Day 29 – Ribadeo to Villanova de Lourenza

Well, I think we’ve dodged a bullet over the last couple of days! Our first night in Ribadeo saw a huge thunderstorm come through, with lightning very close to us. We still managed a good rest and the rest of the day was a mix of showers and clearing skies. As it turned out the Spanish equivalent of the Tour de France came through town – we were happy to not be walking and get as wet as them!
It rained all night last night and the forecast was for more rain and thunderstorms but miraculously, although we were in cloud/mist/drizzle all day, it was not enough to even wet us.
We got away nice and early at 7:45am, which seems to be the key to an easy day, after having breakfast in our room (which we had bought, together with our lunch, the day before). The start was relatively mild uphill but increasingly so. We stopped for a coffee at Vilela at about 200m then climbed a bit higher before dropping down to A Ponte de Arante and then climbing hard up to about 350m before reaching Villamartín Pequeno, where we had been planning to stop for a break. The guidebook had no facilities between Vilela and San Xusto, 16kms away, so, not wanting to fall into the same trap as a couple of days ago, we were well stocked for breaks! However a new cafe/bar was advertising its presence in Villamartín Grande, 1.8kms (and about 150m descent and ascent) away, so we pressed on and had a coffee and a slice of empanadas there for “pre-lunch”. A short drop down into Gondán for our lunch and even further down to San Xusto for a couple of beers and a glass of wine and a water for Al (at the dirtiest bar we’ve been in this trip!) and we had covered all but 5km of our 28km journey before 3pm! Amazing what cooler weather and a bit of food does to the speed we walk at!
The guidebook described our ascent up to 260m as a brief climb, and we rolled down into Villanova de Lourenza before 4pm.
It was our first day heading inland today and most of the day we were walking on small roads and sandy tracks that are very similar to the southwest, so it was a bit hard to convince ourselves we were in Spain! 28km today and 657km in total.