little Camino moments. You end up with a connection with someone you don’t know, don’t know their name or where they are from. But they are are part of the adventure. 

We only had to walk a couple of miles to get into Padrón so we found a cafe and hung out for a bit. Then we went to a pharmacy to get more blister bandages and some Epson salt for my feet. (They were still super pissed from the walk the day before). 

Josh and Wendie were able to check in to their place early so we started making our way to our hotel which was a couple miles out of town along the Camino path.  But first we had to stop and check out the Iglesia de Santiago.  (Santiago Church, even though it’s in Padrón.)

Iglesio de Santiago

On our way we found a laundry mat and took the opportunity to get our clothes washed and dried. (I know I’ve said this before, but I will never take my dryer for granted again!!) 

By the time we finished that and got going to the hotel again my feet were really hurting. The blisters that were under my toes on my left foot had expanded and now I had a hotspot/blister developing on the ball of my foot. So every time I stepped it was like stepping on a really sharp rock. All the other blisters hurt too. 

I was very ready to be off my feet! 

I was also really grateful it was a really short walking day.

I was having serious doubts on how the next day was going to go. 

On the plus side we had decided to break the last segment up into two days into Santiago. So I wasn’t going to have to do a 14+ mile hike. 

The downside was I still had to do about 10 miles. 

On blistered feet that were really angry with me. 

When we got checked into the hotel and got cleaned up I used the Epson salts I got and gave my feet a good soaking. Wasn’t sure it worked but at least I tried to do something to make things better. 

It was so nice to just be in the bed and off my feet!!

It was around 7 pm and I told Joe that we needed to go to the cafe or something until the restaurant opened at 8 or I was going to fall asleep and not have dinner at all. 

Robin and Sea were at the cafe so we had a great time catching up with them and all their adventures they had been having since we peeled off the main route to do the Spiritual Variant.  They had made some changes to their original plans but they had been having a blast so that was fun to hear. 💜

Joe and I took off to have dinner and then headed for bed. 

Two more days and we will be done with our Camino walk!

Day 14 - July 3, 2023

Joe and I got up early enough to be all ready to go and checked out before 7:00 am. The plan was to grab a quick breakfast from the breakfast buffet included with our room and then head out the door. 

My feet seemed better. Some of the blisters that had been really angry looking the day before looked better and the ones on my heels didn’t have as much gunk in them. So the Epson salt soak probably helped. I put special bandaids on the hot spot on ball of my foot. They have a little cushion in them. I used two and basically made it so the cushions were on either side of the hot spot. Put bandages on both heels and then got my socks and shoes on.

Here we go! 

It wasn’t great but it was better than the day before. 

Robin and Sea came down to give us hugs and see us off. They plan to be in Santiago when we finish to cheer us in! 🥰

We started off at a pretty good pace and I was keeping up with Joe. We stopped at a beautiful church to get our passports stamped. 

We noticed yesterday in Padrón that some of the arrows for the Camino way were not pointing correctly.  For instance, if the arrow is directly in front of you and you need to go straight it should be pointing up.  If it points to the left or the right, then you need to turn.  Someone needed a lesson on how arrows work for directions. Lol

Can’t exactly turn left, so must mean straight? 🤷‍♀️

Suddenly we were already 5 miles in. 

My feet still hurt but I just wasn’t going to let blisters keep me from finishing the last two days. 

Not after pushing through all the other aches and pains! 

I think it was a lot of mind over matter! 

There was one last big hill before we arrived in the town of Milladorio. 

We had reserved an AirBnB and requested an early check in. They wouldn’t have the cleaner in until 1:00 but they would let us know as soon as we could get in. It was only 11:30 am so we found a cafe and had some drinks. We also were able to get on the wifi and locate a grocery store and pharmacy for the last bit of supplies for the next day. 

I got a message from the Airbnb letting us know that they were cleaning the apartment but we could come over anyway. 

So we headed out to the place, which was about a mile from the cafe we were at. There was some confusion about location the place but we eventually figured it out. 

An extremely nice man named Luis got us in the building and up to the apartment. His wife Susanna was there and they were both incredibly sweet to us! Neither of them spoke any English but once again Joe to the rescue. 

Luis took care of getting the passport information all set for the rental. Susanna gave Wendie and I big huge mom hugs and kisses on both cheeks. Then we got a tour of the apartment. They had water in the fridge for us and some sort of desert. They were taking care of the pilgrims. 

They were both so kind and loving. They were also really excited for us to be almost to Santiago and that they got to be a part of helping us on our journey. Wendie and I got another round of Susanna hugs and kisses before they left us. They seriously touched our hearts!!

Susanna and Luis! Our amazing hosts! 💜

Tomorrow is the last bit to the finish! 

It was such a huge number of miles at the start, it was a bit daunting. 

Now here we are…

I have logged in 156.3 miles (not including walking around to get groceries or dinner after we have stopped for the day.  

I have less than 5 to go. 

