Month: May 2024

I quit after mile 12 today. That’s enough for me, especialy since I’m not feeling my best. I’ve had a sore throat and a cough. I think it’s one of he airplane remnants. In any event, after walking 15 each of the first two days, my feet and hips were screaming, and I didn’t want that again today. My feet and hips are still complaining a little but not nearly as much. I took a taxi at mile 12, and Dan will finish the last 5 on his own.

Tomorrow’s walk is 19.6 miles. I’m going to call the taxi driver from today and ask her to take me to Alto, which would leave me about 9 miles to walk. Alto is the highest point on the trek, so I will avoid the climb and walk the 9.3 into Caminha.

The taxi driver made me laugh when she dropped me off. Her English wasn’t very good, and when I asked her how much the fare was she said, “40.” Wow! I thought, it was only a five-mile ride! When I handed her the 40, she apologized profusely and showed me on the meter that it was only 14. She said, she was very sorry, that her English wasn’t good, and that I probably wouldn’t call her again. But I will. I’m calling her tomorrow to take me to Alto.

I checked into our hostel and had a nice, sort-of-hot shower, and now I feel like I just want to sleep, but it’s only 4pm, so I’ll hang in there. Dan is heading out to buy some food. I don’t feel like going out for dinner. I’m hoping he can find Nyquil at the pharmacy. The cough is, of course, annoying.

It was another day of on-and-off rain, mostly through residential neighborhoods with one long stretch through a very muddy/rocky path in the woods. My boots and pants are full of mud. I’m happy that I didn’t fall. I am also happy that they have a laundry room here – too bad it’s out of service… dang!

Dan bought salmon and vegetables, and we ate in the kitchen here. Steve (Ireland) came in and chatted for quite a while. He said he works for the Church of Ireland, and he and his friend, Mark, are taking a break from the stress of their counseling jobs. So, time for bed. I’ve taken Tylenol and cough medicine. Fingers crossed that I get a decent night’s sleep.

Today’ walk took us from Vila do Conde to Esposonde (15.6 miles). My dogs were barking and my hips screaming by the time we finished. But, again, it was a beautiful walk, with even more flowers. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow, whether or not I can do another 15.

I was going to try to catch up and fill in the blank since I posted in April, but it’s not going to happen. Just too tired.

Quick summary: I spent over 30 hours in transit from Delafield to Porto. We spent two nights in Trinidade (suburb of Porto) at a place called Zero Box. It used to be a bank, and has been converted to a hotel. The rooms are just wooden boxes that line both sides of the hallway (four levels). No windows, nothing fancy, but a nice breakfast on the 5th floor, and a restaurant on the main floor called O Carcineiro (the butcher). If you want to order steak (cow meat), you go to the glass display case at the open kitchen counter and order it by the gram. We didn’t do that. Dan had fish, and I had black beans and rice. There was a sauna on our floor, and we enjoyed that.

I could not believe how swollen my feet, ankles and lower calves were by the time I got to Porto. I felt like an old lady. They are almost back to normal. Lesson learned. I think I must have been dehydrated.

During our day in Porto, we met one of Dan’s Camino acquaintances, Patrick, for lunch. Patrick is from Slovakia, and he was shocked to have just discovered that the prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was shot that morning in the public square (of which Patrick was one of the architects) in Handlova, Patrick’s hometown.

Today, we finished our first day on El Portuguése from Porto to Vila do Conde, which was mostly on boardwalks along the ocean. The 14.5 miles was mostly beautiful, until about the last hour when it started to rain. We were expecting rain, but when it didn’t happen by late morning, and it was so warm and sunny, we removed all our rain gear. Then, of course, it rained.

Our place here in Vila do Conde is called Laranjal Guesthouse. The owners were waiting for us outside the building when we arrived. Miguel showed us in, up to the second floor, which proved to be small, clean and welcoming. Before he left, Miguel called the other guests, Lynn (Scotland) and Eric (Germany) from their rooms, invited them into the kitchen with us, and he gave us each a little glass of port to welcome us, and then he was off!

We just returned from a very boring dinner at a pub that only had “meat sandes” (sandwiches), but it filled the void, and we’re now heading for bed. I’ll just post my photos and videos from the day and maybe fill in more of the details later.

These are shots from our walk today from Porto to Vila do Conde. I was so impressed by the diversity of flowers along the way.