Redondela / Day 7

In the morning I get up and ready quickly. I want to leave this place. As soon as possible! Today I will only walk to Redondela.

my constant companion

I shoulder my pack and hit the road. A little ahead of me walks a group of four Austrian women from Tyrol, behind me a couple from Germany, Babs & Berny. They pass me by a while later. I have decided to stroll and enjoy the 10km today. I am not going any further. Redondela is supposed to be a nice town with a beach and a marina, also the albergue is supposed to be nice. I don't care if it takes me 2 hours or 4 hours for 10km.

The landscape is quite nice and the way winds upwards over a small hill. When I get to the next village I catch up with the Tyrolians and desperately start looking for a bar to get my caffein dosage. Unfortunately there is nothing to be found and the only bakery along the way doesn't serve coffee! I decide that I will survive until Redondela without coffee and leave the Tyrolians behind. Turns out, I won't meet them again.

The villages are very beautiful and I walk on my own for a long time, enjoying the peace and calmness. After a night in a overcrowded dormitory I feel that this is just what I need right now... After a while I come across a pilgrim walking the exact opposite direction, wishing me a "buen camino" in a French accent. I greet back and walk on. I ask myself where she is headed. As Egon tells me later (I meet him again at a bar in Redondela), she is walking to Fatima.

Albergue in Redondela

The walk into Redondala itself is not that beautiful, as the camino leads pilgrims into town along the main road. At a café on the sidewalk (the first one I see since Mos, btw) I run into Egon again and another German guy, who I don't know. While I have a café con leche at last we chat a little and I learn that the blue arrows point to Fatima. The two of them will be walking further than Redondela, so we say Goodbye and hope to see each other again in Santiago. I walk to the albergue, which - at 11:30 - is still closed. I am the first one there, or at least it looks like that. After a few minutes Babs and Berny see me sitting there and walk over to me. We start talking and decide to wait in a bar until the albergue opens at 1pm. We all agree that last night in Mos was a all time low on the way regarding albergues. Thus we are all very happy when we are the first pilgrims to check into the albergue. I especially enjoy the long shower.

Since I have an entire afternoon off I decide to go into town and look for an internet café. I need to charge my camera because the stupid thing wouldn't charge through the adapter. As soon as I find one I log onto facebook for a quick update. Kirsten is online and I am soooo happy to chat with her. I really miss her around this time. Most of the people I met are really nice and all that, but there is only one Kirsten. Once my camera is fully charged I log off and go to the pharmacy to by some more bandages for my foot. I take the stuff back to the albergue. On my way back I walk into the tourist info and meet 3 women from Cologne. They're staying at the albergue too. I want to take the stuff back before going to the beach.

The beach and the marina are a little walk away from the albergue. I grab my mp3-player, camera and notebook and am off. After about 15 minutes I can feel the wind and smell the sea. A few minutes later I arrive at the bay. It is really windy out here. I walk along the dock, almost out to the very end. There I sit on a rock and stare out at the bay for a while, letting my thoughts drift off and enjoying the sun.

Marina Redondela

When I return to the albergue I join Baby and Berny for a small dinner before I get ready for bed. Upstairs I run into Anita, Andrea and Gaby again, the 3 women from Cologne. We chat a little and it turns out that we're all headed for Pontevedra the next day. We surely will meet again along the way.

Although it's been a day with little walking and lot of relaxing and resting my feet I feel exhausted and fall asleep almost immediately.


Distance covered: 10km / batteries fully re-charged (mine and the camera's)

Mos / Day 6

My alarm goes off at 6 AM. I haven't slept much due to the unbelievably loud snorer in my room. I get up rather reluctantly and open the blinds to look out of the window. To my surprise it is still pitch-dark outside... The one hour time difference between Portugal and Spain really does make a difference. Because I don't want to walk in the darkness I take my time for my morning routine. My foot doesn't feel too bad this morning - I take the antibiotic and drink my magnesium and get ready for a slow day.

I leave the albergue around 7, when the sun starts to rise. The streets are empty and quiet, which is a nice change after all the snoring that's been going on through the night. Soon I leave Tuy behind to follow the way along a path through the woods and fields.

industrial area of O Porrino on a Sunday morning...

The only bar along the way is situated on a small hill. I decide to have a quick coffee and refill my water supplies before heading on. Leaving the terrace I get a fist glimps of what I'm headed to. The industrial area of O Porrino expands in front of me, as a dull and strenuous looking section. Straightaway, passing empty factories and parking lots. As it is a Sunday morning, there is hardly any traffic or work going on and it's at least quiet. The only noise I hear is the distant humming of the highway and the monotone clunk of my walking stick. After a while it gets quite rhythmic and relaxing. Finally, the seemingly endless street comes to an end and I walk into the town of Porrino.

Here I see the first 2-digit milestone - 99,408km. Very exciting! In a small chapel called San Sebastian I light a candle for my little brother and text him.

After a few minutes I reach the town center at exactly noon. It seems like I am the only pilgrim around... or the only person at all for that matter. I text Uschi to find out where she's headed today. She tells me that the albergue in O Porrino isn't that good and after a cola and a bocadillo I decide to walk further today. But since it is only half past 12 and I have only 5 or 6km more to make today I grant my feet some more rest in the shade.

