Camino de Santiago (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Stage 5: Ponte de Lima – Rubiães
In the kitchen, we ate some biscuits and an orange picked the day before and were on our way again. After a short while, Li caught up with us. He greeted us before passing us. Sometime later we saw a café, the first and only one for today. Li was already sitting there and had just finished his coffee. We also took a little break here. I also had a coffee and Kevin bought a muffin and a banana. Here, too, there was a trusting cat that snuggled up to our legs. A short time later, Marinus also arrived at the café. He too ordered a coffee and sat down on one of the plastic chairs. We chatted briefly and he showed us his newly added drawings. At the back of the book, there were a few pages for comments and he asked us to please write a few lines in his book too, which of course we were very happy to do. Just as we were about to get up and start walking, a couple arrived that we hadn’t seen before. At least the café couldn’t complain about a lack of customers that day.
Shortly after we started walking, the first raindrops came down from the sky. We put on our rain ponchos and a short time later we were marching through the pouring rain. As if that wasn’t enough, this was our only mountain stage. So while the rain was lashing our faces, we struggled up one steep path after the other. Every time we thought we should finally have made it, another path, much steeper, stretched out before us. After a while, we didn’t know if we were wet from rain or sweat. After what felt like an endless stage with constant rain, we finally arrived on top of the mountain. However, our stage did not end here, because there was absolutely nothing on the mountain. There was a building that looked like a retreat or a café, but it was locked and completely deserted. So we had no choice but to go further and walk down the mountain on the other side. Of course, we didn’t find a way to eat lunch that day either. The only pilgrim’s bar, which was announced well beforehand in the form of signs, was closed and so we arrived in Rubiães completely soaked without a strengthening meal. Although the town had several hostels, only one was open. It was interesting that this time it was not the state hostel, but a private one. And so Kevin and I finally had our own room again. We even happily paid the extra fee for a private bathroom. Here we also met Li again, who had just returned from lunch. He raved about the delicious pilgrim menu in the restaurant, which was the only open restaurant in town anyway. So we quickly got dressed and went to eat.
Li was right because the pilgrim menu was really great! Kevin ordered roast veal for his main course and I, who was now thirsting for fresh vegetables, ordered an absolutely delicious salad. After the meal, we wanted to go to the supermarket to stock up on supplies, but unfortunately, the nearest supermarket was closed. Another supermarket was a fifteen-minute walk away. This was a bit too far for Kevin, who had a lot of pain in his feet after the mountain stage, so he went back to the accommodation while I went shopping. Back at the accommodation, what I had been waiting for the whole time came: a long and, above all, hot shower! In the meantime, Kevin has gone down to the communal kitchen, where Li, Marinus, and the couple from before have also gathered. After my shower, I joined them and we all had a long, long chat. One of the top topics was a newspaper article from Ponte de Lima about Marinus. Someone on the local news had noticed his drawing of the city, so there was an article about it:
https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/pais/1936187/obra-de-arte-em-tempo-recorde-peregrino-desenha-ponte-de-lima
