Camino Portuguese 23: Redondela to Pontevedra

24.06.2025 - 24.06.2025
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Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Camino Portuguese: Day 23 – Redondela to Pontevedra

Last night was a very rough night of sleep. The air-con was on when I fell asleep, but it turned off at some point during the night (I’m not sure if it was on a timer or someone in the room turned it off). The room became very stuffy and hot, which, when coupled with the one snoring person, made it difficult to sleep. I was rather grumpy when I eventually got out of bed this morning.

Before leaving town, I stopped at the one café that was open so I could have a quick cut of coffee. The place was very busy and for some strange reason I was not permitted to sit at the tables they had setup along the sidewalk (I sat down, but one of the staff told me it was not permitted… strange…).

When I truly set off on today’s walk, it was 07:15 and there were tons of pilgrims on the Camino. The first stretch of the morning had some brutal hills to climb up. Just when I though it was over, I would turn a corner and discover that the uphill climb continued. It was tiring and drained what little energy I had this morning.

The nice part about today’s walk was that it was almost entirely in the woods, so there was ample shade from the sun. Dirt paths were slightly muddy today due to some early morning rain, but it didn’t make walking difficult. There were some short stretches of heavily rocky paths, but they were nowhere near as bad as what I’d endured in Portugal.

I was delighted when I finally arrived in a small town and I had rest stop at a café along the Camino. The place was full of pilgrims – they were inescapable now! So many obnoxious 100km pilgrims were flooding the Camino, just as they had done after Sarria back on the Camino Frances. One woman I passed was walking in flip-fops! These pilgrims aren’t serious pilgrims and I have nothing but contempt for them. I ordered a Coke at the café and rested there for about 15 minutes.

The rest of the morning was relatively easy going and relatively flat. I had roughly 12km to go when I left the café and there was nowhere to truly stop throughout the entire time! There were some small stands where locals sold Camino trinkets to pilgrims (the 100km people were always crowding around these places). I put in my headphones and listened to podcasts throughout the rest of the morning.

Walking through the woods was very peaceful and relaxing, though I was getting more tired the closer I got to Pontevedra. The tranquility was smashed when one man came walking by while smoking a cigar! The smell of the smoke wafted behind him; it was so rude! Thankfully he was walking quite quickly and soon the smells of nature returned. Once I reached the highway, I knew I was getting close to the city. After walking through a sketchy tunnel, I was finally in Pontevedra!

I instantly liked this city more than Redondela. It was big and clean and had a much better vibe. I had a short rest at the first bench that I found – my feet were so sore and tired from the strenuous walk today. The hills had been so hard on my earlier this morning. I pushed on to the city center, where I saw the cathedral, and then grabbed a bite to eat for lunch.

At 13:30, I checked in at my hostel for the night. It was a nice place with privacy curtains at every bed, along with lockers (something my hostel lacked last night). The staff had everyone spray their bags and shoes for bed bugs out of an abundance of caution, which I was more than happy to do. I then showered and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hostel.

Dinner tonight was at a local café, though I was hesitant to eat at one since I’ve had nothing but disappointments from them in the past. I had two beers, which had me feeling tipsy, along with a very tasty stuffed pita sandwich. The waitress was very friendly and didn’t mind me practicing my broken Spanish (she spoke good English to help fill in the gaps when I didn’t know what to say in Spanish). I then went to a grocery store to get some Powerade drinks before heading back to the hostel for the night.