I woke early again, 6:15am, and immediately checked the weather forecast on my phone which declared rain would start at 12:45pm so I decided if I started asap I could potentially get the whole stage done before it got wet. It was finally light enough to leave at 7am.

The first few kms were along a smooth bicycle path, then I reached Praia de America, a beautiful and today stormy 2km long beach. The wind was whipping the waves about and dark clouds continued to hover over the mountains behind me.

Around a little point and next was a harbor with a wonderful red & white checkered lido with outdoor cafes and nice houses lining it, with not a soul in sight.

Then I took a residential sidewalk to cut off a large peninsula that would have added unnecessary mileage and I was back to the water again, this time with a wild, wide beach with some hardy surfers braving the cold seas.

The Camino actually dropped down onto the rough bouldery beach just as the rain started to fall. I barely had time to pull on my poncho before it poured. I very carefully navigated over the rocks when a ferocious German Shepherd came racing at me. His owner called him off , then proceeded to have a long conversation in Spanish with me, telling me something about the Camino. Finally he directed me to some stairs and up to a road that saved a few yards of the worst of the rocks before I had to go back down again to walk on a beach of only largish stones and some exposed sand for another 25 yards.

Once off the beach I took a long time trying to sort out wearing my Ikea poncho (I needed a shoelace around my waist to keep it from flying up) and equally as long to realize it’s not waterproof. In just spitting rain it’d be ok, but not in this torrential rain. Fortunately I’d brought my raincoat and everything in my pack was sorted into ziplocks so really I only had to deal with sodden feet (didn’t get to my waterproof socks in time).

By this point I’m walking on residential back roads just following arrows and am thankful they’re sufficient in number as I’m not really paying attention to the way…

I had one more short, sandy beach crossing to make, they’re really taking the “coastal” route literally today!

8.7 kms and I’m finally back on the main road. Maybe there’ll be a chance for coffee now?

10.5 kms – I espy a nice, bright cafeteria! Very happy to stop and sit for the first time today. Luckily it hasn’t rained except for that drenching 20 minutes by the sea but I’ve kept my red tablecloth poncho on as it’s good visibility to oncoming traffic on such a gloomy day.

In Spain they don’t like you to drink anything alone, with alcohol you always get a bowl of chips or a little tapas, with my cafe con leche this morning I got a nice slice of cake, all for only €1.20!

A couple of kms later the Camino left the nice, straight, direct main road for residential side roads heading down to the sea. I once again hesitated following the arrows as I wanted to make haste while it was still dry but the pull of the arrows was too strong. Almost hypnotic…must follow arrows…must follow arrows.

I eventually lost sight of the arrows but as I still had the ocean on my left I kept following the coastal road until I came to a big complex of several small sports stadiums which I recognized from the copious notes I’d made on this Camino. I was able to revert to my printed notes to get back on track. I’m entering the suburbs of Vigo now and believe I must pay close attention to the directions.

Actually it turns out all I need to do is keep to the nice gravel path by the Rio Lagares and follow it all the way into the heart of Vigo.

I meet several people walking their dogs or out for a stroll as I get closer to the center of Vigo, though I haven’t seen a single pilgrim all day. The coastal route I took this morning is an alternative way, most pilgrims probably followed the Camino sign right outside the albergue and went the traditional way up into the hills.

A huge soccer stadium interrupted my nice gravel path so I had to revert to walking on city sidewalks to get around the behometh. Then back to the river path. The Rio Lagares runs through the center of Vigo, providing a verdant space amid the huge concrete apartment buildings; it’s a boon for pilgrims not to have to walk miles of hard city roads!

The Camino keeps on going on to the next town so I relied on my maps.me app to guide me off-route to my hostel in Vigo. It’s kinda in the middle of nowhere in town, nothing of interest around it. And it’s a huge, sterile-feeling place. I found a little supermarket nearby so bought lunch & dinner supplies so I’ll just eat, read and rest here this afternoon.