Author: Wynette

My grandmother used to make a really good raisin pie that she called “Larkin Pie”, I think because she got the recipe from a friend named Mrs. Larkin. (Mom, you’ll have to tell me if I’m remembering this wrong.) Well, I had some raisin pie today and it reminded me of my grandmother’s pie.

We are back walking on the Camino. Not a long walk today but we stopped at two different places (the only two places to stop between Pontevedra, where we started, and Caldas de Reis, where we stopped). They were both neat places.

The first was the one that had the raisin pie (pastel de uvas pasas.) It really was good and the raisins were huge.

We both ordered a coffee and I asked for a tortilla (Spanish omelette) with bread. The young man behind the counter told me to grab a plate and help myself. It was delicious. Later I happened to notice the raisin pie. After eating the tortilla, I wasn’t hungry but I knew if I didn’t try the pie I would never get over regretting not trying it. (It’s the only one I’ve ever seen on the Camino.) So glad I did.

I loved the bar. It was in the converted garage of someone’s house on the Camino. Clearly family-run. We spotted an older women in the kitchen and Charlie said “I’m sure she’s the cook and she’s probably his grandmother.” When we paid, I told the young man “muy rico” which is what you say to say the food was very delicious. He lit up. I asked him who was the cook. He said “mi abuelo” (my grandfather). I did a double take. Surely I had misheard him. But he verified, yes, his grandfather.

The pie and the tortilla only cost 2.50 each.

As Charlie wrote in his diary last night, we taxied to Pontevedra yesterday. I’ve had a bit of a sore throat/congestion. It isn’t bad at all and luckily hasn’t affected my energy much. But it was hard to face a long walk in the rain yesterday.

Pontevedra is such a pretty town. Tonight we are staying in the cutest little pension. It’s been very restful. We checked in here at noon today. We found a great bar on the corner. (It was warm, they actually closed the door!) We found a Japanese noodle restaurant nearby and had a terrific lunch there today. We found a grocery store nearby to get pastries and pudding for dessert.

We stayed in a regular hotel last night. It was a lot more expensive and not nearly as delightful. But the hotel did give us a room at 9:30 yesterday morning which was great. We found a place near to it that made us breakfast. Lola la Reina del Raxo. https://www.raxerialola.com/

We went back to Lola’s this morning for breakfast. When we walked in, the man behind the bar remembered us and told us what our order had been. Of course, we had the same. We liked the place a lot. Excellent fried eggs and toast, excellent coffee, friendly service, and 80s and 90s MTV on the TV. We were rocking to very young Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, Lady Gaga. When we got up to pay today, the man walked over to a shelf and handed Charlie his glasses. Charlie had left them there yesterday and did not even know they were missing since he uses them only for distance. (Charlie did say, as we were walking to the bar, “Hm, I forgot to bring my glasses; oh well, we aren’t going far.”) We were flabbergasted that we happened to go back to the same place and the man remembered us and Charlie got his glasses back even before he knew they were missing.

Sidenote: Last year on the Camino, Charlie lost a part of glasses (progressives) as well. That time we never found them.

Or maybe it really should be “stained milk”. Lately, whenever I order coffee, I’ve been asking for “café con leche” (coffee with milk) and then adding “with extra milk”. This morning, where we stopped for breakfast, I did this as usual, and the woman who served us told me in her quite good English, “we call that manchado“. She said, “think of a white tee-shirt that has a little coffee stain on it.” Milk with just a little bit of coffee. Mancha is the Spanish word for stain. Same word as in “Man of La Mancha.” So, manchado means stained. So, I need to be ordering café manchado. Cool!

Last night, in our pension, our room was on the top floor. During the night we heard the rain pounding hard on the roof. Much harder than anything we’ve had to walk through. It came off and on. I was trying to imagine how our raincoats would hold up to such an intense downpour.

But, so far, the rain, in Spain, … falls a lot harder at night. (Couldn’t think of a way to make that rhyme.) We did walk in quite a bit of rain today but it wasn’t nearly as heavy as it had been during the night. It was very off and on. When it would stop raining the sun would come out and we were sure it had cleared for the day and then, sometimes minutes later, it would get very dark and more rain would fall.

We were so lucky, though: it wasn’t windy like yesterday. We were able to layer enough to stay warm enough.

