Portela to O Pino, Spain

 Day 12  Portela to O Pino, Spain

It was another boring day for me.  Day 3 without walking and I’m not getting better.  I tried to get a physio appointment tomorrow here in O Pino but no luck.  I will definitely see someone in 2 days in Santiago and I will see from there.  I do not have an onward flight booked and if it’s going to take awhile to get better I will have to consider my options.  I can’t do anything if I can’t walk.

All of the 12 guests at Jorge’s were gone by 10 a.m.  He told me he would pick me up by 11 to take me to the bus depot 5 minutes away.  At 10:45 I texted him to remind him and eventually he replied saying he was coming but would take me to the next big centre.  Fine.  Only problem was I missed my connection to O Pino so he had to bring me here, 26 km instead of 3.

I was nervous about not getting to O Pino before 1 p.m. because we are staying in Albergue de peregrino’s de O Pino and it’s a public albergue which means it is cheap (€10) and does not take reservations.  There are many horror stories about people not having a place to stay, in fact the Italian boys couldn’t get a place in Padrón tonight.  That means they may have to walk another 9 km!  Anyway, Jorge got me here at 12:45 and there were 2 people in front of me.  The albergue holds 78 so we were safe-

What a great statue outside the Albergue-

Because I am a cripple we get to sleep in the main floor dorm-

Sounds like they are used to cripples because there are 12 beds in this dorm.  If the last few days are any indication of guests, we may be here alone and apparently they have not been full for one single night all year.  That’s a bit surprising but not really.  There are many guide books that suggest a person walk the Camino in stages.  They are usually 15-25 km long and most follow along.  That makes for big crowds in the end towns and sometimes a lack of rooms.  What we do and did on the French Camino is book in the middle of the stages and so far we have had luck finding lodging.

Once settled in the albergue, we walked 850 m to a pulpo ( octopus) restaurant.  We tried hitch hiking but no one stopped.  I was a bit disappointed in the meal because it didn’t have a lot of flavour besides paprika-

The wine was good and Greta from Czech Republic joined us.  She works in a science lab at a university in Prague and dissects cadavers.  She also teaches students how to do dissection.

On our way home, a young man gave us a ride and if I understood what he said he wanted to go for a drink after his work.  WTF - I could be his grandmother!  Maybe my Spanish just isn’t that good!  

Later this evening, we walked down the street to a bar that serves wine in big white bowls –

We visited with Job from the Netherlands. The bar was filled with men – no women except for pilgrims like us. Job started the Camino in Lisbon the end of August. He doesn’t walk very far each day.

Started at the Camino in the end of August. He doesn’t walk very far today.

Tomorrow I will catch a bus at 10 for O Faramello where we have a reservation so we do not have to worry we will be sleeping in the street.  I will also book an appointment with a physio in Santiago.  I can’t help but think about the great physio I saw in Leon.  I had to take a cab to the hostel for the last mile and staggered around the corner to see a physio.  He was teaching in Burgos but would see me at 8 p.m. that night - Friday.  He worked on my T band for 2 hours and at 10 pm I walked out of there without a problem and it has never returned!  I am hoping for the same result now. 

Arcade to Portela ,Spain

 Day 11  Arcade to Portela, Spain

The hostel was awesome – everyone was so quiet and the bed was very comfortable. I tried out my new coffee and it was much better than what I brought except now I have to figure out how much to use at a time. That’s a hard problem to have! Mirjanne was on the road just before eight and I left a little later to walk towards the train station,  stopping at a bakery for bread for lunch and for a coffee.  Many bakeries serve a little treat when you order coffee –

Another beautiful flower –

There was no one working at the train station, but there was a cool machine and you could have a FaceTime call with someone who worked for the train company. I had her check the next few days to see if the buses actually go where I want to go-

At the bus station, I visited with a girl from Ottawa. There are a lot more pilgrims around now that all the paths have joined up. It’s definitely not the same and the people we met on the coastal trail are long gone because they cut off at Tui and we carried on around the coast. Last night at the restaurant, we joined Lori, a woman from north of San Francisco. She is walking alone and is quite lonely. She is retired, but works part-time at a winery which she absolutely loves. Yesterday we also visited with a woman from New Mexico who is a mental health therapist, but a real one – not a colourer or a card player! 

I took the train from Arcade to Pontevedra and then walked across a small parking lot to the bus station. That was so convenient and well thought out by the city.There was supposed to be a bus going to Portela, at least according to the website. At the bus station the sign board said the bus would be between pillars 16–20. The first bus I went into the driver was very helpful. He had not a clue if his bus went to Portela or not, so he checked his phone, phoned his boss and finally left the bus to find someone. He was so patient and kind.There was another bus next-door so I asked that driver and he said yes that he went there. As it turned out what he really meant was that he went by and that he would let me out on the highway, and I would have to walk in. That was all fine and my legs held up OK.

Jorge manages the hostel in Portela, but it is closed at the moment for renovations. He feels bad for pilgrims so he opens up his own house. He charges €15 a night and then he provides all sorts of food – the fridge is full, including beer and wine and asks that we donate to the grocery fund. It is awesome! I’ve been here since noon, relaxing on the couch while the cleaner was here. Three people from Finland have also arrived. I’ve washed clothes, I’ve done a bunch of research for continuing my trip, and soon Mirjanne will be here.  It’s been a hot day walking for her- 22 km and 28 degrees!

