Portuguese Coastal Camino – Day 8. Oia to Baiona

Wednesday 10 September 2025 – Oia to Baiona

Woke up in the dark, and it’s peeing down outside, But, hey, that’s the least of our worries. Will our bank cards work? Otherwise, we’re in a serious bit of bother.

The owner re-booted his card machine, and we tried again. First Direct Visa – Failed. Barclaycard Visa – Failed. And lastly Halifax Mastercard – failed. All using his Abanca machine.

The owner generously took me in his car to a nearby ATM, and all 3 of the above failed again. Once again, an Abanca ATM. I called First Direct and Cate called Halifax, and both said that there had been no requests or attempted transactions. FD recommended that we added our debit Cards to our phones to use Google and Apple Pay. Again, both failed on his card reader. This was just crazy. Five cards had now failed, and I’m starting to think it maybe a problem at Abanca’s end???

Useless!

The owner and his wife could not have been more helpful. Eventually they were able to give us the information (IBAN etc.) to do a bank transfer. Fortunately, that worked and solved the immediate issue. Nevertheless, will we be able get money, or the cards to work further on? I looked at Google Maps an ascertained that there were a few of the major Spanish Banks (CaixaBank, Santander & BBVA) in Baiona, so we’ll just have to hope that our cards work with them.

We had a very late breakfast. We really didn’t fancy the walk at all and genuinely didn’t think we’d cover the distance today. However, there were loads of others out braving the elements, so we reluctantly trudged off in the pouring rain. Such fun darlings!

  

 

Once we were out, it was a bit better than we’d expected. Despite the slate grey skies and breeze, there were breaks in the showers, and the temperature was much cooler, and suitable for walking. In fact, it wasn’t too long before we had to shed a waterproof layer – a poncho and raincoat proving to be way too hot. A lot of the route was along the side of a busy main road. In places the path was entirely painted yellow. We kept trying to spot Dorothy, the Tin Man et al, but to no avail. Miles ahead we could see a lighthouse on a hill that jutted out into the ocean. Behind was Baiona, our very own Emerald City.

 

 

Surprisingly, we quickly covered 6km and arrived at a coffee stop. Despite everything, I felt surprisingly good physically.  Shall we risk spending some of our precious cash? Hell yeah! I expected a struggle after stopping, but it didn’t materialise. We chatted with a diminutive American Woman from New Hampshire, then she quickly disappeared across the road to visit a place that she’d seen in a You Tube documentary. Artesania Pedra Rubia, run by an eccentric looking bloke.

Further on we really started to see a lot of evidence of the wild fires that had struck Galicia only a few weeks earlier. It seemed so weird as we were now walking in drizzly rain.

 

The rain had pretty much subsided, and we had a decision to make. Do we take the longer and flat route around Cape Silleiro, or cut that corner off with a 300foot ascent? We went for the latter. The climb up was made so much easier by chatting with Klaus from Stuttgart. We talked world politics and seemingly I cheered him immensely! His parting words were that “I’d restored his hope in humankind”. I wish I could remember what I’d said to him!  At the top of the hill, I needed a break. I was drenched – not from the rain but sweat. Not a pleasant sight, or smell!

 

We then hooked up with an Asian looking couple. Originally from India, they had lived in New York for 40 years. She was still wearing her rain poncho and was struggling with the walking. I persuaded her take her rain poncho off, and unsurprisingly she immediately felt a lot better. Just beyond the shoulder of the hill we came to Casa do Peixa, where we all stopped for coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice. This was an uber-chilled out place. It was very remote, so we expected to have to pay in cash. Interestingly, the reason we’d got so low on cash was because so many of the cafés and bars in Portugal didn’t accept cards. Then I noticed someone paying by card. Let’s give it a go with ours. I was over-joyed when the machine beeped and accepted our payment. There was now real optimism for the banks in Baiona.

We left the Americans at the café and headed on towards Baiona with a spring our steps. I felt a ton lighter, mentally and physically. I couldn’t believe that I was going to make the 20km walk to Baiona either. Of course, the last 3km, as usual, felt like a long slog. The mind does weird things to you with this walking lark. Nevertheless, I didn’t give a monkeys, because I was going to make it despite my negativity when we left Oia.

 

    

Our first stop in Baiona was Caixa Bank. Boom! Our cards all worked, and we loaded up with €400 cash each. We had a very relaxed late lunch. Baiona is a lovely place; exactly as Paul Thomas had told us.

 

 

Another 1.2km to our hotel, and we’d made it. What a day! Mentally and physically, we felt so much better despite the money worries. This Camino is just mental! I love it and I hate it!