Wow! 😳

I’m going to have a lot of big feelings tomorrow.

Actually, they already started today.

Final installment of Camino 2023 will be here soon.  

Did I mention Wow?

 

Camino: Day 10 & 11-Tackling the BIG Hill!

Day 10 - June 29, 2023

We left Rendondela early in the morning. Gotta love those early mornings. I am able to clock a lot of distance when it’s still cool. Still finish after everyone else but it would be much longer after everyone else if I started later. 

Walking through the various towns we have been in, early in the morning, is really lovely. It’s quiet and there is a stillness you don’t see when you arrive in the afternoon. 

We would be tackling a couple of hills and I was anxious to see how my hip held up. 

We started off at a good pace and it felt like the first five miles clocked right along. That’s a good feeling at the beginning of a long day. 

The route kept us higher so we got some great views of the coves below. 

We had two big climbs to do so we made sure to take our two hour break to rest up the feet and get some food and water. I’m trying to be very diligent about taking care of my blisters. We still have a ways to go!

We got through the first hill pretty well. I didn’t try and rush and took lots of small steps, and just kept working my way up. 

I’m finding the downhills to be almost worse than the uphill. Downhill pushes my feet to the front of my shoes which aggravates the blisters on my toes.  

Josh and Wendie caught up with us and then kept right on chugging along. We weren’t too far behind them when we got to a cafe at the top of the second hill. It was so nice to have a break and get some food! 

We chatted with a guy from Arizona, a girl from South Carolina, a couple of people from New Zealand. We also waved and said “Buen Camino” to several people we had seen on the trail. It was a nice break.  

It wasn’t long before we were heading into Pontevedra. Our hotel was pretty much a straight shot into town on the Camino route. We had made such good time that we were early for the 2:00 pm checkin. 

Conveniently there was a cafe right by the hotel so we had a drink to pass the time until we could check in. We no sooner had placed our drink order when Robin and Sea showed up on their bikes! So they joined us since they couldn’t get into their room either. We had a fun time swapping tales of our adventures for the day. 

It wasn’t long before our room was ready and we were able to go up and get cleaned up and rest. 

The plan was to meet everyone for dinner. I misread the text and thought the reservation was for 6:00 pm. It was actual a reservation for 6 people at 8:00 pm. Oops. 

We had brought our dirty clothes along because we were going to wash our clothes after dinner. So we just went and took care of that before dinner. When you only have a few sets of clothes laundry becomes very important. It was nice to have an actual washer and dryer instead of washing the clothes in the sink and hanging them dry around the hotel room. 

Nobody has dryers in their homes. That’s why we see clothes lines everywhere. Makes me appreciate my walk in closet full of cloths and the ability to use a huge washer and dry everything in the dryer!!

The square where the restaurant we were going to us a huge convent next to it. We sat at on a bench in the square and people watched.  We saw kids playing futbal, making the goals using their jackets to mark out where the ball had to go. There was a large group of senior citizens in wheelchairs under some trees talking and feeding the pigeons. They’re little kids chasing the pigeons and people walking their dogs. The dogs were also chasing the pigeons.  

Church and convent of San Francisco, A Coruña, Pontevedra, Spain

Dinner was amazing.  Once again I had prawns.  Kinda messy to eat because they bring them to you whole, but it’s so worth it!   Yum!

We headed back to the hotel so that we could get organized and be ready for an early start the next morning.  Day 11 we will be taking the Spiritual Variante which deviates from the main Camino route for about three days.  They should be long, hot days so we wanted to get an early start.

Day 11 - June 30, 2023

The first day of the Spiritual Variante.  

This was the stage with the BIG hill.  

The big hill with a lot of elevation. Ugh!

I was a little nervous but my hip was doing pretty good so I was feeling like overall it would go well.  It was supposed to be hot so we definitely wanted an early start. 

We were packed up and headed out the door around 6:45 am.  It was nice and cool and the sun was just comping up.  Pontevedra looks a lot different when there are no people around.  

We clicked right along and soon we were at the point where we decide if we do the regular route or the Spiritual Variante.  We had been following quite a few pilgrims out of town.  They all turned right.  

We turned left.  😆

New sign to be looking for.

Big signboard letting us know our options.

We went up the first hill walking through small neighborhoods.  Many of the hills were steep and windy, barely enough room for a car let alone a car with two pilgrims with backpacks walking along the side.  We were always keeping our ears out for the sound of cars.  

San Juan de Poio monastery.

There is also an albergue (hostel) at this monetary.

We passed a huge monastery and decided it was time for our first break of the day.  We had gone about 5 miles and had a pretty solid pace.  The hills weren’t too overwhelming for me, it was still cool outside and my hip and feet weren’t mad yet.  

We go some drinks and a snack and were hanging out for a bit when guess who we see again?  Yep, our wonderful Camino sister, Irina!!  We thought she was going to be walking farther the day before and that we probably wouldn’t see her again.  Joe looked up the hill we had just come down and says, “You won’t believe who I see!”  

