Tuy to Redondela-Day 1 of the Spanish section of the camino....

What a lovely sight when I drew the curtains this morning-a clear sunny sky to tempt us on our way Cool as it turned out when we ventured out but at least the sun shone and promised a better day ahead.
We started our day with our usual hearty breakfast of cheese,meat,eggs and a variety of breads and cakes to select from,made our lunches and got ready to leave.Boots on and packs organised we made ready to begin the next stage of the camino.

It is a little different today as our schedule advised we would be collected from our hotel by taxi and driven through the outskirts of Tuy to Porrino where we would be left to walk the rest of the way. A treat to be driven past all the industrial wasteland and into more rural spaces.
We left at 9.15am and arrived at 3.00pm at our hotel. Antolins was about three kilometres past Redondela  which was not clear from our notes. We had anticipated arriving at our destination much earlier in the day than we did but then we were closer for the following day's walk to Pontravida.

The walk today was a lovely one, through forested hill walks and up over the pass at Mos before dropping down into the river valley, passed lots of little villages with their cobbled streets and onto the coastal town of Redondela.Through the mist shrouding the bay I could make out a very modern and impressive bridge spanning the bay.

The area seems a little more prosperous here. People still have their gardens full of produce but there are more flowers in planters and lots of citrus and kiwi fruit amongst the usual grape canopies and plantings of corn and potato. Locals are hard at work weeding and tending the poultry or cutting great stacks of firewood. Must be cold in the winter by the size of the wood heaps.
Little shrines and statues are frequent along the way. The shrines are beautifully tended with fresh flowers and candles. The villages all have a prominent church, a cross and usually a particular saint who is venerated in the area by a shrine or church.

The miles seem to slide by once you get started on the day's walk but as the time goes along and  the cobblestones appear, your body starts a refrain of sore muscles begging for a stop to rest up: toes start to  cramp up and  the knees begin to protest but on you go- mind over matter. Brad is soldiering on-she seems undaunted by the task.Harden up!
We walked into the town albergue and bought our scallop shells so we looked the real peregrine and then we headed off to find our hotel. I was looking forward to staying here as we were right on the coast beside a seaside area which was a place to swim and I imagined us out in the sun swimming across to the little sanctuary island opposite to Antolins.

 Well guess what, the weather had other ideas! It was raining as we arrived and we were cold and had no inclination to explore further than our room.Hard to believe we are in Spain in June and wrapped in a blanket to keep warm.
The hotel was comfortable and we were delighted to meet our American pilgrims in the dining room so had a lively meal together and caught up on their trials and tribulations-sore feet and awful blisters.
Outside my window is a NZ cabbage tree flowering beautifully.A welcome sight to a kiwi.