Albergaria la Velha to Malaposta

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Today we walked through one of the more interesting (albeit small) sections of a town so far on the Portuguese Camino. The town is called Pinheiro da Bemposta and was founded in 1514. The remnants of the medieval town are built on the remains of an old Roman Road (another one) and the heritage walk, which the Camino follows, takes you past many buildings with historical society signs explaining the history or importance. The interesting thing was to see houses that have certainly been added to and built upon, so well maintained. The juxtaposition of looking at some that have been left derelict only serves to heighten the experience.

The walking today again involved more “UP” which Lori has mastered by dropping her head, staring directly at the floor and basically “pushing on” and being very clear that she is not to be disturbed during an “ascent”. This proved to be quite amusing as I completed a sharp hook turn (following the way marks) and Lori just kept walking past not noticing me or the turn. I suppose it was lucky I turned, noticed and called after her or she could be at the Atlantic by now.

The hook turn was also interesting because it led to another way marker which had us walking on an abandoned and dilapidated railway track for about one kilometer. This took us into a valley and then the climb for about 40 minutes into Oliveira de Azemeis. As we were walking along we began to notice lots and lots of adult sized straw figures in windows, doors and attached to buildings. This is part of a festival that recognises the presence of the Spanish in the region. The town is interesting because there is certainly all the hallmarks of a rural centre with large squares, surrounded by shops and coffee shops but on the walk into the center we were walking through what looks like new suburbs of multi hi rise apartment buildings and new single dwelling homes. Many, many of the towns have this growth occurring on the urban fringe in Portugal, I suppose as you would expect. What is remarkable to us is that on the Camino Frances, except for about three towns, we never saw this. Perhaps it is because of the route that the Camino Frances follows where most of the “industry” in the towns we walked through is the Peregrinos and the Camino. It is clear that this “industry” is only just being identified in Portugal.

The people in Portugal along the Camino have been incredibly welcoming and helpful – perhaps because with only 2000 people walking “The Way” last year rather than the 250 000 walking the Camino Frances, we are probably a novelty. We have been blown away by how helpful the people are even with our VERY limited Portuguese. In many respects the folks here are more welcoming than those in Spain, but …the path itself is no where as welcoming with so much more of the route in Portugal on asphalt and roads rather than on tracks, bush and farms as it is in Spain.

So tonight we are in Malaposta – 27km out of Porto with 315 kilometers covered! Tomorrow we head into Porto where Jordan and Pru should have flown in to get away from their London summer of 11 degrees and rain – let’s hope that the Portuguese weekend will defrost them a little before we head to Korcula in Croatia in a couple of weeks time.