Then he stands up, throws his hands in the air and shouts, “IRINA!!!”  

She is shaking her head and laughing at her crazy Oregon friends, all while trying to walk and get her phone out to take pictures of us.  Lol. 

Irina and her new walking buddy, Hammish.

We had met her latest walking buddy the day before.  I nice young man named Hammish, who was from New Zealand.  Hammish sticks out the memory easily because he has duct tape all over his shoes.  We asked him about it the day before.  He didn’t have enough cushioning on the soles of the shoes he brought.  So he bought some flip flops, took out the strap and then used the duct tape to secure it to the bottom of his shoe.  When we first met him the duct tape was looking pretty ragged.  But he had found a store with a new roll so he was able to redo his wrapping and was good to go.  Lol. It may seem silly but it was working for him and it was on the cheap.  Win win!

Walking shoes with flip flop sole a la duct tape!

They took off after a bit with some prompting from Hammish to get Irina moving. Probably the last time we would see her while we were on the Camino trail.  

Joe and I got going not long after that.  We still hadn’t seen Josh and Wendie.  We thought they might have caught up with us by this point but not yet.  

The trail brought us all the way down to sea level before we started going up the big hill for the day.  

Nothing like making us start as low as we could go before sending us up.  

Sea level at low tide in Combarrow, Spain

It wasn’t long before we were heading up the second hill of the day.  It was much hotter by this time and I was much slower.  But I just kept plugging away at each steep part and worked really hard at not letting it feel undoable in my own head.  

The elevation on the big hill.  460 meters = 1,509 feet

I had estimated the hill would be about 4 miles of up.  So in my head I broke it down into worrying about one mile at a time.  Seems much more doable.  

We worked our way through the town and as usual, the streets were narrow and steep.  We are pretty sure we know why you don’t see many heavy Spanish people!  Whew! 

We were going through one neighborhood and this couple starts yelling at us in Spanish.  Joe was ahead of me and there was a marker for the Camino in front of him.  They were telling us to not go that way and to turn left instead.  Then I realized there was a construction sign that looked like a detour for the Camino.  Joe and the couple talked about it and we figured out that the road was blocked ahead and we needed to take the detour.  I’m so thankful they stopped us.  It would have been the pits to get up that part of the hill only to have to come back down and go back up another way.

Detour on the Camino, but it was well marked!

As we continued our climb we would stop for breaks in shady spots.  Joe was going for 10 minutes walking and 2 minutes resting.  Then we would turn around and look at the view. 

Wowzers!  It was stunning!

Josh and Wendie caught up with us a little over halfway up the hill.  It was awesome to see them and have some laughs as we all worked our way up.  

We came to a lookout spot and it was awesome to see how far up we had gotten.  We weren’t quite to the top but it was a great place to take our higher elevation picture to compare to our sea level picture. 

Not at Sea Level Anymore Picture

We made it to the top!  I did really solid.  Basically kept working my way up and not thinking about the top but just thinking about taking the next step.  Being in the moment as they say. 

Our day was not quite done.  We did have a decent to do into the town of Armenteira.  This was steep and pretty rocky in places so it took some time.  I’m not much faster at steep downhills than I am steep uphills.    But when you get out of that section you pop out onto a road and this is the view. 

Looking down into Amenteira.

We took one more little trail and it pops you out right in front of the one bar/restaurant in the little town.  Josh and Wendie were sitting at a table having a beer waiting for us.  So lots of cheering and some crying. (No, it wasn’t Josh crying, it was me if you can believe that! Lol) 

I just walked 13.73 miles, had a total of 2,310 feet of ascent throughout the entire day and all of that was after already having walked 112.2 miles in the 10 days leading up to this.  

Yep.  

I’m a badass!!! 

One of the things that I really have had to work hard on over the years is comparing myself to others or putting down my accomplishments because I didn’t do it as fast or as well as someone else.  

I think I am pretty much over that.  

Because the feeling I had as I walked down that last little slope to my husband and my friends was that I rocked my day!

And it felt really good!

So on the days that I am doubting myself I’m going to look at this picture and remind myself that I am a badass.  💜

Since we couldn’t check into the hotel for over an hour we sat and had drinks and got a snack at the restaurant.  Sangria and “chips” for the win.  (French fries!)

Then we went over to the monastery that is located in town to look around and see if we could get stamps for our Camino passport.  The spot to get the stamps was closing but we could come back later and get it done.  We wandered around the monastery a bit.  Yet another beautiful building! 

Soon it was time to check into the hotel.  We had to walk up yet another hill to get there but it was so nice to get into the nice air conditioned room and relax before dinner. 

Dinner was back to the same place we had our snack earlier.  It was close and it was basically the only show in town.  Lol. But we definitely were cleaner the second time around. 

So far, at the end of Day 11 I have walked 125.9 miles.  Still four more days to go.  I’m a little behind on sharing but hopefully I will be caught up tomorrow!  

Buen Camino!!