Camino de Santiago (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Stage 7: Tui – Mos
Maybe it was because we were a good bit further north than when we started this trip, but when we left early in the morning it was really cold outside. My hands were so cold that I couldn’t hold the trekking poles properly and finally packed them up and walked on without them. Kevin did the same. Even today, a difference to Portugal should be noticeable. Looking for a suitable place to have breakfast we found that almost everything was closed as it was Sunday. After a while, we could see a bar from afar and clung to it with all our hopes of having breakfast. A woman came towards us and correctly interpreted our hungry looks. She approached us and explained that the bar was also closed. There was only one bakery in town that was open on Sundays, but she could take us there. And so we made our way together to the bakery, which was about a 15-minute walk away. I was so happy to finally be able to talk to locals again and the woman was very chatty as well so we chatted the whole way while Kevin followed us. The woman had many questions about the Camino and also about Germany. In return, she said that she often went shopping in Portugal because it was cheaper there than in Spain. She also complained that everything was closed here on Sundays and that you couldn’t even go to get bread rolls without having to walk a long way. I explained to her that in Germany most things are also closed on Sundays. And so we eventually arrived at the bakery. We thanked the friendly woman again and said goodbye before we could finally order our long-awaited breakfast.
On the way back, signs showed us an alternative route. Questioningly we looked at the routes. The actual Camino de Santiago was very straight for quite a while, while the alternative route was more meandering and also longer. Straight ahead didn’t sound too much of a concern at first, so we decided to stay on the actual path. In retrospect, we should have taken the alternative route. The straight stretch turned out to be a 2.36 km long straight road across an industrial area. Once again we were glad not to run this route in summer because there is definitely no escaping the sun here. Apart from a bank, an empty cookie vending machine, and a vending machine that hasn’t been serviced for so long that you could hardly see the faded Coca-Cola logo on the cans, there was absolutely nothing on the entire route but asphalt and industrial buildings, which is why the distance appeared to be many times longer than it already was.
A short time later we reached O Porriño. We looked at the city a little and came to the conclusion that it was rather average after all. In addition, we only ran 16 km, so there were still reserves for the further way. We did, however, meet another pilgrim from Germany in town, named Ralph. He immediately caught the eye as he had perfected the pilgrimage. Instead of strapping the heavy hiking backpack to his back, he pushed a cart behind him that he had tied around his hips in a self-construction. It looked a bit like a horse-drawn cart, but it seemed very comfortable, especially since it meant he could carry a lot more weight with him. Ralph wanted to walk to Mos, where there should be a municipal albergue for pilgrims. I had already seen the albergue in my app, but it was rated really badly, so I definitely didn’t want to stay there, especially after our experience in Ponte de Lima. There weren’t many alternatives, except for a hostel in Veigadaña, 2km before Mos, which again was rated quite well. And so we said goodbye to Ralph and continued on our way to Veigadaña.
Then, just past O Porriño, there was a strange stretch of road that would take us around a bridge instead of just going under it, although there was a footpath there as well. Finally, we approached Veigadaña. After this quite eventful day, I longed for some rest and a hot shower. None of this was to happen: The hostel in Veigadaña was closed. After a small nervous breakdown on my part, we had no choice but to walk on to Mos and check into the municipal albergue there as well. In fact, the albergue didn’t make as bad an impression as first expected. There was even warm water! There were already some people on site. So we met not only Ralph again, but also Li. In the hostel, there was a free choice of beds, but there were several rooms with bunk beds, and Kevin and I could get a room for us again. Shortly after us, an organized hiking group arrived, which we had already seen on the way. They were traveling with a hiking guide and a drone was filming them so that the travel organization could probably sell the video footage to the people afterward at a way too high price as a unique souvenir. The problem with this was that capacity was very limited due to hygiene requirements. So some beds were closed due to Corona, such that there was not enough capacity for the whole group. Some decided to walk 6 kilometers further to Saxamonde, where there should be the next hostel, but since it was already 4 pm, some also organized a cab and went back to O Porriño. In that sense, we were still lucky in bad luck that we could get a place in the albergue at all.
Next to the albergue, there was a small park and a restaurant, which had cheap ready-made lasagne as the only meal, but since we were both completely starved, we shoveled the lasagne down anyway. We joined Li, who was drinking a beer and eating the accompanying tapas in the form of salted peanuts. Either he had already eaten the ready-made lasagne or he hadn’t even dared try it. The small ready-made lasagne didn’t really fill us up, but we really didn’t want to do a second portion. In the restaurant itself, however, there was a machine that sold nuts and other canned snacks, so we got our dessert from this machine, even if the prices were outrageous, of course.
At night, there should still be a problem with the choice of our accommodation. As already mentioned, the nights here were a lot colder than at the beginning of the journey. Of course, the albergue had no heating. I generally get cold very quickly and unlike Kevin, who had a bigger and warmer sleeping bag than me, I only had an ultra-light sleeping bag. This had the advantage that I had less to carry, but the sleeping bag wasn’t particularly thick. I changed into all my clothes including several pairs of socks and all my jackets and climbed into the sleeping bag only to wake up in the night shivering. If I then tried to go back to sleep, the snoring of the other pilgrims (I was the only woman in the entire hostel) prevented me from doing so. The snoring could still be heard through two closed doors. If I fell asleep again, I woke up trembling a short time later and the spectacle started all over again. This went on all night until the next morning.
