22 - 25 October

We were supposed to walk out of Tui this morning, Tuesday, and walk to O Porrino. Unfortunately we had not long arrived in Tui on Monday and my slightly sore throat turned nasty leaving me with a fever and the shakes. The woman running the hostel brought me a big bowl of soup and I stayed in bed till morning. Steve went to the Farmacia and got paracetamol (1g tablets) and went out for dinner on his own.

So Tuesday morning we caught the bus to O Porrino where we had a lovely apartment overlooking the town square.

By Wednesday morning I was much better so we set out for Redondela at around 8.30 am. It was cold at first but once the sun came out it was a lovely walk of 17.6 kms.

The cross at the top of the highest hill today, just 250 metres.

After the second coffee stop I had a lot more energy and the walk went well.

The way down into Redondela, a very steep descent but manageable.

Arrived around 2.00p.m. stopped at a cafe for a beer, wine and lunch in the afternoon sun. Walked down to our accommodation about 20 minutes away, Amarisma Hostal, a very nice room on the third floor with spacious bathroom.

Over the whole of the walk from Lisbon till now we have only had a shared bathroom on two occasions but most, not all, have been very small.

Thursday morning we caught the train from Redondela to Santiago de Compostela. We spent over an hour at the unmanned station talking with an American couple who were just going a couple of stops to Pontevedra to avoid walking in the rain. 

There was no opportunity on the train to pay our fare and the staff at the Santiago station would not take our money so we donated the fare to the bagpipe player in the tunnel entrance to the Cathedral square.

Nice to have a couple of quiet days in Santiago at the end of our walk.

Will go and check out our favourite restaurant for lunch, Taverna a Fuego Lenti.

7.30 pm Mass at the Cathedral finished as usual with the botafumeiro, the swinging of the very large incense burner, thurible, that requires 6 or so attendants to operate the rope.

This last photo was supposed to show how close to the ceiling the botafumeiro comes when it swings. However you can only see the rope, not the thurible.

A visit to the supermercado and dinner at a restaurant near our Hostal followed.

Flight to London tomorrow morning.