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)