By and by a few locals pass the café and a few kids run through the square but all in all it still seems like a ghost town. I am quite happy to get out of town a little while later. The landscape changes drastically and the way takes me through beautiful little villages and after about 1 1/2 peaceful and uneventful hours I reach Mos, my stage goal for today. It's a tiny village with a church and a beautiful bar with a terrace like an oasis. There, sitting in the shade are two familiar faces, Charli and Egon. I am really happy to see them, because I hadn't seen anybody I know all day. I join them in the shade and we chat and (in Charli's case) write and sign to pass the time until the albergue opens.

Charli and Egon

The albergue costs 5 Euro and we each get a throw-away pillowcase and sheets. And THANK GOD for that!! When we walk into the dormitory, the air is stuffy and hot, there are papers piled to the floor in the corner and dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. I choose a bed at the very end of the room, because to my horror (and also astonishment) the snorer from last night is sleeping in the first bed. How did he get here so fast? I decide to take a quick shower and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the shade at the bar. However, once I see the bathroom I decide not to take a shower at all. Firstly, there is only cold water. I am not that hardcore. Secondly, the bathroom looks and smells like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. Yikes! I am not picky when it comes to albergues, but this one is disgusting! So disgusting even, that I won't post any pics, as not to scare you off. If I could I'd walk to the next one, but that's another 10km away and I have to treat my blisters with care.

I spend the afternoon eating ice cream at the sun terrace of the café and chatting with a few other pilgrims, showing off my blister. Later I have dinner with Egon and a German loudmouth, who's going on and on and on about how rich he is and that he really doesn't need to work and spends all his time travelling freely around the world. My brain hurts from thinking of ways how to best show my lack of interest in absolut anything he says!!

At the end of the day the dormitory is fully occupied. I open the window next to my bed and hope to get some rest in this stinky hellhole of an albergue... What a day!!

I wake up in the middle of the night because somebody to my left fell out of their bed with a crash. Ouch! I am able to go back to sleep for a little while before the alarm goes off way too soon.


Distance covered: ~21 km

Tuy / Day 5

When I get up my blister has filled up with liquid again and my ankle is still red and swollen.

waiting...

I decide to skip the next 15km and go to Valença by bus. Uschi agrees to join me because she too has quite a few blisters. As it is a Saturday, there is only one bus. We decide to walk to the market and have a coffee, then we'll take a taxi from there. The owner is nice enough to call one for us. I forget my walking stick (again!) but Uschi sprints back to the market to get it for me. I am indeed very thankful for that, because without my stick I couldn't walk even just 1km.

The ride takes about 20 minutes and costs 23 Euros. The driver drops us off at a pharmacy in Valença. It is 8:30 and it's still closed. Uschi and I exchange phone numbers and I promise her to keep her updated. Then we say good bye for the time being.

When the pharmacy opens at nine I go in and ask for some bandages and blister pads and show them my foot. They tell me to go to the hospital in Tuy because they suspect an infection.

... between Portugal and Spain

International Bridge

I hubble through the old town until I reach the "International Bridge". It crosses the Rio Miño - the border between Portugal and Spain. I suddenly feel much better knowing that I am about to cross the border on foot. And even though I "cheated" today it fills me with pride to have come this far. I really hope I can walk again tomorrow.

Entering Tuy, I follow the sign pointing me in the direction of the tourist information rather than the (now less frequently) yellow arrows. I am sure I'm on the right way because there are huge scallop tiles on the ground. The old town of Tuy is very nice. I hope I'll have the energy to walk around later.

I find the tourist information and ask for the hospital, which conveniently is just around the corner. It is actually just a community health center and I'm shocked by its appearance on the outside. But the nurses are really nice and there is a young doctor who speaks English. They suck the fluids out of my blister with an injection (thank god they didn't cut it open!!) and put on a special ointment before bandaging it. Then the doctor prescribes me antibiotics which I have to take 3x a day for a week. Great - no more vino tinto for me on this Camino. I thank them sincerly and hobble towards the square. The albergue opens at 1 PM so I have about an hour and a half to kill.

I am a little bummed out about all this and decide to sit down in a café to call home and tell the news. Suddenly I hear music and turn around. It's a folklore procession! I hang up and promise to call back later. They play the bagpipes and drums and walk around the square where I sit. The music softens as they walk past me into the opposite direction. A few minutes later I'm startled again by a loud bang behind me. I turn around and see that the group has assembled in a semi-circle just in front of the café where I sit. They start to sing and dance. This is great! I take loads of pictures and videos and take in the positive energy they all seem to radiate.

Later I check into the albergue and am glad to see that there's only one more bed occupied in my room... maybe I'll get a good nights sleep. Wouldn't hurt.

After washing my clothes and a short nap I decide to grab a small bite to eat. Down on the square I run into Egon and am most happy to see him. I thought that after losing Sandra and Thomi yesterday and Uschi today I wouldn't see any familiar face around. We enjoy the afternoon sitting in the café talking. After a while Egon wants to go back to the official albergue (huh?!? I didn't find that one...) to take a shower and we agree on having dinner together later. I go back to my albergue and decide to update my journal and relax my foot.

Egon and I have dinner at a different café - it's not very good. But it's food and we're hungry so we eat it anyway... After all, we're pilgrims! We sit and talk for a while and wafe to the two Belgian brothers who pass us by. Egon is not the only familiar face after all.

When I return to the albergue later that evening I can't believe my ears. The only roommate I have snores like a 500kg wild boar. ... great.

Once again I am very glad that I brought ear plugs..


Distance covered: 15km by taxi, 4km on foot