Leaving Redondela saw me go up up up until I landed at a picnic area high above the city. There was still a street light but the camino headed off into the dark of a forest. I sat on a picnic table for a couple of minutes and i called my beloved to keep me company and at that exact moment a Korean lady who had been living in LA came along. She was chatting to her boyfriend for company and was glad to also have someone to walk with. Whilst I was only heading to Pontevedra she intended to go an extra 10 kms or so. We talked for quite a while as we went up into the forest then down the other side and along the freeway. Those freeway walks are just a tad scary! A white cat crossed our path as we went on our way – not sure what that means but glad it wasn’t black!

Anyway the daylight started to shine through and we bid each other farewell as she was, as usual, just a wee bit faster than me. At this point a steady stream of pilgrims started emerging from their abodes and the trail was no longer lonely and quiet. I stopped at the first cafe and the rain commenced and just as I left it stopped. That was good planning!

Today was the first day that the Old Young One was heading off to do a longer distance so was not intending to arrive at the same albergue. Fraulein and I ended up walking together a little way toward the end and the walk into the city via the complementario was quite pleasant along the small river. I’d call it a tributary or even a creek but they call it a river so river it is.

Whilst walking along this bit we met a couple of Irish men and whilst chatting I almost had another tumble when a tree root suddenly jumped up and attacked my boot! Well luckily the Irishman caught me before I smashed into the ground and then off he went on his merry way heading past our planned destination for the day. A camino angel maybe! My beloved will be very happy as I’m not planning on another hospital visit this year!

The scenery was very nice until I passed the public Albergue some distance before the actual city and took a photo of the lineup of pilgrims. I was glad to have reserved a bed in close to the city where the Fräulein was staying.

We arrived reasonably early to Albergue Acola at 1pm but my feet were killing me. All I wanted to do was take off my gear and rest. This was a booking dot com reservation and the manager mistakenly assumed he could move us to another building to the worst beds in the other building. If only he had known who he would be dealing with! That would be me and the Fraulein!

He assumed we would take the worst beds in a building that was not located as advertised. He assumed wrong! After we were eventually relocated to the place we had actually booked along came the other young danes again. And the spanish nurse from Madrid who had also stayed at Casa Fernanda.

I showered and washed my clothes and then I utilised my trusty take anywhere washing line but whenever the manager went past I felt it was important to hide the clothes line that was hooked up a little questionably under the curtains of my cubicle. We thought it was rather amusing as it was hanging inside my cubicle so only my legs would show each time she walked past. After resting our aching feet I had a quick bite to eat next door at the Croquetaria – yep if you hadn’t guessed it they sell croquettes! They weren’t bad either.

All in all we had an enjoyable evening with the other young danes visiting the famous church’s,watching a dodgy sounding bag pipe player (he couldn’t hold a candle to the guys in santiago) and chatting with other pilgrims.

The Fräulein was planning on leaving the main camino and walking the espiritual variant on the morrow. This meant we would not see each other again for a few days.

Hasta manana