Day 25 – Armenteira to Vilanova de Arousa – 24km – Observations and Photos
Today’s walk took us through “La Ruta da Pedra e da Auga,” The “Path of Stone and Water.” It was a beautiful forest path along the Rio Armenteira, which passed a number of laundry channels and dozens of old stone mills which are now out of use (https://www.spain-holiday.com/…/hiking-in-galicia-ruta-da-p…). It’s a fairly popular local walking route with a park at the bottom, as well as a preserved 1900s-era Galician village. It was a beautiful walk. After that, we weaved from one village to the next following the Rio Umia westward to the coast. Our last bit of walking was fairly easy along a beach with pretty views despite the low tide.
Vilanova de Arousa is a nice fishing town with a museum about a local author, but instead of visiting it, I had a long nap and just needed time to process some bad news from home. On the first 3-4 days of this trip, I was struggling with how long and hot each day was, real tests of endurance. Today was when I really started feeling that the end of this trip was approaching. And with that came a host of other thoughts about all the ills of the world. 6 hours of walking is a *lot* of time to reflect. I’m hoping to find more tranquility and inner peace in the days to come.
David’s Observations
The first 6km or so of today was some of the nicest trail we’ve walked recently. It follows closely with a fast moving creek so there was always the sounds of water. It was still pretty dark this time so I couldn’t take photos.
The first bar stop for breakfast was directly at the end of a trail and looks like it’s run by one woman. The prices and location are perfect since there are a couple other more modern bars just after hers. After a chocolate croissant I was ready to continue.
The rest of the day we all walked at our own pace and I caught up on some podcasts. It’s a nice way to pass less scenic areas.
After another quick lunch stop we arrived at the coast! It’s always nice to see the water and smell the ocean after being away from it so long. It almost feels like the Camino Norte for a bit. There were so many nice bars along this stretch we had to stop at one.
We had a nice dinner along the inlet later in the day. This was a really peaceful and quiet fishing town that is fairly small. Tonight we slept in a room of a recreation gym which was actually not too bad. We had an early wakeup call to catch the boat so we got to bed early.
