Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis then to Padron

Pontevedra was a nice town and Russell and I were joined by Andrea and Michael for a tapas dinner because the restaurants don’t usually serve main meals until much later in the night. We were all bloody famished after the long walk and wanted to eat early. It’s also handy as a sort of blotter to soak up the alcohol. We sat down at Terraza Central and ordered some Albariño  wine and some calamari 2 ways, croquettes and some Spanish sausage with chips. Gotta say, it was magnificent. A couple of bottles later it was time for a night cap. Rum for me, beer for Russell and the others had a brandy. 

We headed off pretty early for the walk to Caldas De Reis next morning. The walk was pretty nice and the numbers of walkers is increasing almost to the point of being a bit crowded. A lot of people start their walks from 100k out of Santiago and the Central Camino and the Coastal Camino link up in Pontevedra. 

Caldas is a town with thermal springs and our hotel guy told us that lots of pilgrims go down to the springs and stick their aching feet in the water and talk about their day. We didn’t make it. We stopped at a bar and enjoyed a couple of sherbets and a couple of pork steaks with chips. Not a vegetable to be seen. It comes as no surprise. We headed back towards our hotel, which was very new and very nice and found Debbie and Nick from Panama sitting out front of the new Enoteca right opposite our hotel. They asked us to join them , so what option did we have ? Nick was smoking a big stogie and they had a nice Albariño and some cheese board . Michael and Andrea walked up the street and then the table of 4 became 6. Soon after, we’d knocked off 4 bottles of the great Spanish white wine. Nick went across to our hotel and and changed our dinner table number from 4 to 6. 

We had 2 big platters of cold meats and cheese, then a Spanish version of Caprese Salad with bottles of red and white. The main course was yet to come and I felt as fat as a boarding house pudding. Both Russell and I had a “normal burger”. The abnormal thing about the burger was that you couldn’t cut the bun with a sharp knife let alone bite through it. Needless to say the contents were devoured but most of the bun sat lonely as a cloud. Night caps followed and then bedtime as our breakfast was pre-ordered for 7.30am before the walk to Padron. Michael and Andrea were staying an extra night in Caldas so that may be the last we see of them. 

The walk this morning was pretty good and getting busier. Even when Russell and I went to breakfast there were dozens of walkers streaming past our digs. We headed out about 8.45 and followed the crowds. About 10k into it a nice girl Erika from Budapest caught up with us and told us how fast we walked, she walked with us for a while and had an orange juice also at a roadside cafe. Her English was amazing and she explained that she had lived in Dublin for 5 years and learned Irish English. She was walking 10k further than Padron so we said good bye and she said she might see us somewhere in Santiago Sunday or Monday. We were tuning into the Footy scores as we walked and were getting a bit excited with Essendons first half. Not so thrilled about the second half.  And  as for that turd Daniher, he would have kicked all points if he was wearing a red and black top. 

Well our hotel in Padron is opposite the train station and what I think is a pretty shit part of town. We have 1/2 board here which means dinner or lunch. We don’t want to have dinner here so I asked if I could have something to eat for lunch instead, while Russell has a nap. ‘NO NO! IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE’ . I told them that I was not having dinner but the Sheila behind the reception desk couldn’t give a flying ….

  Fawlty Towers all over again. 

Dinner with Nick and Debbie again tonight in the Historic centre of Padron. Bring on the Padron peppers. They say one in every 8 is red hot. 

Tomorrow is our last walking day as we will reach Santiago de Compostela. Looking forward to it. And let me say that Russell has held up really well and I flatly refuse to write about his  horrendous snoring that kept me awake all night.