Day 22 – Pontevedra to Caldas De Reis

I was up very early on account of not sleeping well under crowded and hot conditions. I know what to avoid in the future. Lasts nights accommodations did not suit me well and I was happy to hit the road early today.  Off into the cool morning air!

As we passed thru the city it became obvious that there had been quite the party(s) going on last night and they weren’t quite over yet.  There was still lots of people weaving their way along the streets.  As we left the city, our early rise was rewarded with a most dazzling sky.   Today’s walk was mostly along lovely country paths, but with many cycling groups who zip on by. I really do wish they would be more courteous and announce their approach to us walkers. Serious accidents could occur as they go very quickly at times which makes them hard to hear.

We stopped after a while for that first cup of coffee which always tastes so good. As we sat there, we saw many pilgrims go by and also come in. We could see it was going to be another heavy day of pilgrim traffic. So we got back on the road as quickly as we could. We were determined to be the early arrivals at the next albergue and snatch up the bottom bunks.

Enroute Petra spied a roadside stand selling the coveted “cherry” she likes so much. We were soon walking along filling our faces on some of the best cherries Spain had to offer.

We met a nice young woman from Holland a few kms before our destination and so the time passed quickly as we chatted along and entered the city over another stellar bridge.

 Caldas de Reis is a very lovely small city. It is noted for its thermal waters reaching 40 degrees celsius.  There are several free pools for putting your feet and legs in. Once settled in at the albergue that is exactly what we did. Boy, did that ever feel good!  The small pool was really hot and the larger one was more bearable

 We headed next for refreshments at one of the beautiful cafés along the river where I was painfully still trying to find good wifi to attach pictures to my blogs and publish. That’s one thing we have noticed in Spain, and that is the wifi is not that reliable.

We had heard that there was a waterfall some 2 kms up the river and we felt refreshed enough to go and find it.  It felt good to walk along the path without the weight of a heavy pack and tired feet. We were soon at the falls.  The journey there was most lovely and the falls themselves were spectacular. Lots of flattish round rocks to lie on.  It didn’t take long before I was dozing on the warm rocks with the sound of water crashing all around.  It was a hard place to leave.