Tuesday July 11, 2017
We got a relatively early start to our day because the restaurant was open at 7 am. I had trouble with the internet so I completed my journal for the previous day while we ate breakfast. By the time we started our 18 km ( 11 mile ) hike, it was 8:30.
As we left the hotel, I used ‘ Google Maps ‘ to direct us in the direction of Padron and hopefully we would intersect the Camino path but as we were getting close to the highway going out of the city, we passed a house where a couple was doing some gardening and they quickly informed us that we were going the wrong way. I hesitated and pointed to the map on my iPhone but they were insistent and could see my hesitation to follow their directions so the husband told the wife that he would lead us to the path and she agreed. We followed him the short distance around the corner and I immediately understood my error. The direction we were on, would take us past the point where the trail crossed the highway and although we would make it to Padron, we would have spent most of our time walking on the highway.
Kathy and I had a disagreement as to who saw the first arrow. I decided to go out of my comfort zone and pretend to be a gentleman, so I capitulated and let her have the privilege of winning and therefore paying for the meals.
We walked through a lot of the same type of terrain we had traversed before, although there were more elevation changes than the previous day.
After 5 km, we arrived at our first cafe and there was a room where Camino walkers could sign their names, so Pete and Kathy wrote their names on one of the walls.
At one of the rest stops, we met a mother and daughter from Germany and I was glad that my German was good enough to converse with them. The daughter is studying social sciences in a German university and when she first told her parents that she wanted to go on a hike, her father encouraged her mother to go along, even though it was out of her comfort zone. This is their third hike together. Unfortunately, the daughter had injured her knee before coming on the trip and she was wearing a knee brace. There are several people who are wearing knee braces on this trip and I have also noticed that more people are limping as we approach the finish line.
As we continued to Padron, we found the self-serve cafe along the way that was mentioned in our hiking manual. It was quite clean and well stocked.
It was early afternoon when we finally reached Padron.
We crossed the river that runs through the center of town and headed to the Rivera Hotel.
We freshened up a bit and of course, we had a wonderful meal, complete with the essential dessert.
I originally thought that I would lose some weight on this trip with all of the exercise I would get, but it seems I have found more than I have lost and it has been fun finding it.
Ralf Hamm 