Variante Espiritual Pontevedra to Padron

Well my flatmate Janette told me about this different path to take between Pontevedra and Padron which includes two days of walking and then a boat ride up the inlet that Saint James remains traveled to get to Padron and then Santiago. Well, she had me at the boat ride. 

After Tui and the influx of Pilgrims, I also realized this would be the path less traveled. In fact it was. Of the 100 plus Pilgrim's who were in Pontevedra, only 5 of us came this way. It was almost totally off road through nature, and some of the small part that was along the road was down to a port, Comborro. It was an amazing spot. 

There was also this amazing rock sculpture garden on the path along the port. 

I also learned why there were all of these 

Crucieros along this route. They have sacred symbolic meaning and are for protection. They are often found at crossroads. One side has the crucifictiion and that side faces inland. The other side is the Zvirgin's image. There initial function was to Christionize pagans out of places. Because of this they are often identified with magic places where miegas and witches are found. Don't credit or blame me for any of this. I'm just passing in info I read on an information sign in Combarro. 

Climbing out of Comborro was not so amazing. There was one street where I thought I was going to need rock climbing equipment. Well I thought it, but it wasn't really necessary. After that steep climb, the day was one unrelenting climb until the very end when there was a lovely "walk in the park" stroll down, and then a treacherous, steep, narrow path, some of which I did on my bottom. The pamphlet said it was 19 km and medium difficulty. Medium difficulty for a mountain goat maybe. The sign where you turn off for this path said it was 22 km, and according to my Fitbit and other Pilgrim's it was more like 26 km. Having said all that, I'm glad I did and I would make the same choice again, even knowing what I know. 

This is a fellow I met on the path. Now in the picture it looks like there is a lot of room, but after I clicked the button the horse looked up and shifted left. 

The first question that popped into my head was, "What is a horse doing on the trail?" I've seen them near the trail or by the trail. But this one was on the trail. My next question was, "what do you do when one side of the narrow trail is occupied by a horse and the other side of the narrow trail is line with a prickly plant?" Hmm.  I didn't want to startle the horse, nor did I want to irritate it. I grew up around horses and I know the consequences of startling them ir irritating them can be painful. The pain usually is administered by the front end ( mouth) or the back end ( hoofs) I did get by with some soothing sounds and quick movement after I got by the hoofs. The horse was totally unfazed. 

This is my flower picture for today:

I got to the Albergue showered, washed clothes, took a nap, then had dinner. 

My dinner on the Camino tonight was a mall can of tuna with a little packet of mayo I got from the bar the other night, bread, chips, cheese left by another pilgrim, cherries put out by the hospitalera, orange Aquarius, and double stuffed Oreos. It was wonderful!

Good night all.