Camino Portuguese – Part 6 Tui to Mos

The hour time difference meant that at 8:00 am in Spain it was as dark as it had been at 7:00 am in Portugal. As I did not want to get lost in the dark again, I set off on the next stage of the Camino Portuguese at 8:55 am.

I spent the first part of the morning walking through the narrow streets in the old city. The local people’s love for exercising their dogs was not matched by their fastidiousness in cleaning up after their pets. In some places, dog poo decorated the sidewalks and streets like molehills on a lawn on a spring morning. Uneven cobblestones, cracks and protruding drain covers, yet another hazard for unwary pilgrims.

After an hour, the busy streets changed to a quiet trail under towering oaks on one side and a gurgling stream on the other. Tui is where the coastal and central routes converge. It is also the last starting point for pilgrims wishing to walk the shortest distance to qualify for an official credencial. (100 km) At the beginning of the trail there were pilgrims everywhere. I followed a group of 10 Portuguese walkers travelling with small packs and water for a while until they stopped to take photographs. They seemed to be an extended family out for a walk in the countryside rather than pilgrims.

During the first few hours, I saw more pilgrims on the trail than in all the previous days combined. I was concerned that my days of soothing solitude were over. Fortunately that was not the case. The crowded trail was a result of so many pilgrims all starting their day at first light. I was walking faster than most, by mid morning the crowd had thinned out and I was often completely alone.

The Incongruous Bagpiper

At the top of a rise I noticed a solitary car in a parking area at the end of a narrow road. I guessed it belonged to a hiker doing an out and back walk on the trail. As I descended through a green woodland I thought I could hear the sound of bagpipes. The further down I walked, the louder the music became. Rounding a corner near the bottom, next to another old stone cross there was an elderly man playing his bagpipes. His open music case on the ground in front of him already contained a treasure trove of coins and several notes including at least one 20 euro. He was having a good day. Incongruous to find a bagpiper out there, but memorable. Now I knew why the car had been parked at the beginning of the trail.

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According to the guide book, I would only find the next cafe at Porrino, which I would not get to until midday. I was looking forward to my usual mid-morning coffee and pastry but had to put it out of my mind. At the top of a rise near the village of Ponte de Febris, I arrived at a new cafe complete with red chairs, umbrellas, toilets and a stamp for my credencial. It was a pleasant surprise and a welcome stop for many pilgrims.

There were about 20 of us at the outdoor tables including Jackie and Maria from Scotland. There were also two English women and a labrador dog on a sponsored walk to raise money for an animal charity. I did not get a chance to speak to them to find out where they had started but I did see them arrive in Santiago on my last day there. The dog was in better shape than his humans.

How To Plan The Rest Of The Camino Portuguese?

I had satisfied myself that I could walk the distance suggested in the guide book each day. But I was concerned about arriving in Santiago on the following Sunday and spending 3 full days there. My travel agent had booked my flight out of Santiago for Thursday morning and I did not fancy trying to change it with my limited Spanish. I guessed that accommodation and meals would be more expensive in Santiago than in the small towns on the route.

As a country boy who gets nervous in crowded cities, I thought one full day of sightseeing in Santiago would be more than enough. Now I had to decide whether to push on to Redondela as the guide book suggested which make it a 34 km day or stop at Porrino. The problem with stopping at Porrino for the night was that the following day would either be a short 15 km or a long 35 km to Pontevedra. The only other hostel mentioned in the guide book was at Mos about 10 km before Redondela. I decided to walk on to Porrino and then decide whether to continue. I was early enough to reach Redondela before dark if the hostel at Mos was full.

Soon after leaving the cafe a man of around 50 years old from Luxembourg caught up with me. We walked and chatted together for about 8 km. I was pleased that I could walk and talk at the same time without running out of breath and with someone 20 years younger. An interesting conversation during which I learned something of a country few have visited.

The miles flew by before I knew it I was in Porrino. I felt good, I had plenty of time so I decided to press on to Mos.

