Thank you to my gorgeous girlie for coming over and keeping me company for a week. We had a lovely relaxing time but unfortunately I came down with a bad cold on the Friday.
I woke up early with all the intention of starting early but got chatting to an English guy, who was raising money for Help The Heroes and was making his way back to the UK today. He had rode the camino from Chartres, France. He offered me some of his omelette but I had already eaten some porridge and wanted to get going asap.
I cycled through the centre of Santiago to say a fond farewell to my home for the last two weeks. The weather was stunning, the sky was lovely and clear. Unfortunately the traffic on the N550 towards Pontevedra had other ideas.
I didn’t seem to be going too badly considering I was suffering a cold and hadn’t ridden for two weeks. Although following the signs for the N550 through the centre of Pontevedra was trying to send me on an Autopista, so I had to back-track a good five miles.
I stopped for lunch in Redondela before continuing. There, I h
ad asked the waitress for a coca-cola and a beer. I got both, just in the same glass. Not wanting to make a fuss, I drank the poo brown liquid.
After dinner it got hot. My GPS was reading 32 degrees Celsius, my head was pounding and I was sweating profusely. I struggled all afternoon, not helped by the fact my GPS sent me a more direct route over the mountains and stupidly small tracks.
I spotted my first prostitute of the trip today. She popped her chewing gum at me as I rode past. That was me sorted and it hadn’t cost me a cent!
Eventually I hit the Atlantic coast and headed south. I pitched up about fifteen miles north of the border to Portugal, where tomorrow I’d be heading.