Today we walked the very short (12km) distance from Arcade to Pontevedra. Arcade’s claim to fame is its oysters. The Arcade Oyster (Ostrea edilus) in seed form comes from France or Greece but the cultivation in the confluence of freshwater coming from the Verdugo River and salt water coming from the Ría de Vigo gives them its unique flavour.
Arcade is a small “blink and you’ll miss it” type of town so it wasn’t long before we crossed the River Verdugo and headed up into the hills. We passed a lovely chap from Cork who had barely spoken to us on previous days but today he was almost loquacious. He said that because of our red shirts and the speed that we walked he thought that we were first aiders providing support to walkers on the route.
Up and over a pretty steep hill certainly got the heart pumping and sweat flowing, despite the lack of sun and threat of rain. We saw our first vines of the route and many more walkers than on previous day, maybe because Vigo is the start of the “final 100km” to be able to get the completion certificate in Santiago.
As well as more walkers there was also a greater proliferation of Camino related “tat” probably because we were now also on the main Camino route from Portugal rather than the coastal route. A small church (and a stamp for our passport) and (only 2 hours after leaving our hotel) we were in Pontevedra. We checked in to our hotel, unsurprisingly at 11am the rooms weren’t ready and headed into the old town for a coffee.
We stopped by the Igrexa da Virxe Peregrina constructed in 1778 which houses the statue of the Pilgrim Virgin (19th century), patron saint of the province of Pontevedra and, in turn, of the Portuguese Way. The balcony, accessed by a very tight spiral staircase, gave nice views down into the church.
We had a brief wander around some of the old town, as it was now raining, before settling down for a coffee under shelter.
Tomorrow we head to Caldas de Reis.
