Day 8: Redondela to Pontevedra

The rain had stopped by morning, but the streets were still wet. Everything seemed refreshed.

Our hotel didn't serve breakfast, so we stopped at a pasteleria. Allie decided that she likes Spanish coffee much better than the coffee in Portugal.

In fact, there are a lot of things to like about Spain. One is that there are more mercados for buying snacks. Another is the beer. Super Bock is essentially the only choice in Portugal. There are quite a few more beers in Spain. They mostly seem to be lagers, but they are quite refreshing at the end of a day of walking.

We were now definitely in a Camino groove. The thought of walking 15-16 miles each of the next three days seemed very easy.

Today's route would be entertaining. Starting near sea level, we would have two climbs with tops of 153m and 145m, and we would again be at sea level in the middle. Much of the day was spent on forest paths and farm roads.

The first climb started pretty much right as we left Redondela.

We saw a lot of grapes just about everywhere on the Camino both in Portugal and Spain.

There also were a lot of citrus trees.

Less than 80km left!

There was beautiful scenery.

We saw some interesting things like this array of shells

and this stone in a wall. For some reason, it caught my eye!

After the first climb, we headed back down to sea level and the town of Arcade.

It was time for a break.
Arcos has a beautiful old bridge.

We started the second climb of the day.

More hórreos!

More grapes!

More nature!

More rocks!

It really was an awesome day!

On our way back down, we again found the Swedes and stopped for some yummy cheese where a homeowner had created a resting and snack point and really seemed to enjoy having peregrinos stop by.

We found the Capella da Santa Marta and got a sello.

Some local people had told us about an alternate route on the approach to Pontevedra. It added 1.5km but went along a small stream rather than the highway. It was well worth the extra distance.

Our hotel was again an apartment hotel, Hotel Apartamentos Dabarca - lots of room!

We found some interesting buildings and had dinner at a café that opened early.

Today:
Distance:    24.1km / 15.1mi
Walk time:  4:30
Stop time:   2:31
Avg. pace:  11:12/km / 17:53/mi
Ascent:       1165 ft
Descent:     1122 ft
Weather was perfect with a high of about 26C (79F)

Progress:
Distance:    182.2km / 113.9mi
Walk time:  35:19
Avg. pace:  11:38/km / 18:36/mi
Ascent:       7770 ft
Descent:     7985 ft