Valença to Porriño 21.25 km

https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/valenca-catedral-de-tui-porrino-237157055

We arrive at Valença station on time at 08.01 and our camino Portuguese begins. We stroll through the beautiful old town, complete with city walls, and spot a hotel – we pop in to ask for our first sello (stamp) in our credenciales (pilgrim’s passport). When walking only the last 100 km or so of a camino it is necessary to get two such sellos per stage in order to qualify for a compostela (the document that certifies a pilgrim has completed the Camino de Santiago). I have an abundance of compostelas and don’t always bother to collect one these days, but Mikey wants one and so he should. 

We walk through the tunnel under the city walls and soon find ourselves at the bridge that crosses the Rio Miño into España and our phones automatically advance an hour as we walk over the border into Tui. 

We called into the cathedral of Tui  and claimed our second sello. 

Rain was forecast on and off (mostly on) all day and down it came in various strengths for pretty much all of the stage. But it’s very warm here and wet weather gear creates a good deal of ‘glow’ in these conditions.  Believe me, I was glowing good and proper and decided on occasion that wet clothes from rain were preferable to wet clothes from glow. 

Part way through the morning we met up with a pilgrim who had taken a couple of photos of Mikey and me and wanted to share them. This was delightful and we chatted away for some time. But it soon became apparent that she liked very much to chat in quite a determined way and we were very glad to find a way to make some distance. We also met and chatted with a lovely Japanese woman with whom we coincided from time to time. 

We came across a gaggle of happy schoolgirls – there must have been fifty of them – all walking with small daypacks. They were very keen to wish us ‘ buen camino’. We later discovered that they were all about Mikey’s age and were walking from Tui to Santiago. They must have had a backup vehicle to carry their gear, unless of course they were staying in places that didn’t require them to carry bedding and towels. They were lovely but it was good to make some space. 

The first off road track was at 5.2 km and when I asked Mikey for his estimate off road v track he reckoned 65:35. I felt it was a little less road and little more track – maybe 50:50 but perhaps I am the eternal optimist. 

A very welcome  cafe at 10.5 km, at the village of Ribadelauro. Then there was another 10 km of beautiful tracks through woodland and a fair bit on the road, but not at all threatening. 

The last time I walked this way I carried straight through from Tui to Redondela which was over 36 km, but I had been walking for 23 days and had built up some stamina (I was also eleven years younger). On that occasion I didn’t walk through Porriño but took a diversion along the river which was a beautiful walk. This time we walk right into the centre of town where we’re staying at the very nice Albergue Fonte dos Aloques €16 each including fluffy towel, cotton sheets, and blanket. Plus there’s a washer and dryer so we made good use of that for €6. 

Mikey’s been a star today – quite a chatterbox. If the rest of the walk continues like today it will be a great success.