Portuguese camino

 We arrived back in Porto on what I like to call the Flix bus COVID express. Very bad masking and hot packed bus. That was last night. We did our COVID tests today. Negative  so far- so we can fly back. If COVID does  appear at least we will be back in the States.  Have a nice apt here for a few nights where all the action is near the station. We are all packed up off to airport early in morning. Sigh. Tons of group tours  here, lots of people traveling. It’s a whole other world out here! So glad we came!

 Santiago!! We made it blister-free! My second time here and it still feels so special. I’m sure it always will. Perer took a tumble down a hill yesterday. He spent a few hours at hospital getting X-ray and sling, it was his drinking hand so quite  a serious for him. 🤣 just a sprain luckily.  We met an awesome group of people a few days back, and had great  times with them all. Everyone going their separate ways. And it’s always hard to say goodbyes. But what a special place to be together. Cathedral is not crowded, and it’s not scaffolded as it was last time I was here. Took about 5 minutes to get compostelas in late afternoon.  We have a late afternoon bus back to Porto today  (3.5 hours back- 11 days to walk!) where we’ll hang out a few days before doing our COVID test to get  back to US. Fingers crossed.

 Quiet night in Padron. We were up late having too much fun last night, with an awesome group of people. Staying at Chef Rivera tonight,  a nice centrally located place in Padron. The laundromat  next door made me very happy.  I tried to have Padron peppers at a lovely restaurant, but not in season? Ended up with an awesome cheese board that made up for it. Tomorrow is the day we walk into Santiago. I’m sad that it’s over as are most people I’ve met the past few days. Peter seems glad that the walking is done though. We are all on our own Caminos, and though he doesn’t seem to  have loved this experience as much  as many, I’m so glad he came along to try. It will be my second time in Santiago- I can hardly wait!

 Happy birthday 🎊🎈🎂 Jessica Siobhan O’Gorman!!! Have a fab 20th! Love you very much kid!!! Mom and Dad

 Sunday in Pontevedra. What a lovely town! We meandered in on the Alternative river route which adds a couple of km but it’s worth it. Found lots of great tapas places with a few other hungry people, Took a wrong turn somewhere but using Camino Ninja app which got us back on track. Things are very well marked though. Great day!

 We are in Redondela—Under 100km to Santiago. I had a quick look at John Brierley’s take on the walk from Porrino to Redondela before setting out this morning. Didn’t like the sound of ‘challenging stage’ and ‘steep up and down’- so Mavis the walking stick had an encore appearance. However, no loose stones —really, good surfaces just STEEP. Nice walk through forests, towns and a bit of side of the road. Stopped for a coffee in Mos and met a few familiar faces. The Camino gift shop here can meet all your needs from fridge magnets to all kinds of Peregrino gear. They have a stamp. Collecting 2 stamps a day will get you that hard-earned Compostela at the end now.  Then there was a little incident.  Shoved change from the coffee into my zipper pocket in front of pants, and we headed out. A short time later something felt strange in my leg, so gave it a shake. Out fell 5 euros. Ugh. I realized these were not the pants with zipper pocket, they were the zip offs! Money had gone ...