Allergies are great for low-cost accommodation but when they are out in the middle of nowhere one really needs to plan for food. I didn't.
An absolutely beautiful day for walking by the coast. One of those days when the sky is blue and the sea even bluer. Started early to ensure that the bulk of walking was done in the cooler part of the day.
The food situation however looked bad. Nothing on the way was open. An albergue which was meant to be open was closed. This was an increasingly common experience. A lot of businesses had not survived the lockdown.
After about 4 km however, at O Muiño, there was a mobile home park with a cafe operated by two of the most smiley chaps I've met. Zumo, croissant and cafe con leche later and one is ready to walk forever. However, the cafe drought had now ended and forever wasn't needed. About 30 minutes later it was time to stop for second coffee, this time at O'Silleiro, a family restaurant by the side of the road. Entertainment was provided by some logging being done on the other side of the road - it was a steep slope and there was always a chance of a tree rolling down the hill. Chatted with a couple of Bulgarian girls and their mother who were planning to get matching tattoos on arrival in Santiago.
Then a long road walk around the cape of Silliero. The official route takes you over the hills, cutting off the cape but the coastal walk, while longer, is flat and gives you great view of the Cies islands. The German guy who thought he knew me said that the route over the hills was a little hazardous. I didn't understand why.
Company on the way was augmented by a couple of retired management consultants who knew many of the same people as me from the nineties. They stopped in Baiona but I pushed on a bit further, after a quick beer at La Marina cafe on the waterfront, to make the walk into Vigo the following day a little shorter. Stayed at a great hotel in Sabaris, near the Roman Bridge run by an Anglo-Spanish couple. The owner recommended a nearby bar with the unlikely name of Casino de Sabaris which did sell beer but no food. Then to the hotel garden for a great (of course, being prepared by an Englishman) gin and tonic. Dinner was most welcome after a long day and, following another recommendation, went to Bar O Parque, a few hundred metres down the road. Excellent food and wine, but it's worth getting there early as it is massively popular with the locals. There was a father and son at the next table, getting progressively more drunk as the evening went on, occupying a table that late-arriving pilgrims would have killed for.
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