The longest and last day in Portugal, tomorrow we cross into Spain.
The air was cold when I left the albergue at 7am. I was tempted to don my gloves, but I stuck it out. The route winds its way through the town and up a little, leading into Areosa.
I caught Pete and mum up outside a cafe; their accommodation was further into town than mine.
The path pretty much followed cobbled village roads at an elevation to see the Atlantic waves from afar. Even from this distance, you could tell, they were big!
At Carreço we stopped for breakfast, a solid 10km done. The path was pretty much the same into Armada. Here we came across a pretty little cafe, ‘Cafe de Cabanas’. Set in a garden next to the river; little bistro tables with flowery parasols decorated the garden – we had to stop!
Glad we did, as the way went off road, climbing through woodland, reaching the highest point for the day. Over the other side, we descended into Vila Praia de Ancora.
In the square we had lunch before joining the coastal path into Caminha. The sea breeze kept the sun from cooking us. The waves were large enough, they were curling over, crashing into the rocky shoreline.
For the last 4km you move away from the coast following a railway line into Caminha. We passed an albergue that had a sign “Full”. I checked my Camino apps. They were all full, and the municipal one was temporarily closed.
There was no choice, I had to book a hotel last minute, there weren’t many vacancies left in the town.
We had to finish off booking the last couple of days. Santiago was pretty much full. There is a medical convention in the city, which has meant literally every hotel was full. The only few rooms available were going for €600+ a night.
This meant for some creative thinking. The solution was a rest day in Padrón, the start of the last stage, and arrive into Santiago a day later.
Distance: 29.2km
