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Camino Portuguese Sunday 10/05/2026 Padron to Milladoiro - Alison

10/05/2026 - Alison 
Padron to Milladoiro. Today we are walking from Padron to Milladoiro. It looks like I get to write about the days that Kim and Julie don’t walk. This is our second last day of walking so we all need to be fit for tomorrow to walk into Santiago De Compostela. 
With our Mother’s Day phone calls we were all in good spirits. Thanks for making our day special. We gathered for our Mother’s Day photo all dressed in pink. Yes Megan we all wore pink again. Louise and I were off and running. 
One thing that differs on the Portuguese to the St James is that the churches are not open. They are either locked or open with a locked grille. You can see in but cannot walk in. However, yesterday there was one small chapel open that I had to sing in.  Hang on stop rewind most churches were locked. We walked up to a church at the top of the steps just after we stopped for tea and cake, yes more cake.  Anyway last night the chapel in our accommodation, a bishops residence.  There was a group of 7 or 8 year old practicing for their Confirmation and first Holy Communion. Today the same thing was happening at this church. Spring is for new birth and new commitment. 
Walking through the forest you can tell we are in Galicia the canopy’s cross over above our heads as we walk through a tunnel of moss covered trunks and the vines cover every part of the trees.  
Talking about vines, we have left behind wine country and the vineyards but every house has their small supply of vines with roses for protection.  
Today was a steady climb not too steep. However there was a couple of short climbs. We are now moving upward to our final destination. 
We come across a yard of beagles. They looked like working dogs. 5 or 6 one year olds learning their trade. Mum and Dad leading the way. 
Do you want to know about compact. The laundromat was a washing machine and a dryer stuck in a wall with slots to put your coins in.  I had to take a photo. All that was visible was the doors. 
With 3  1/2 Km to go we decided to stop for lunch. Cheese and tomato sandwiches with a difference.  One slice of toast spread with crushed tomatoes and piled high with four slices of cheese. Lucky we stopped, there was not another cafe after that. We had spoke to Kim and Julie who were already at the accommodation.  There was nothing at the hotel for lunch. They were sent into town a 10 minute walk which turned out to be a 15 minute walk to a bar that was not serving food as it was Sunday. So back they travelled and muesli bars for lunch. 
Well when we finally got the our accomodation at Hotel Pazo De Lestrove. In record time might I add. Looks like we have found out whom was slowing us down. Blisters and the Flu doesn’t help. 
Anyway back to my story.  Julie has been taking photos of wild flowers this whole Camiño.  She comes running into our room holding her phone. “Have a look at this exotic flower we found on our walk” Me thinking she was joking said, “yeah that’s a passion fruit flower.”  Oh the drama, Kim came running into our room, “really, are you sure?”  Well there was fits of laughter. “Oh we thought we had found something special.” Even on a day that they couldn’t walk the laughter and friendship is always there.  
We all enjoyed the conversation and company at our over priced meal. We were a captive audience, there was nowhere else to go for dinner. Dessert was really good. All the guests were seated at a long table.  We ate together, told Camiño stories and of course laughed.

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