Sep 24: Turning the corner

Yesterday was foggy all day. Walking in the shadow of the mountains created amazing light-effects. We took a lot of photos, but, honestly, it was a bit of a blur. We got into Baiona around 2pm, crashed until early evening and then made a series of fruitless attempts to find food, concluding by snacking from the gas station convenience store, because the local Spar doesn’t open on Wednesdays (?) the local Carrefour (1/2km in the opposite direction) was rubbish and the local restaurants don’t offer food until 8pm. Typical for the region, but well past our bedtime! We could start having lunch, but Carey doesn’t like to eat when he’s not hungry. So, there we were, at 6:30pm, starving. We scavenged enough calories to sleep deeply, which allowed us to turn the corner on our respective ailments.

Last year, we stayed at the Parador (a treat) and took a rest day to explore the ancient town. This year, we took the standard hostel and pushed on through. Baiona is a beautiful bay town, a Roman settlement and a high-end marina. With the weather finally cooling, it was a fantastic walk through, or across, sandy beaches, each one whiter and finer than the last.

We are starting to climb a little, as we near the Galician plateau, which is varying the terrain. Still, the days are long and blue and the ocean is the constant soundtrack. Cyprus and bougainvillea have appeared. Wasps and hornets are looking for winter quarters.

Vigo is a ship-building town. We walked for over an hour through the town, along the shipyards. The stone-built old town alternates with vast industrial dry docks, winches and cranes. It is a fascinating landscape.

Also fascinating was the choice by the local council to route the Camino along the nudist beach today. Maybe they thought it was a glimpse of Eden, but, honestly, it was quite hard to know where to look!

It’s not a “proper” Camino until you have (1) been badly bitten by bed bugs (2) food poisoning (3) a bad cough from an unspecified viral infection and (4) fallen. I went over hard today, grated my hand and my hip, but my bones held and I walked it off. Carey is on 2 from 4, but there’s still time for him to complete Camino bingo. Pilgrimage is a wonderful, spiritual experience. It is a physical training. It is going to hurt. We have not done a Camino without one or both of us achieving the “full set”. It’s a part of the process. Healing is a source of gratitude, as well as one’s sense of achievement.

We arrived at our accommodation to discover it is quite a fancy hotel. It has a roof-terrace with a bar, where we settled in for our beers, with fabulous views over the bay. Carey got into a negotiation with a pigeon, which, I would say, the pigeon won. We returned to the rooftop bar for dinner. It was fabulous!

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Inspired by our 2024 Camino Francais, Karen has a periodic podcast called "I sent you a bloody boat", personal thoughts on faith by a person who believes in thinking. Also, known as "The Reluctant Christian". You can listen to it on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts at: