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Arcade to Pontevedra. Spain.
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April 14th, 2017
After a tough day yesterday which you probably picked up in the tone of the blog, I had what amounted to a rest day today.
This was ideal as the cumulative effects of walking 214 kms had taken their toll. None the less, Easter Friday dawned a little cloudy and a little cool for the easy 12km walk to the gorgeous regional capital of Galicia – Pontevedra.
With breakfast consisting of 2 Panadol & a cup of coffee down the road, because the hotel breakfast didn’t open until 9, I set off.
I met a couple of ladies also looking for The Way, who had joined the Camino after flying into Vigo, which is around 30 kms away. One of them remarked at my lack of luggage, and when I told her I carried day weight only as I used a porter service, she said ”Oh. That’s not a real Camino is it?” I explained to her that I had a bad back and it was a choice of either walking without weight or not walking but she wasn’t impressed. ”Caminos are about suffering and pain. You must carry your own weight to feel the way the pilgrims did.” Mmm, I thought. ”Where did you say you joined the Camino? Was it Vigo? That’s not a real Camino is it? You are barely walking the 100kms.” Rude I know. In my defence, I have met a few zealous people on The Way. Some are zealous for religious reasons, some for fitness purposes and some are just plain weird. While they have every right to do the Camino for whatever reason they wish too, don’t pass judgment on me or others. Enjoy the journey. Relax.
As I walked out of Arcade, I reconnected with a German guy called Marco who I had met briefly a few days earlier at a cafe. Sometimes you just end up walking with people and so it proved with Marco, who at 54 was undergoing his own midlife crisis. In fact his was quite severe in that he was on stress leave from his work as a electrical software engineer who built flight simulators.
We crossed the Ponte Sampaio (Ponte is bridge remember) which was the site of a famous battle in the war of independence between the French Marshal Ney and the Galician Militia which lasted 3 days and ended in defeat for the frogs, ending their time in Galicia.
Marco and I tackled the hill out of Arcade through lovely forestry with cobble stoned tracks and quickly struck up a conversation about in his words, ‘accepting middle age’.
He had been to university recently and had been dying his hair to fit in and then realised that the other students were addressing him in the formal sense in German, reserved for elder and superior people. This was a MLC moment of realisation for him.
Together we explored all aspects of growing older including the need to do things now.
One thing he had done was to work out how many weekends he has left between now and 65. As he said – it was a lot less than he would have thought. A bit dark and I’m not sure why it was 65 but hey he is German.
We discussed the effects of getting older and the impact it had on your body, and how hard it was to accept that even now we were not capable of some things that we took for granted in our 30s.
This moved on to how to manage this and then how some cultures live longer and do not suffer the same impacts of aging as people in western cities.
What we came up with was this: If you imagine a 6 point star – genetics on one point, life choices on another, workplace stress and the nutrition /soil minerals of your country making up 3 & 4, leaving happiness/relationships and wealth making up the last two, the unanswered question was; Where do we sit?
As time wore on and we grew more comfortable with one another, he shared with me some of his regrets and the circumstances leading to his current stress leave. Turns out MLC come in all shapes and sizes, and we discussed some of the things middle aged men do to ‘rage against the fading light’.
By now we had hit some beautiful countryside and the going was easy. Following a wee stream for a km and a half we entered Pontevedra at 1215. 12 kms in 2 hours 30 minutes. Easy when you are talking.
Saying Adeus I found my hotel which, proving you have to eat **** sometimes to get to the bread on the other side, is very much more 4 star. It even has a softer bed!
Heading out immediately I came across the Casa da Oliva which served the Galician tapas speciality of Polpo, which is Octopus in spices and olive oil and Pimientos del Pimientos- peppers in olive oil and spices. Foodie heaven.
Washing it down with a cafe com leite then a cerzaza while writing this blog, I enjoyed seeing families out walking together in that very Spanish way.
The rest of the evening will be heading out to explore some more & check on any Easter Friday events.
MLC THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Time to hit the gym and make some subtle changes before I end up where Marco is. (Crikey 226 kms to make a decision I could have made at home!)
STEPS: 21,581 or 17.5 kms. Easy.
BODY STATE: 7/10
WEIGHT: Octopus has no calories right?
WILLERTONS WORLD 