Vigo to Arcade

 Day 9 of our Camino and we are feeling the strain of the past 200 plus km. That's not to say we are not still loving it but it has certainly tested our metal. Crispy has been amazingvat working through the pains and discomforts and is determined to soldier onto the end.

Today's walk took us from the busy city of Vigo to the small rural town of Arcade. Most people finish today,s segment of the Camino  at the old town of Redondella but I decided that we would push on an additional 7km to Arcade. I have tried to make each segment on average 20km in distance to walk  with the odd short section thrown in a rest type day.  By pushing onto Arcade today it means we only have a 14km section tomorrow before starting our final approach to Santiago. There's no easy way to do it as by hook or by crook you have to put the work in to cover the total distance. 

The walk has been much better than yesterday's. 24.5km but more forest trail than road with some very steep sections.

The off road sections are very welcome as constant road and hard surface walking is hard on the feet and legs. It's this, i think, that has caused us most of our problems. If the entire distance had been "off road" I don't think we would have suffered half as many injuries.

  The views over the coast have been amazing Today made even better with the sunshine . We started in the rain as forecast but the clouds quickly cleared and by 11am it was glorious blue skies that remained with us all day. 

Arcade Is a bit of a one horse town and not very pretty but a great Staging post. Our lodgings are a very nice modern apartment that has everything we need. It's good to vary the lodgings as night after night in hotels can get wearying  and it's good to have your own space. Even if it is only for a couple of hours. Eating out is limited in Arcade so we chose the nearest resteraunt to our accommodation. It turned out to be a good choice with a great selection of sea food and an ample selection of gluten free options for Dear old Crispy. She ordered the veal cutlet for the princely sum of 10 euros and was served what looked like the majority of a young bull on her plate. It was great. Perfectly cooked and incredible value. It even came with the option of boiled potatoes. A rare treat indeed. In all the resteraunt  and eateries, local and tourist orientated, everything comes with chips. The spanish are not keen on boiled or mashed potatoes and vegetables are definitely not popular. I shall recount a story about vegetables at some later date.

Tomorrow is an easy day so no need for an early start. It will give us a little more time to nurse our weary feet and legs. Before pushing on to Pontevera. We again met up with some people who started from Porto at the same time as us which was nice. Both the Coastal and Central Caminos have now joined at this point so there may be more pilgrims than before. 

Vigo disappearing into the distance

Bare and Crispy signing off, Arcade, Galicia, Espana.    "Buen Camino"