Day 10 - Armenteira to Vilanova - 26.1km

Yesterday and today we are walking the Variente Espiritual, an alternate route that was supposed to be a much more beautiful route. Well yesterdays walk up through the woods whilst pleasant was nothing spectacular, but made special by the blessing and the atmospheric setting to spend the night near the monastery.

This morning however made up for it. Leaving the Albergue we walked a stunning path along the river with lots of small waterfalls. All along the path were little brick buildings which we learned were the old water saw mills. They were picturesque and we had a good excuse to capture some footage for a highlights video. It was our slowest section as we took our time to absorb as much nature as possible. After about 5km we came out to a larger river - the Umia - with a lovely track running alongside. We stopped for breakfast where i had "the american" whilst mum enjoyed eggs and avo on toast and a fruit and yogurt bowl. Much more successful than yesterday!!

We followed the Umia for a good long stetch before stopping a few hours later for a little beer and pincho break!

Lighting a candle in a chapel led to a few tears thinking of all those we have and all those we have lost. The tissues on the pews came in handy!

We then returned to the narrow village roads passing a large square set up for a festival whicb was being rained off!

Finally the roads hit the coast! Now a sandy path led us passed rocks and small beaches as we rounded the peninsula and crossed a little bridge into Vilanova.

It was a stunning and wonderful days walking, hampered a little by the increasing blister situation - but we will compeed those up and hope they dont get worse with the last stints to santiago.

Vilanova has no restaurants on a sunday it seems, only cafe bars serving the same "something and chips" options. Most were closed, or terrible, so we grabbed a kebab (the highest rated place in town) which was what you expect but filled the gap, then went to a lovely little wine bar for a nightcap, with excellent conversation with the owners seeing us through to bed time.

Exciting day tomorrow with the boat ride and then the last long walk before santiago! Sleep well. We are nearly there!!