Viladesuso to Nigran 14.25 Miles, Plus 2

We were up and on the Camino by 8:30.  Luckily, the albergue proprietor yelled down from his balcony and pointed us onto the real Camino, because we would have taken the road. Many pilgrims chose that route, the Litoral, to stay close to the coast and because it was much flatter. However, it was right beside the road and not nearly as interesting. 

The first Camino marker said that Santiago was 144.8 kilometers.  The route took us up above the coastline along narrow country, paved roads.  Almost no cars and fewer pilgrims.  Around one curve, was an amazing collection of painted rocks with boots, pilgrims and scenery painted on them. Really artistic and special.

For two days we had been pumped up for the “perfect breakfast”, as it was described in a Facebook post.  It was only supposed to be two kilometers from our Alberque, it ended up being almost three miles.  It was far from perfect, no smell of bacon frying or sign of omelettes being flipped - only a refrigerator case with some items that would have to be nuked. We ended up with two coffees and making our own sandwiches with the last of our cheese and rolls.

We dropped back down to the coast along a gravel, walled path.  That only lasted a kilometer or so before we were climbing back up, seriously up into the eucalyptus forest.  This was some serious elevation. It was a trail through the forest and was very rocky. When there were brief breaks in the forest, there were some great views of the coastline, a 1,000 feet below. Most Camino walkers stuck with the boring road, but we did have some fellow trail hikers. Two Arnold Schwarzenegger-types blew by us which, of course, put us in our place!

We were teased by several small towns below us, that the trail never went to.  We know we passed As Marinas and Baredo longing for a coffee or a beer, our morale was being tested. To make matters worse, there were no pilgrims.

We finally broke free of the woods on the upper side of Baiona. The “odd threesome” was there. Odd in that it was made up of a 30 something French woman, a 40-year-old American woman and a 70-year-old American man.  We had encountered them several times and it became obvious that, other than the Camino, they never knew each other.  Don’t have a clue how they were compatible.

At this little oasis, we had coffees served in glasses, and for the first and only time, poured from a pot rather than prepared from an expresso machine. As we were about to leave, two young couples who were at the “perfect breakfast” place arrived.   This would be the only pilgrims we would see the rest of the day.

After following the yellow arrows, up and down and all around the outskirts of Baiona,  as we approached the center city we went in two churches with beautiful gold leaf altars. Being a Saturday, a big soccer complex had several youth matches going on.

As we entered the old city, it was a maze of little criss-crossing streets, all filled with walkers and restaurants with side-walk tables.  We looked at a couple and the menus and prices all seemed pretty similar.  We ended up being steered into a place by its street hawker.  The prices were much steeper, we should have left. The calamari and tuna salad were OK, not worth the 36 euros - live and learn. 

One block beyond the maze was the main thoroughfare of this beautiful port city.  The harbor had an impressive castle at the left and was filled with hundreds of boats from dinghies to yachts. We hit a bank ATM and sat at a sidewalk table for a coffee and beer  and people watching.

As we entered the city, we left the Camino route and were not sure how to find it again. Following the port north, we asked a father with two young daughters for directions. He said just keep going and you’ll hit it, he was right.

We climbed up out of Baiona which was a mixture of suburban and industrial. Almost all of the residential housing was 5 to 6 floors, boxy-type buildings - not impressed.

We finally reached the outskirts of Ramallosa.  The only photographic thing was the historic bridge over the Rio Groba. Still on the Camino, we climbed a local road. Miraculously, the directions for our guest house starting talking to us on our Apple phone. Because we were sure the guest house was in a difficult place to find (between two towns and in the mountains), we left the Camino route and followed the GPS directions. After lefts and rights and walking on a highly trafficked road, we looked up and our guest house was there! Truly unbelievable. The place didn’t look great on outside, but what a special place it turned out to be. We got checked into the Rincón do Demo and Dave went down to ask about a laundromat. They gave him a basket and told him to put our laundry in it and they would wash and dry! Then, as we sat out on our balcony, we watched the most amazing Spanish bowling game; it is hard to describe, but the two teams had uniforms and were highly competitive. The square in this hamlet has a raised concrete spot where the pins were placed just for this game. They attacked the pins from both sides and the points and rules were never clear, but it was very entertaining.  

Since tomorrow is Sunday in a country who literally closes down on Sundays, we asked the woman at the hotel across the street where we might find a market. She said it was a 15-minute walk downhill. When we were both showered and ready for the excursion, we walked down to WHAT?, a huge shopping mall. It had a large sporting goods store, supermarket, Walmart-type department store snd 20 others. We bought provisions for breakfast and lunch for Sunday. 

Back up in our little hamlet in the mountains, we decided to check out our food options. The snack bar only sold drinks and the restaurant did not open until 9:00.

At 9:00, we ventured over to the restaurant and it was overwhelmed. The server was such an amazing, patient woman who took her time with everyone, even though she was the only server for both the inside and outside. The kitchen was only serving tapas and we ordered jamón asado, gambas, and a tortilla. Too much food and everything was great except the gambas (shrimp) were heavily breaded and fried. We loved the experience with all of the locals and the server could not have been better. We asked her for a Camino stamp for our credentials and, never doing it before, she stamped it upside down. Never mind, she was terrific.

Our guest house was above a bar and the revelry went on until 3:00am. We had to shut the patio door. 

This hamlet in the middle of nowhere was such a treat. Did we mention the horses trotting up and down the street?