Our walk was a little shorter than usual and was a pretty walk mostly along water: first the Atlantic, then a ria, and then the ocean again. Our hotel for tonight is on the water. Hostal Montevideo Beachfront. It’s a humble little place but has ocean views. And Maria who checked us in was a hoot. I’ve been using the name “Dorothy” for reservations on this trip since it’s a lot easier for the Spanish to understand than “Wynette”. Maria told us that her mother’s name was Dorothy. (I’m guessing probably Dorothea.) I told her that Charlie’s and my mom both were named Dorothy. Maria exclaimed “Que casualidad!” which thrilled me to understand her and to remember that “casualidad” is a false cognate in Spanish that means “coincidence”.

After we got to our room, we rested a bit and then walked to a nearby restaurant (tapas bar). We filled up on two huge salads and a large empanada filled with greens and chorizo.

The restaurant was pretty full when we got here but it has mostly cleared out so we stayed to do our daily email catch-up and blogging.

It was a windy and off-and-on rainy day and thus a bit chilly. Today, we’ve walked nearly 11.5 miles counting going to a restaurant and grocery store after checking into our pension for the night. It was a pretty hike on the main Portuguese Coastal so it was well marked. Was great not having to get out our phones to navigate in the wind and rain.

The wind was intense at times. A few times I wasn’t sure it wasn’t going to topple me over.

I kept telling myself “I’d rather be cold and wet than hot and sweaty the way we were a few days ago.” And that is true.

Here is a link to a video Charlie took. Gives you an idea of the wind: https://photos.app.goo.gl/s5sKi4dVP4zdieMz5

The great thing about the Camino is that you just get up and walk, no matter the weather. It’s nice not to have to think too much about it. Just do it.

A mile or two of the hike was a steep climb and then descent through a forest, most of it on a (possibly) Roman road with very very large stones. We saw lots of wheel grooves. This is what Gronze.com says about it: We follow a very old road—perhaps Roman—with stone slabs, used for centuries both for grazing livestock and by merchants in carts (as we see some grooves in the stones to guide the wheels).

It was pretty and interesting but the rocks were hard to walk on, especially because it was steep and wet. We made slow progress through that section. I regret I didn’t take a photo of the stones.

It was a relief to get to our cozy pension for the night.

This is for our neighbor Brian. Brian said he was looking forward to photos of storks and cranes. We have yet to see any of those (not even a nest) but think we will soon. Yesterday, walking along the huge Minho River that we were about to cross from Portugal to Spain, we spotted this Spoonbill. I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time, had to look it up. If I’m wrong in the identification, I hope my bird-savvy friends will set me straight.

He/she was very busy hunting in the water for food. So, Brian, I thought of you when I saw this. Hope it will hold you over till we spot a stork.

It was a long walk today. About 11 miles from start to finish. A little longer than we like to walk and some up and down, but it wasn’t too bad.

It was one of the prettiest days we’ve had walking. The scenery, the weather, the ever-changing path.

The Litoral is the Camino we’ve been trying to stay on because it is usually close to the shore. But it isn’t well marked. The Coastal (strangely) is a little further inland, hillier, more established, with much better way marks. Today the Coastal and Litoral coincided all day. Hence it was an easy day to navigate: yellow arrows pointed the way at every turn. Less stress.

Also, we are trying something new. As we’ve mentioned in blogs of previous years, Charlie generously carries more than twice as much as I do. About 25 pounds for him and 10 for me. Starting last Camino he said it was getting hard (or at least not fun) to carry that weight and maneuver rocky, rooty, steep trails. Yesterday he said (to paraphrase many discussions) “I hoped I’d make it to 80 before we did pack transfer, but I’m more nervous about falling now and I think I’d enjoy the walks more without this heavy pack. Let’s try it.” So, we set it up last night and did it today for the first time.

The Spanish postal service (Correos) has a great service where they’ll take your pack from one town to the next. Cost is 7 euros per bag. You leave it at the hotel you are leaving and then find it waiting for you at the hotel you arrive at. It worked perfectly today.

We only carried what we needed for the day: rain gear, cool weather gear, some snacks, water bottles, first aid, my hiking poles. Charlie carried all that in his pack. We filled my pack with all our other stuff and that’s what got transferred via Correos. So, I didn’t carry anything but my waist pack. It was really nice to not have the weight on our backs.

It did take us a frustrating hour yesterday afternoon figuring out the Correos website to set up the transfer and having to make a phone call because of a glitch. But, we finally got it going. It’ll be easy from now on.

We saw this neat statue of St. James (aka Santiago) on the Camino this morning just as we were leaving A Guarda. We liked that he was sitting down. It was a little bigger than life size.

We passed this on the Camino this morning about half way to our destination. In someone’s backyard. It was big. (That’s a shed roof over to the left, I think.) Ella and Grubb (friends who are traveling in Japan), of course, we thought of you! That’s the ocean in the background.