Nigran to Vigo 22kms
Total distance 178kms
Climb 520m
Total climb 2550m

Today we decided we would leave the Portuguese Camino de Costa, which continued inland through low hills, and make our way down to the Sende Litoral on the sea front. It was not a signposted path but it was pretty easy to find a route on Google Maps through Nigran suburbia. It was only about 2 kms. Once on the coast we joined the Sende Litoral which would take us all the way to Vigo, our destination today. We turned on our Canminoways map app which shows all the Camino routes and you can follow yourself, as the little blue dot inches along. Today we were on a green line (Sende Litoral) which coincided most of the day with a pink line – the cycle route. We did not get sim cards for our phones in Portugal or Spain, instead today I switched on overseas roaming on my Skinny NZ plan. This costs NZ$17 for 7 days with 1 GB of data. We didn’t really need the app as the signage was excellent, but it was a good test to see how well it worked. It was also good at the end of the day to monitor progress when we are, tired, hot and sore.

Most of today was a lovely walk along the coast. A mixture of wide beach promenades, walking on sandy beaches, going down into little coves, around rocky promontories, connecting the beaches via quiet suburban streets and one small section of woodland, It was another sea fog day. Not smoke because the sun was white, not red. From the moment we hit the coast it was thick, white out from about 200 metres into the distance. It was quite a strange sensation. To add to the atmosphere all morning we had the low, loud, mournful blast of a fog horn somewhere out to sea. Three short blasts, then a long one, then silence for thirty seconds, then repeat for three hours.

For the last hour of the day, as we approached Vigo, the beautiful fine white sandy beaches changed to a busy ship building and maintenance, commercial fishing and trading port. All the ugliness you can imagine from a huge industrial estate. And it just went on and on, dull and dreary, and we were walking along a busy, noisy road. Vigo is the largest city in Galicia (fourteenth largest in Spain) with a population of about 300,000. The down side of the Camino going to the large, historic cities, is that these cities are also busy thriving, modern cities and there are kilometres of commercial, industrial and residential areas to go through before you reach the old historic centre. I have thought that when you approach a major city you get the bus into the centre.

Overall it was a very good day. About 20 °, no wind and the fog kept the sun off us for most of the day. We saw many fellow pilgrims and it was a Saturday so there were lots of people out and about on the beaches, and in the cafes and bars. This seems to be quite a sporting area. Many football pitches with school boy games, basketball courts, surf schools, tennis courts, and dozens and dozens of cyclists and joggers.

The Hotel Junquera is an older hotel but perfectly comfortable. It has the smallest lift I have ever seen, 810mm x 810mm. That’s smaller than a shower cubicle. Our room is white and grey with vivid pink accents, of cushions, flowers and a wall hanging of London of all places.

Now we have only 100 kilometres to Santiago de Compostela. In order to get a Compostela, Certificate of Completion, you must walk at least the last 100km or cycle 200km. This means a lot of people start at Vigo as it just qualifies for the 100 kilometres. It will be interesting to see if there are a lot more people from here on. I remember the Camino Frances was much busier for the last 100km, including many groups of school students.