June 26,

well we did end up going out for dinner in Tui, a beautiful restaurant overlooking the fort in valenca, and the city of Tui. we sat on the terrace and had churrasco...a huge platter of every grilled meat imaginable, and a salad of tomatoes and lettuce straight from the garden.

the next day it was off to redondela. What a day...the most difficult one that i have spent on the camino. thirty two kilometres in the blistering heat. it started off out of Tui pleasant enough, but when you don´t need a sweater at 6 in the morning you know that you are in trouble. Then it was hard slogging through the industrial town of Porrino, think of walking through Windsor and you get the picture. not that I have ever walked through Windsor, nor do i wish to cast disparaging thoughts, but this was one car manufacturer after another. When that was finished it was straight up a mountain, 34 degrees ,noon, and no shade anywhere. Poor rita was trying to walk under the hydro wires to get some relief. Brutal. if I had had to go an extra 15 minutes I think that i would have been sick. after a shower and a rest all was forgotten and it was dinner out with friends. Calamari and salad. we are in octopus country so I think that it might be pulpa and salad tonight. The problem with this place is that if you order even a small beer they bring you food...and good food. This afternoon it was warm chickpeas in broth with chorizo and bread. Then we ran into someone else that we know and it was tortilla, a particularly good one. but i digress.

Today was not a long or harrowing walk from Redondela to ponteverda and the scenery was much better. We have opted for a pensione tonight to have a bath and a really good nights sleep. We will have dinner with three german camino friends and call it a night. The city is large and beautiful. 75,000 people, but it is a sunday and so things are pretty quiet. The place was packed this afternoon as a triathlon week-end was wrapping up with people from all over the world. Until the next time.

Buen Camino