Day 4 Pontevedra to Caldes De Reyes

Climb every mountain…..do I have to?, Really?

I am in bread heaven!  Most of you know I have a deep appreciation for good bread. I have not been disappointed in Spain. Crusty on the outside, light and airy on the inside, I have yet to run into a basket of “pan” that has not been a joy to enjoy. I continue to be puzzled in the states by our preference for bread soft enough to be suitable for someone with severe gum disease lol

That’s the good news. The bad news is that I had another #%€#!? mountain to cross today. At least it was only one. But after the beating I took the day before, one was plenty.

This day was originally to be my off day as I knew the three crossings were going to take their toll, but rain was forecast for Wednesday. (had to look at my watch to verify lol I have found it refreshing, and very liberating , to lose track of what day  of the week it is) So, I decided to soldier on and hit it four days straight. It took me almost 4 hours to get to the top of the mountain sometimes as little as 50 yards between rest breaks. Fortunately the interval training that I was using early on operated on the principle “work until you can’t, rest until you can” so while it might have been only 50 yards, it was typically also only a 2 or 3 minute break before I hit it again (but there were 2 or 3 15s worked in their as well just to be honest) the scenery was much prettier today. Comments below:
This is the bridge I crossed leaving Pontevedra.
I could not be making this trek without these fountains. These fountains are located all along the Camino specifically for Pilgrims to drink and/or refill their water bottles. One has to be careful though as there are also fonts of non-potable water for foot bathing. Ran across one of those. Fortunately I had learned enough Spanish to know that asqueroso means nasty that I didn’t partake. The stone benches are great to take a load off and sure made getting the pack on and off much easier.

The above is by far and away the creepiest place I’ve come across on the Camino. In the middle of nowhere is this isolated church and mausoleum with this bizarre statue of this guy. As far as I could tell he was a local who was very active in the community….I’m just not sure which community (living or not) it was lol. The place just had a super creepy feel. The German couple there at the same time agreed.

The above is representative of what I have been walking by almost constantly on the Camino. There must be thousands of these small vineyards/farms throughout Galicia.

AAn excellent example of a Roman bridge.

A shot of the arbor that I damn near collapsed under after getting to the top of that #%€£¥ hill. Lol
More tomorrow from Caldes De Reyes