I am not sure I’ll have a lot to write about today because I am completely exhausted but here’s today’s walk in brief.
First, it’s Sunday, so Pontedueme was pretty quiet. We had tomato on bread for breakfast but with ham this time.
The path out of Pontedueme, starting from our breakfast table, went up, up, UP.
Still, we consoled ourselves with the amazing views as we sweated through our clothes. Or as I sweated and Danny lightly dampened his clothes. It turns out Danny doesn’t sweat much, which somehow seemed quite unfair.
One the first day of our walk we had discovered pilgrim fountains everywhere. They have running water and foot baths with a bench around. On this day we saw a few but nowhere near as many. I would be interested to know if they are a feature on other routes.
During the first half of the day we walked through forest and along some very pretty trails. Thankfully not all the forests were eucalypts.
We saw a lot of grape vines on trellises. This was probably the most impressive.
The roadside verges were full of flowers and there were many lovely scents along the way.
The path took us through very varied scenery, including beneath massive pillars that held highways above wetlands.
We saw beaches and waterways.
For lunch we stopped at a very pilgrim-themed place to have a bite. There was a cute and very tiny dog.
The lady running the stop was lovely and very welcoming. We left after having a very restful sit and picking some wild strawberries from their garden.
Just a short way down the track we saw a huge mural featuring the woman from the pilgrim stop. If only we’d had a photo with her!
I bought an apple in the next little town and we came across a large group of women pilgrims walking so slowly that they ended up being the first (and probably last) people we would overtake. Sure, they overtook us later on but it did feel nice to not be the slowest for a short while.
The path continued to be very hilly.
Towards the end I was really struggling. My right hip was hurting, particularly on the uphills, which was doubly annoying because on the downhills the soles of my feet really stung. Across the day I took 5 ibuprofen tablets and I’m not sure they helped much.
The second half of the day was through countryside that felt almost deserted and was also lacking the plentiful benches of the morning so we stopped and sat in a gutter at one point to eat our snack nuts (snuts) and biscuits.
Classy!
The sandals I bought in England were a nice change for my feet in the middle of the afternoon as we climbed the last hill. A lady pulled over as we were halfway to the top and told us it wasn’t much further. At the tip we found her with her husband manning a little pilgrim stop with cold drinks and a donation box. They asked where we were from and then pointed to all the eucalyptus trees, telling me they were from Australia. Yes, I had noticed that half of Spain looks exactly like the trees around my house, thanks.
We got a stamp and then sat down for a rest. A Dutch fellow came along and sat down for a chat. He had done many Camino trails and usually came with his family.
The couple at the stop took a photo of Danny and I together before we left.
Eventually we made it to Betanzos. The hotel was nice, we had Japanese for dinner and used the laundromat. My feet were pretty swollen and my blisters worse than I’ve ever had in my life! We’ll see how tomorrow goes!
Here Comes The Planet 
Oh my heart goes out to you. Sore feet are the absolute pits, I was wondering how you will manage. I have to rotate shoes all the time to prevent pressure spots and blisters so I’m sure I’d have to have a range of different shoes with me( that really spoils travelling- shoes take up too much space in luggage. You did have a really big day on day 1 as well. I hope you both sleep well and feel restored in the morning- do you have any rest days built into your plans? Portugal has even more Eucalyptus trees than Spain and I’m sure they’re sorry about it because their wildfires are getting worse. When we were in South America a few years ago, we were amazed to see Eucalypts, wattles and bottlebrush thriving everywhere. It does seem bizarre to be somewhere else that should seem different, yet it has so much that is familiar. I’m interested in how you’re managing your hair while walking- I’m a sweater so my hair would need a good wash each day after so much exertion. But, at the hostels you’d feel bad about using up so much water, and if you do wash it, how do you get it dry before you fall exhausted into bed? I used to have thick, strong hair and even if I didn’t do anything it would just fall into waves or ringlets. After chemo, my hair is like a Barbie doll whose been passed around a kindergarten class, fine and tangled. They may seem like little things but I was thinking I’d have to either have dreads then shave it, or cut it really short at the start and just wear a hat all the time! I hope that day 3 is relaxed and comfy.
No rest days, we’ve booked everything in advance but it’s only six days so we’re roughing it out.
I have a very dry scalp so I washed it once at the start and now I’ll wait until the end, I just tie it in plaits to keep myself cooler. My mums hair has grown back so much differently after chemo, curlier and finer so I know when you mean. I sweet a medium amount but it’s very annoying that Danny hardly sweats;-).
It really is discombobulating to see all the Australian native plants! You’re so right, they don’t know how to manage them. I see their under storey full of dried bracken, it’s courting fire.
I have a pair of sturdy sandals, we’ve been putting them on mid afternoon for a change of pace and I think it’s helped. I’ve never been so relieved to remove my shoes!
Oh I’m so sorry it’s been such an exhausting day. I thought I might suggest treating yourself to a pack free day and have the backpack taxied to your next stop. Did you manage to get some hikers wool, although it’s for preventing blisters, it’s really the best? On our Spanish camino the water baths were also at the start and few as we traveled on but I don’t recall there being any on the Portuguese Camino. We would always soak our feet in cold water when we arrived at each accommodation stop, magnesium tablets and hydralyte each morning but we are a little older than you. 🤣 I also do leg stretches each morning before I get out of bed. I hope tomorrow is an easier day for you. Sorry for the motherly advice 😉 XX
I appreciate all advice! I neglected to bring wool, even though I kept meaning to grab some in Cumbria. I am doing more stretching than I’ve ever down in my life, morning, noon and night and it’s definitely helping a lot. We soak our feet at night but I hadn’t even thought of magnesium, great tip!