“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”- Nietzsche.

Day 12

We left our cheap hotel to the sounds of our neighbours in the throes of passion… something neither of us is familiar with for quite a long time. We did laugh 😂

Without my notes and calendar I don’t think I’d know where I was or what day it is. By now the Camino has eradicated all sense of time and space… but we hear church bells and realise it is Sunday. It’s really hard to believe it is a week since our wonderful Sunday on the central route… one of my favourite days so far. 

Anne stops to get a coffee and we are given some inedible stale unsugared churros and, that is breakfast! 

We are on the Litoral route again and hug the coastline, offering really glorious white sandy beaches all day…

There are lots of bathrooms (Anne’s doing a happy dance) and the area is dotted with cafes… some of them open… although we pass several closed beach clubs and empty beaches. It is Sunday so it is quieter than usual. The terrain is mostly flat with some VERY steep sections just to keep us on our toes. 

We constantly drop into a new beach… mostly extremely quiet with lovely soft white sand and clear turquoise water. There are no waves… it is calm and serene… just the way I like it. The weather is once again, perfect and each little beach offers something different… and beautiful. I love this morning… feeling refreshed, renewed, and awakened by the presence of the ocean. 

There are some sections that for the first time, actually lead us down onto the sand and it is amazing.

At one of these… Praia do Portiño, I can’t resist and pull off my shoes and socks and paddle in the cold clear Atlantic waters.

I could stay here all day… with only a few bobbing boats for company; although there is a small closed restaurant on one side, but otherwise, no services at all. But there is a Camino arrow! Few and far between lately.

Sadly now is not the time to stay at this stunning little beach… so we continue up stairs and steeply uphill into residential streets, climbing over another headland but this time we had glorious views of the Cíes Islands.

There has been a big increase in the number of pilgrims today as we are a little over 100km out from Santiago and many commence their walk around this time, needing to walk 100 km to get the Compostela certification of their pilgrimage. We meet and chat to John from New York who walked 50km on his first day- on a deadline to get to Santiago for a wedding and has his wedding outfit in his little pack. And a Canadian brother and sister on a much tighter timeline than us. We walk for a while with a Spanish woman from Seville who has joined a tour group of 40 people just starting today. That is a huge group so they obviously can’t all walk together and she is along for now.

The hydrangeas that have lined our paths right from the beginning are with us again today and make me anticipate our upcoming Azores escape… not so far away now. Which is kind of scary because it means the end is near.

More and more beaches… all beautiful with white sands and clear blue calm waters… one just melds into the next.

As we get closer to Vigo, you can just feel the city… the change in pace… more traffic… more people… big car parks and the beaches are getting busier.

I much prefer the quieter paths but the Camino is what it is and you just follow where it leads and take what it gives. 

I decide to put our accommodation into google maps early to avoid backtracking and we realise it is actually a long way before we get to Vigo city. This is great for today but means we will be adding more than 5 km onto our already big day tomorrow… and it is expected to be 30°. It will be a tough day!

But for now we arrive in perhaps our most extravagant accomodation of our whole trip- chosen as it is a spa resort and we thought that at this stage we may well be in need of a good massage. But of course we are out of luck (as we were in the only other place we stayed that offered massage but was fully booked). It is Sunday and the spa is closed until tomorrow. Including the hot spa pool. 😩

It is beautiful though… a historical manor house with a stunning garden, pool and private beach… one of those places with a marble bathroom, huge fluffy white monogrammed towels and bathrobes… and we each have a big very comfortable bed with lovely pillows. Certainly different from our cheap hotel last night and we soak it up.

Once again when we arrive, our bags have not been delivered. While it’s annoying, it’s kind of enforced rest as there is not too much we can do before showering and changing. Eventually we head down to the pool in our Camilla’s, find a big day bed and enjoy some lovely cold Alberino wine. 

We had planned to go into Bouzas, a charming area not far away with a strong maritime history, known for its seaside atmosphere and fantastic traditional seafood. But we are tired and unmotivated and have two of the biggest days of our trek coming up, so we decide to not leave the resort and instead, eat amazing Italian food in the resort restaurant and we’re home in bed by 9.30. Hoping to start a bit earlier than usual to beat the heat.

Steps today- 27,948

Kilometres today- 18.3

Flights climbed- 25

Temperature- 24°