Day 9: Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis

Day 9 was a mixture of forest/farm paths and "the N-550." That highway runs along much of the Camino, and the local associations have done a great job finding paths off the busy stretches of road. While we did end up walking along N-550 at times on this day, it really wasn't bad.

We woke to a chilly morning.

Our hotel didn't have breakfast, so we again found a pasteleria. It was delicious!

We really enjoyed the fresh orange juice that we had almost every morning on the Camino.

We crossed the Río Lérez as we left Pontevedra and spent the morning in more great scenery.

We met a young woman from Denver who lives in Santiago de Compostella, and Allie had someone more her age to talk with for awhile.

As usual, the Camino was well marked.

This part of the Camino followed train tracks. We didn't see any trains.

At the first opportunity, we took a break. We found other peregrinos. We also found the biggest ham and cheese sandwiches of our entire Camino.

The number of other peregrinos on the Camino had been steadily increasing. We now saw them quite often.

The Camino continued on a small climb and through more nature until we came upon a food cart selling ice cream treats. We also found the Canadians again.

We were soon about 50km from Santiago by Camino (40km for cars).

Cars were reminded that there were peregrinos on the highway.

We had a fantastic afternoon.

Our destination was Caldas de Reis, a town that has thermal springs and has seen spa activity since the time of the Romans. Our hotel, Balneario Acuña, was located on the small river running through town. Our room overlooked the river - spectacular!

We crossed the river and had a late lunch before Allie went for a nice "Camino Recovery" spa treatment at the hotel.

We found the local church.

It had coin operated votives. For 1€, Allie lit 10 at once!

We soaked our feet in the pool then went to dinner. For starters, Allie had a (large, as always) mixed salad, and I had pimientos rellenos. Then Allie had stuffed chicken, and I had stuffed beef. Both were really good. Desert was awesome.

A storm moved in as we headed back to the hotel. There was a lot of rain overnight.

Today:
Distance:    23.4km / 14.6mi
Walk time:  4:27
Stop time:   1:30
Avg. pace:  11:25/km / 18:17/mi
Ascent:       574 ft
Descent:     573 ft
Weather was perfect again with a high of about 28C (82F)

Progress:
Distance:    205.6km / 128.5mi
Walk time:  39:46
Avg. pace:  11:36/km / 18:34/mi
Ascent:       8344 ft
Descent:     8558 ft