The house is called Casa de Cubana-

The back yard-

The view-

Our bedroom which we are sharing with 2 Italian women-

The kitchen-

The living room-

Jorge stocks the fridge with beer, wine, and food.  The women from Finland made supper and I helped clean up.  There were 8 of us for supper - 2 from Colombia, 3 from Finland, Mirjanne, me and a transformer from Ukraine-

Tomorrow Jorge said that he would drive me to the bus depot and from there I will take a bus to O Piño and wait in line at 1 PM to get pilgrim beds in the pilgrim hostel.  I truly wish I was walking!

Vigo to Arcade, Spain

Day 10  October 2, 2026

Last night was the first time that Mirjanne and I have not slept in the same room or I have not slept with others in a hostel. I was in the living room on a pullout couch, which was comfortable enough, that I slept well. When I got up in the night, it was very difficult to walk, but I hoped that come morning it would be OK. It wasn’t so I decided to take the train to Arcade. Mirjanne left about 8 o’clock and she will walk the 20 K in five hours plus and I will ride the train in 20 minutes! Should’ve been doing it that way all along!  It felt weird to be staying in our apartment and Mirjanne walking out the door. However, the more I walk this morning, the better it gets-

My knees don’t hurt if I touch them or if I squat or even when I stand up. It is just when I take steps. There is a bonus to all of this though, and that is that there is a Starbucks in the train station and I am out of coffee. My coffee has tasted horrible – kind of like dish water the whole trip and it wasn’t until a day or two ago I realized the coffee grounds that I had in my backpack have been there for a year and a half so I am very much looking forward to getting some fresh stuff.

The route today-

I left my backpack at the Airbnb to be picked up sometime today and delivered to tonight‘s albergue. I am quite nervous about it but many people do it so I’m sure it will be fine. 

Walking down to the train station I had to take the same route as yesterday – down steps instead of the escalator-

and then down an elevator. It was about a mile walk and my knee held up just fine. However, once at the train station, I realized that it was too small to have a Starbucks so after further investigation, I found Starbucks was at the other train station, which luckily was only 600 m away. 

It is quite a place! There is a huge elevator that lifts one up from low to high –

and inside is like shopping mall – very new and very beautiful. I scored my coffee –

The train-

left at 12:30 and there wasn’t a lot to see along the way-

except this big bridge-

Along the way-

The Albergue in Arcade is about a kilometre from the train station. It is a very nice place –

The kitchen at the restaurant closes from 4-7 so we walked to the grocery store for chips and meat/cheese for breakfast in the morning. Oh ya I forgot- some wine too-

For supper we had the pilgrim’s meal for €20: scallops-

Grilled pork and fries-

Ice cream cake for dessert as well as beer or wine and coffee. 

Tomorrow I have already made arrangements to ship my luggage and I may or may not walk, it will depend on my knees in the morning.

Today was an OK day, but I really missed walking. It sort of gets in your head.

Nigrán to Vigo, Spain

Day 9  Nigrán to Vigo

It was a 21 km day-

We left the hotel at about 8:15 and started walking towards the coastal route. The whole way was through city and that’s  hard walking on cement all day. The first building we saw this morning though was kind of cute –

More flowers –

Another corn crib-

This booth was kind of interesting as they sell all sorts of things for pilgrims including condoms-

As I was walking along, a woman came along named Susanna. She was from Poland and we had a really good visit. Judith also came along – she is from Germany, but living in Switzerland –

We stopped for coffee and a Japanese man gave me a Camino shell his friend made –

Along the way –

Finally we arrived in Vigo and walked by the port –

Vigo’s cathedral is the Basilica of Santa Maria de Vigo-

It was completed in 1838.  We were lucky enough to have someone playing the pipe organ  so we sat there for a while, listening –

After, we stopped for a rest and I had a six dollar beer.  Crazy!  We only had a couple more kilometres to go to get to our apartment.

Along the way was a very tall, very weird statue-

Nice architecture in downtown Vigo-

Everything is very expensive when you remember that a euro is $1.61. A cookie was going to cost me more than four dollars-

A cool painting on a building –

Vigo is a city of hills and what a pleasant surprise it was to come across an elevator to lift us up to the next street area –

and then an escalator-

Finally, after another 25 steps we arrived at our lodging –

It’s a nice apartment.

I have arranged for a service to pick up my backpack tomorrow because my knee is really sore and I know it’s from the extra weight on my back. I hope that walking tomorrow without any weight will work because it’s quite painful and we have 20 km to go to Arcade.

I did not have an intention today because my goal was just to make it. My knee hurts a lot and I don’t want to have to bus to Santiago so hopefully without a pack I will be OK.  Mirjanne taped it this morning but it’s still hurting.  We met two women in the Basilica from Vancouver Island and one of them had her knee taped quite severely.  She said a Physio told her not to carry her pack and I know that’s exactly what’s happened to me.

Looking forward to a lighter walk tomorrow – I just hope my backpack makes it to the same place I am going.