Well today was pretty easy as expected and sunny all day – high of only 75F so not so bad – last week I think it was 85F so a pretty good change. We’ve now pivoted onto the main Portuguese Way route so there are many more people on the journey. This morning we were able to get up early and get moving with the goal of not spending so much time in the heat of the day. Regardless you end up walking a lot and I’d like to officially claim that my feet hurt. Tomorrow is only 11.2 miles so less than the last two days and I’ll welcome a bit shorter as the final day is 15.6 miles. The weather isn’t supposed to be too hot (nor cold) so we caught it perfectly. (the image of Cindy standing at the 60KM mark- 60KM’s until we hit our destination).
Ok, cool stuff today – not so many funny things in reality. The walk starts with a gentle climb out of town and then once you hit the peak and back down it’s about a 5 mile walk through rolling wine grapes – pretty cool really – realized I’ve never spent so much time next to grapes. In doing some quick reading these grapes are almost ready for harvesting – starting to transition from green to purple in color – so in a couple of weeks they will be gone.
Other stuff we found exciting today – a donkey that was sitting next to the trail, and five different cats (all black and white) which of course Cindy wanted to pet, but they simply would run off (phew!).
We ended up in Caldas de Reis (Hot springs) – of which there is basically a pool the size of a large bucket in the center of town you can put your feet in – realizing that taking my shoes off and showing a foot that’s wrapped in tape with numerous mole skin patches might not be the best idea – so passed on dipping my feet into the hot spring bucket.
Our hotel is pretty nice here and they have a great sitting area outside (where this is being crafted) with beer and chips to boot – so very comfortable.
Dinner is at 8:30 tonight, my IcyHot appointment is probably 9:45 and breakfast at 7:45, to be on the road by 8:30-ish tomorrow.
Overall I’d say this is a great hike, realize that I don’t walk day after day of 10+ miles per day so my feet are sore, but it’s good nonetheless. Figured I’d also add a map of where we are going. We started on the bottom left dot and are working our way up the path. We finish in Santiago de Compostela on Thursday and then hang out Friday a.m., bus back to Porto on Friday pm. So right now we are at the 2nd “dot” from the top.
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