Water everywhere… 
Another Roman bridge… 
And me on the other side
Our accomodation tonight
I loved it – Lori hated it. Although today’s walk was only 22 km long it took us 6 hours…why? …because we had a long climb today (400 metre ascent) which took us up the Labruja valley to a high pass with spectacular views of the VERY green countryside and then we descended via the Coura valley to San Pedro de Rubiaes and on to Pecene where we are staying the night. Tonight is our last night in Portugal – as tomorrow we cross the border and stay in Tui.
Lori hated it because although it wasn’t as high as the first day last year, it was certainly steeper and UP is not her favoured style of walking.
The BEST thing about the steep climb as we reached the “alto” was that there, set up BEAUTIFULLY were tables and chairs and a husband and wife team in a little caravan serving coffees, cold drinks and for those that wanted it, fresh omelettes made to order. It felt just like last year as group by group made it to the top with a welcoming cheer of calls of encouragement to the next arrivals. Lots of chatter before we all slowly headed off and commenced heading down into the Coura valley.
The house we are staying in tonight is called Casa da Capela – a beautifully restored chapel and home attached with 7 rooms to rent. A young couple have set it up and the gardens and views are beautiful. They have done a great job by respectfully treating the bones of the building – lots of exposed granite and combined with modern facilities.
There were so many amazing water views today. In valleys, water flowing everywhere and everything green. We can certainly tell that we are close to Galicia and to the border. So, we can hardly believe it – we’ve walked 489 kilometres – 17 to go in Portugal and then the last 114 to get to Santiago.