The alarm goes, it's still dark and silent. The day in the life of a pilgrim. We ate whatever food we had left over, except a half packet of chips which we packed for a midday treat (along with the chocolate and mixed raw nuts). Then we snuck silently out of our pretty little apartment and embarked on our day's undertakings. Streets were abundantly busy with the bustle of people and vehicles. A pause at a random hotel we found serving breakfast and we opted for just coffee. Now we felt ready.
Down the street there was no shortage of other cafeterias open for breakfast, all prepped and appealing, would be impossible to pick one over the other. Onwards to Ponte Vella (Galician for 'old bridge') otherwise known as Ponte Romana or Ponte Maior. It is in fact a more modern bridge built on the original Roman foundations. And as we have learnt so much on the journey we recognised immediately this bridge is designed in the Roman way for short bridges, arching across the river 370 metres. Further along the River Mino is another fascinating bridge with walkways that wind upwards and downwards, spanning its length. Just walking back and forth across the bridge a few times would be the perfect preparation for hiking the hills.
On the other side of the river, the street started to rise and we walked 300 metres up the hill until we were given the option of left or right camino. We chose the right, the traditional route. Although almost 1km longer it has less tarmac and so is by far the better option (we think).
Our trek was constantly uphill. In fact we continued up for five kilometres with unrelenting ascent, until finally it eased slightly, still steep but less so for another 4 km. It is here that achievement can be immediately appreciated, just by turning intermittently and gazing back at the city below becoming lower and lower down as it slips further away. We were gobsmacked at our progress. This is more than a heart starter. Altogether we climbed about 500 metres, then in the course of the day dropped several times and rose again, each rise varying up to 120 metres.
As we neared the first false crest we met a group from Scotland. Nice guys, half a dozen men of different ages and abilities. And also it seems experience. They were on a high, both literally and figuratively, on this, their first day of a Camino adventure from Ourense to Santiago. They looked green, but then we all do on the first day of our very first Camino. They sat on the mount, resting, already weary, lacking adequate provisions particularly water. They carried small daypacks and were clad in walking tights and skivvy type tops. But they were enthusiastic and eager! Very endearing. We met them again a little later when they arrived at a cafe where we were enjoying a break and we chatted amicably with them. We expected to run into them much later in Cea, where they indicated they were stopping for the day (our stop as well). Unfortunately we didn't see them again. And they were the sole pilgrims we saw for the day, other than a surprise meeting with Febe and Andre, just short of Cea.
Onward we trekked across hills with amazing vistas. Houses in the area were magnificent, oversized and affluent with gorgeous gardens. Devastatingly, there were cherry trees on the way, abundant with fruit, but which couldn't be picked as the limbs are too high (the tree's, not mine). If only. We blamed the pilgrims who have passed before us for the lack of cherries on the lower branches. We ambled on along really decent walking track through woods and pasture, but surprisingly there were no crops and very little livestock. The area was idyllic just to appreciate in its more natural state. We had to discipline ourselves with regard our photography. There were too many amazing scenes. If we constantly stopped for a photo, we would get nowhere.
Running into Febe and Andre is exactly the kind of thing that happens on the Camino. The unexpected. We knew we'd see them again soon but not this soon, since unlike us, they opted not to take a rest day in Ourense. But they did opt for a double night stay at one location with taxi ferrying to and from their stop/start point, in order to overcome the problem of lack of accommodation at the end of their walk today. Which put them 3km back from Cea tonight. It gets tricky.
Cea is a lovely stop spot. There is just something about it that truly appeals. Not just the bread, for which it has a solid reputation. Dinner was in the strangest venue, a shop of odds and sods and a restaurant squeezed in. It is, we were told, the only place in Cea that serves meals. Oddly enough, the first bar we approached does not do dinners. That is a first for us on the Camino. All bars do meals typically. But our food at the 'odds and sods' was outstanding, albeit a very limited menu and I wondered if the 'melt-in-the-mouth' slow cooked beef that I was served would otherwise have been the family meal if no customers ate in the restaurant on any particular night.
Our accommodation is a casa which we share with two other pilgrims - Italian Roberto and David from New Zealand. The casa is really lovely but has embarrassingly creaky floorboards. And we are on the upstairs level with Roberto and David in rooms immediately below. Every single step taken creaks loudly! We have tried hard to minimise our walking, and even to walk in different ways to reduce the creaking. But the harder we try, the worse it seems to get. It would be very embarrassing to have to get up through the night.
But the bath was brilliant. Nice to soak the weary legs in a hot tub at the end of a long day. We both took advantage of that!
We have started to pay more attention to the camino milestones, distance to Santiago around 83 km.
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