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Porrino is an industrial city with a population of around 20 000. Its main industry is the quarrying and export of granite.

There are many old buildings in the city as can be seen in the photos above. It’s not a popular night stop for pilgrims on the Camino Portuguese because it is too close to either Tui or Redondela for a good day’s distance. Yet, it is a safe haven for anyone who gets delayed and is unable to reach Mos or Redondela before nightfall.

Confusion And Another New Experience In Mos

I arrived in Mos in the early afternoon and found the hostel without much difficulty. There were already many pilgrims resting on the steps and in the two dormitories. There were beds available but no office in which to register. A helpful pilgrim said I must go across the street to register. The shop I thought he directed me to was closed – siesta time -. I went back up the many steps to the hostel entrance. Another pilgrim said I had misunderstood and that I must go to a municipal building further down the street. I did and paid for my bed.

Beds were not allocated so I took a bottom bunk in a small room with only two double bunks. Before I had time to open my sleeping liner or take my boots off, a family of four arrived and said they had been promised a private room. I moved into the upper bigger dormitory with about 15 double bunks and settled for a top bunk.

On reflection, that seemingly random event of changing beds was the catalyst for something quite extraordinary that will be revealed later in my Camino Portuguese story.

The new experience involved women’s underwear although not in the way most would expect and quite innocent I can assure you.

After taking off my boots and arranging my bed, I went in search of the laundry facilities. It cost 2.75 euro to use the washer and the same again for the drier. I was standing in front of the machines trying to decide if I wanted to spend over 20% of my daily budget on laundry or whether to wash a shirt, shorts and socks by hand. A young blonde woman clutching a bundle of clothing asked if I would like to combine our washing and share the cost. It made sense. We put our clothes into the washer.

She told me her name was Kim. Her bed was in the lower dormitory. As I would be sitting outside the laundry door reading a book while I waited I offered to put our clothes in the drier when they were washed. Kim showed me where her bed was and said she was going to the shop and asked if I could put her clothes on her bed if she was not back by the time they were done.

Infernal Machines

Those of you who are more familiar than me with the workings of washing machines and driers will know that no matter how carefully clothes are put into those appliances, they always come out tangled together and mixed up.

Murphy’s law ensured that when taking the clothes out of the drier, the previously deserted laundry was suddenly crowded with pilgrims of both genders. I was trying to disentangle my shorts from Kim’s bra and act as if I knew what I was doing. I can imagine the thoughts going through the minds of some of the younger pilgrims at the sight of an old guy sorting frilly lingerie.

Carefully folding her laundry and covering it with my own, I went in search of her. As luck would have it, she was nowhere to be found. I found her bed and left her stuff there then slunk out of the crowded dormitory.

All part of the Camino experience.

A walk across the street to Cafe Flora for supper of vegetable soup, pork and rice, rice pudding for dessert, coffee and wine from the peregrino menu. Good value at 8.50 euro.

My stats for the seventh day of the Camino Portuguese were: 22.95 km walked in 5 hours 12 minutes at an average of 4.4 km / hour or 13.6 minutes per km. The hostel at 6 euro helped keep me under budget with total expenses of the day at 23.85 euro.

I wrote in my notebook that it had been a really good day, I felt good physically, spiritually and mentally. A mix of city streets and country trails, fields and woodlands, conversation and solitude.

Shaky Bunks And A Disturbed Night

The night in the Albergue at Mos was not the most relaxing. The bunks were made from tubular steel and not at all rigid. I was in the top bunk and every time I turned over, it felt as if the whole thing would collapse and dump me on top of the person below. The shakes and rattles from the other bunks in the dormitory sounded like a discordant heavy metal band practice.

Light from a street lamp made the room too bright for comfort. Despite the discomfort, the day’s walk, a good supper and a jug of wine helped me get to sleep and sleep well until 5:00 am

If you would like to follow my Camino Portuguese journey from the beginning, start with this post.

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