Stage 7: Oia - A Ramallosa

What a day of rest can do 🙂

After a very restful night, I was woken up this morning for the first time by my alarm instead of other pilgrims. Upon opening the window, I immediately noticed the smell of smoke in the air. During breakfast, the owner told me that the forest above the neighboring village had burned. Now the warning SMS regarding 'forest fire danger' makes sense...

After a hearty breakfast, I started around 08:30 (my body is still set to Portuguese time...).

To my surprise, my ankle felt quite good and I was even able to start walking without a bandage (which I had purchased at the pharmacy yesterday) and without painkillers. Still with the smell of smoke in the air, I walked along the coast towards Viladesuso. Along the way, I decided to put on the bandage to support the joint a bit.

After about 8 km, I treated myself and my feet to a little break at the café 'O Muiño'. As always, there was freshly squeezed orange juice and a small chocolate croissant.

After getting up, I had to get back into the swing of things, but my joints still held up remarkably well. With the morning, or almost midday sun, on my back, I continued along the coast. A large part of the route today ran beside the road, so it was super flat and gentle on the ankles.

Shortly before As Mariñas, we then left the road, climbing some elevation through a beautiful piece of woodland, where we had a great view of the sea.

On the other side of the mountain, we went back down through the streets of O Sinal and Ponte. Since my ankle had started to make itself known again (it was already almost 16 km by then), I wanted to take the bus from Ponte to A Ramallosa. However, it would not arrive for another 1.5 hours, so after a short break, I decided to walk the 2 km to Baiona because the connection was better from there. In total, I walked about 18 km today (at nearly 30° in the sun 🥵), which is definitely more than I initially thought. The day of rest really helped!

Upon arriving in A Ramallosa, I went straight to the pilgrim hostel 'Pazo Pías'. At the reception, I met Simon, Bernat, Dani, and Arturo (from Mexico) again, who had also arrived shortly before me. Arturo had taught me the 'Runners Knot' for more hold and stability from the shoe 2 days ago 👟 - thanks for that! 😁

The hostel is an old monastery, which means there are many small rooms - so today we all got a small single room :)

After the obligatory bed making, showering, and washing laundry, I rested a bit in my room. Shortly after, I met Christian, who had arrived earlier and had just returned from shopping.

A little later, Simon, Bernat, Arturo, and I set out to find something to eat. We found a nearby tapas bar that had an extensive pilgrim menu (at around 5 PM in Spain, it’s not so easy to find open restaurants).

After a quick trip back to the accommodation, Simon and I went out again to buy a few small things.

Now I’m lying in my room and want to avoid making too many steps if possible 😅

Tomorrow I need to decide whether I want to walk along the coast or take the slightly shorter route inland with more elevation. But I think I will take the coastal route, as this will be one of the last opportunities to dip my feet (or my whole body? 🤔) in the sea again.

Let’s see :)