My top bunk was in a room of about 30 people, and there was snoring galore, but I stuffed my earplugs deep and slept OK.

Things get a little frantic when that many people try to get ready in the morning, so I schlepped everything outside to pack in the courtyard and was walking by 8am, just after first light.

The guidebook said the next section of the Camino was confusing and had multiple options. Part of the confusion came in because shop owners and cafes started putting their own yellow arrows out, even when they are not on the route, and the path has changed a bunch, so pilgrims will find many misleading cues for the path. I decided to stick to the sea, so set off and immediately met a few women from Idaho, and then a couple more from California.

The walk was very scenic, and there were fantastic views into the mountains around and some islands just off land. I stopped for my morning treat and saw that many other pilgrims chose the waterfront walk, too. Today was slated to be the longest of the trip at almost 18 miles, so I wanted to go slow and steady and was trying to keep the back happy. But as it turns out, I didn’t walk them all. I knew from the beginning that if my body or brain wasn’t having it that I would hop in a taxi and jump ahead. I was just getting ready to leave my morning coffee stop when Ignatio showed up.  It had been a few days since I had seen the boys (and by boys, I mean retired guys in their late 60s), so I joined them at their table and started walking with them again.

We cruised along the coast, sometimes forced up and inland in steep climbs when there was a private house or rocky shore, and we stopped a cafe a while later snd dipped in for a break. The sun was hot today and would only get hotter. I met some folks from Sacramento who were very familiar with Bend and had a nice chat. The talk inevitably turned to food, and Ignatio insisted that Adrian and I must try barnacles. I said ok, I was here to have a grand adventure, even if it was culinary… We thought about restaurant schedules and the miles we had left to walk but the math didn’t compute for getting to town before the restaurants closed for their 4-8pm break, so someone suggested hopping in a bus or cab to Vigo (to their well-known seafood restaurants) and then bussing back after lunch. I said, “Let’s go!” but elaborated that i didn’t need to bus back….I’m not getting precious about continuous footsteps out here. So before we knew it we were at a bus stop and for 1.63 euro we were on the way.

The bus kept to the waterfront for the most part, so we did experience what the pilgrims we passed did, but without the sweat and fatigue. I had needed to mix things up, and even though I walked about 10 miles, I could now consider this my rest day 😅.

I am so glad Ignatio is from Spain, because he polled the people on the bus about where we should get off and eat our seafood. We arrived in the middle of Vigo and just walked a few steps to our restaurant where we had an amazing meal of muscles, razor clams, squid, and more. We splurged, and it was everything I could have wanted from a fun “rest” day on the Camino 💃💃. We even had dessert!!

After lunch, we were excited to find that we were close to our hostels for the night, so I said my goodbyes and checked in.

After a shower and a lie down, I was ready to explore a bit and happened on the happening place! The shopping area was teaming with people and I sat and people watched for a while….comforted by such a big city and people who were completely unaware of the stress and angst of what it means to be an American these days. Well, I’m sure they are aware. Thanks to globalization and the 24hr news cycle 😒. We’re kind of all in this together.