Last night in Ancora, I had a great dinner at a fish restaurant about 20 steps away. At the end of the day I am very aware of how far I have to walk to eat. I decided to “blow the budget” since last night’s dinner in Viana – pizza & Pepsi was just 4 euros.
I had bread, olives, mixed salad (tomatoes, carrots and olives) with a fabulous dressing and finally grilled Sea Bream and two glasses of white wine.
Before dinner, while I was waiting for the restaurant to open, I was just hanging around the hostel, taking in the beach scene, which was amazing, when a very nice Russian (Siberia) woman invited me to chat with her on the small patio. She has been living in Germany for 10 years with her husband and daughter.
She decided to do the Camino because she was between jobs and thinking of retiring from being a chemist in a lab. to do her hobby full time, which is racing sail boats. She has two moored in Holland.
I’m giving all the back story because Katia, came into the restaurant when I was half way through my salad. I invited her to join me and we had a delightful evening together.
The walk out of Ancora was fairly easy and now, that I am using a better app – Wise Pilgrim (for the not so wise pilgrims 🙂 ) – I haven’t gotten lost.
I stopped at a small, but very busy cafe in the next town for coffee and a croissant. They were so busy I didn’t have the heart to ask for toast. Next door was a small fruit market so I bought lunch – Two apples and a clementine. The owner recognized my Canadian flag and told me that he was listening to the radio which was being broadcast from Newfoundland. He went on to explain that he had been a sailor and went often to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. It was a very sentimental moment.
Back on the trail, I was joined by a Korean woman, who has lived in Germany for forty years. She just retired as a lecturer at a university in Hanover and was walking the camino out of interest. Her subject at the university was “artistic” fashion design and I must say that she looked lovely. We walked all the way to Caminhas to take the ferry to Spain and then onto A Garda.
My walk was just 13kms today, but the challenge of getting in and out of the water taxi – the ferry hasn’t been working for three years – was a little worrying and of course there was the significant climb up from the docks to the road, which climbed even further – pant, pant!!
My Korean friend had a light pack, as she had used a tour company to book all her accommodation, meals and forward her luggage. In A Garda, she invited me for a coffee, we said goodbye and I went on to easily find the Albergue, which cost me 10 euros for the night.
I got my laundry done, because they had a great sink and laundry detergent. It’s strange how you measure your amenities on the path. More about dinner in my next post.
Buen Camino