Walking the Camino de Santiago

Sept 8 –

Mine used to look real petty
Was the picture in the dictionary
Of the guy that wasn't ready to grow up
And all it took was a last goodbye
A broken heart on borrowed time
And letting go of things that are hard to let go of
Now I love a little more, dream a little deeper
Leave all the leavers, keep all the keepers
Find peace of mind in the time the good Lord gives
I'ma cross one off, put two more on it
Say, "I love you" 'fore the moment's gone
And never have to ask myself, "What if"
When I get to the bottom of my bucket list - Mitchell Tenpenny

Happy Birthday to me! Headed out later than usual today after a nice nights rest and breakfast. Christian bought new shoes to alleviate his toe problems, so he and I started our journey after a coffee and light breakfast with Luca. Luca is still on the mend with his ankle, so he will meet us when we arrive in Redondela. Today is a short walk, approximately 11 miles and a welcome small break from the longer walk days.

Today we walked up the hillside outside of Vigo, with a steep climb and descent, and then down the other side into the small town of Redondela. This took us through a beautiful forested area with a few small waterfalls. It was calm, quiet, and you could feel the cold air as it came off the waterfalls. It felt like natures own air conditioning.

The path is now combining with the Portuguese Central trail, so all pilgrims from the Coastal and Central trails have merged. There are now a lot more pilgrims on the paths and many of them in the Albergues. While I could have opted for a nice hotel for my birthday, I decided to stay amongst the pilgrims in a nice Albergue on the Camino route.

Once we climbed the steep hillside, the majority of the day remained in the forest until it was time to descend into Redondela. There were no cafes on this path in the forest, but we walked past a very small village where a little girl around 9 years old was selling lemonade. She was very sweet, and we bought two lemonades that were cold and tasted fantastic!

As a curious fact, Redondela takes its name from the shape it acquires by being surrounded by the sea and the mountains. It’s a small, very quaint little town.

Since it is my birthday, we arrived at our accommodations, which was very new and modern. We all took our usual showers and changed into clean clothing, then headed out to find a cafe and later a restaurant for dinner.

My thoughts: I enjoyed the calmness of the day today and the journey through the forest with its moss, ferns, waterfalls… it was picture perfect. I’m feeling grateful for another birthday, to be here in Spain, and as always, to be able to experience such an amazing trek across Portugal and Spain. My waiter at the restaurant asked me how old I was and I made him guess .. he guessed 38!! Haha I wish! But a nice compliment. Must be my Portuguese tan! 😉 I chose the song at the beginning of this blog as my anthem for this year. I’m definitely experiencing a journey on my “bucket list” and I can’t wait to add two more!