11.55 miles, 27,419 steps, 4 cats 

After my resty day yesterday, today’s 11.5 miles felt like a breeze. Tui is a very popular starting point for people who want to walk the 100 km minimum to receive the Compostela (the official certificate of pilgrimage), and there were SO many more people walking. On some days last week, I saw like 5 or 6 pilgrims total, and today I probably saw 30 or more ahead or behind. From what I’ve read, it will only get more crowded from here. 

I walked for a little while with a German woman. She said last year she walked part of the French route but it was too crowded so she came back for the Portuguese route this year. We said that it’s too bad that the Camino is starting to become overcrowded, but notes that we’re part of the overcrowding ourselves. 

The Tennessee couple that I met a few days ago talked about how when they walked the French route, there were busloads of people being dropped off and then picked up at the end of each day, whisked off to fancy hotels. They said there were people walking with boomboxes (!) and leaving litter behind. 

Leave it to humans to ruin a good thing 😦 

Today’s walk was a mix of paved and forest roads. Saw a cool bridge called Ponte de Magdalena which is on the site of a Roman bridge (the bridge’s original stone footings are from the Romans, but the rest of the bridge has been rebuilt). 

A guy was randomly playing the bagpipes in the forest, with a bucket to receive loose change.

Stopped for lunch at a local soccer stadium that on Mon-game days runs the snack bar as a pilgrim rest stop. Had some tortilla and a beer (Galicia Estrella). 

Tonight’s hotel is in O Porriño, which is a somewhat gritty, industrial town — I think I read that the main industry is “granite.” So. When I checked in, I was told there would be no hot water from 3:30 to 7:30. Interesting. 

I’ve officially walked 101+ miles!