Day 19 and 20 Camino Portuguese 3/4 October 2025

 

 

Day 19 3 October 2025 

This is day 19, the 3rd of October 2025 

I started really early today because of the day the 1 hour ahead. Um technically I'm starting at 5:30 in the morning so it was still pretty dark and even by 7:30 it still was not very light but It's cool. I started off from Tui again in the dark with no one on the streets and it was a good 2 hours before sunrise I had passed a town O Porrino where I had a break and was a reasonable size town with some large churches. It was soon after the town that I passed the 100km maker to Santiago and  I met an Englishman walking. He had started from Tui but he actually drove to the next town O Porrino as he had started late because his flight was delayed. So he was only an hour or so into the walk when I met him. His name's Graeme and he lives in Brighton. He's an accountant. So we had a chat for about an hour till I got to Mos. Then we went our separate ways. . There were again magnificent views especially coming into Redondela .  I met up again with him just after Redondela and we walked the last 8 kilometers to Arcade where he was staying .The view of the verdugo river just before getting to Arcade from the hill was amazing . the Englishman  i met was planning to finish his walk on Monday a day later. He was doing just under the 100k mark. But it was nice to meet someone and have a chat all things general.  I managed to cover 40 kms. I didn't find accommodation but I was directed to a private Albergue and I knocked for quite a while and was about to leave when eventually someone did come and it turned out to be the cheapest stay at €12. There was no one else at the hostel but about 9:00 pm I think some walkers came in. They stayed in another room and I left fairly early. I never saw them. So I had a room to myself for €12 and it was a nice bathroom that was shared. That was fine. I had a good sleep anyway.

 

 

Day 20 4 October 2025

This is day 20th which is the 4th of October. Plan to finish on the 5th. Got up at about 4:00am . Went to the toilet twice. But otherwise felt pretty refreshed and glad that I managed to get a room. The hotel I was looking at booking was completely sold out again today. I got up early and started out at 6.30am in the dark. So for 2 hours I was in the dark and it made for slow going and it's been drizzling non-stop the whole morning but I got through to about 17ks in just under 4 hours. Plan was to get to the Caldas de Reis  is 33 kilometers hopefully by lunchtime. And that will give me the afternoon to get to Pedron which is another 19 kilometers. So it'll be a massive walk of 50ks.  I'll try and find accommodation nearer or just outside Pedron and give me some flexibility. But so far there isn't any. So I may have to walk to Pedron. But I have the whole day. So hopefully I'll get there but it may be late. Other than that it's coming to the end of the journey. Great experience. Nothing has unnerved me. I'm glad for that. And it just shows how life can be simplified and still be wonderful. The slow drizzle continued for much of the day and there were lots of pilgrims on this section and all the cafes were crowded  .The main town was Pontevedra which I passed in the morning and had coffee. There was a Dutch woman pilgrim who started off near Arcade and we basically walked till Caldas De Reis where she stopped. I had a break at Caldas before then walking the remaining distance to Padron.I managed to book a room in a small hotel but it was difficult finding it and I had to rush to get to Padron before the reception closed. It was a small motel with just a few rooms but got there at about 6.30 pm walking 53 kms. Found a place to do laundry and have dinner of chips and scrambled eggs at a small bar nearby,