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So…the impact of doing 32 km on one day is that the next day when you are only walking 23 km and it should be a breeze – is that it isn’t…we had many hills and the ups seemed to take their toll today. However, we made it, a little slower than we had predicted, but we made it none the less.

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The trails today were very much on mossy, green paths in between dry stone walls. Lots of shade and lots of green everywhere (as you can see in the photos). We were very pleased that whilst we were doing it slower, the scenery was great.

We are staying in a little village called Alvorge and we are slightly off the Camino proper. We had to report to the local cafe to get the keys to go to the house that we are staying in tonight. Although there are six bedrooms in the house, we are the only people staying. The house is typical of the region in that the walls are stone, terracotta floors and tiny windows (still can’t get used to that considering we tend to go the opposite way in Australia). Clearly, no airconditioning dictated keeping the places cool and warm depending on the season…we think.

Tomorrow we have a relatively short walk to Condeixa A Nova a night stope over as we head towards Coimbra where we will have a day off on Monday. A days off means we go hunting for a Lavadore to get the serious washing done. Dinner tonight is at the cafe down the road that the owner of the house runs. Last night was our first Pilgrim Menu – basically the staple that we ate last year ie three courses and a bottle of wine for 10 euro – food was great – wine was going down well – Lori enjoyed dessert and I had another glass of wine instead – let’s see what we get tonight.

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Well we’ve covered 159 km so far and 32 km today …from Tomar to Alvaiázere “the land of the Falconer”. This is another village that again is linked with the Knights Templar. This whole region basically is associated with the Knights and the countryside is beautiful. We can see why they were so protective of “their”region.

It was jackets and walking scarves on this morning as we headed out again with a picnic breakfast – which was large enough to provide morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. A little meandering to get us out of the town, but once we were on the trails we were fine.

The walk today took us on a climb up 305 metres over 30 km. Much of the walking was in woods, eucalyptus forrests and olive groves. The challenges were the lack of markings along the way – distractions which caused navigator (me) to miss markers and had us heading off on a couple side trails as a result of bravado and without checking maps. One of the distractions was watching a Romanian pilgrim doing “salute to the sun” yoga on the side of the road – basically, this wasn’t what I was expecting as I came around the corner and I missed the mark – although I have to say, Lori was distracted by the yoga demonstration and she too missed the mark. A local drove up to us as were heading off into the wrong direction and set us straight and so we turned around and headed back UP the hill.

‘Up’ is probably the best word that could describe today – we seemed to be heading up hills the entire day. On coming to a blind corner ahead of Lori, and seeing the climb we were about to tackle and calling back “it’s UP Lori” the perfect response with head bowed and looking at the track was “of course it would be…”. No matter, we made it by 4 pm having been walking from 7.10 am with three breaks.

No complaints AT ALL after Sunday and Monday and the Death Valley heat wave, today it drizzled and rained for most of the day and we were happy. We have made it to Alvaiázere – showered – hung out clothes and drying boots….tomorrow is a breeze – 23km (almost not worth getting up for😂)

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We set off early from Golega with packed breakfast and braced ourselves for 30.7 km! We really are much happier the cooler it is – within about 100 metres I was putting on the long sleeved runner and we were off. The day’s walking took us through the most amazing site so far…a totally abandoned castle/town. The Knights Templar originally started a building here in the 12th Century. The ‘Reformed Order of Christ’ took ownership in the 14th Century and then in the 16th Century additional buildings were added including a royal chapel and cloister – this bit was locked away. It really is very strange to see something of this magnitude in such good condition, abandoned.

We headed up from the castle through the cornfields, vineyards and the very many equestrian centers. These properties are really phenomenal to see. So much wealth and SO many gates and fences. We headed off the asphalt roads and then headed UP again following bush trails. This time we had several hours walking through eucalyptus forrests – we actually felt like we were back in Mundaring.

We made it through and basically spent the next several hours walking and hoping to find a cafe …desperate for the first coffee of the day and it was only there that we bumped into two others on the road to Santiago – we seem to have overtaken the others that we have met so far- clearly we aren’t doing as badly as we had first thought. We are averaging about 4.5 km an hour and considering the inclines, that isn’t too bad. The scenery is as we had hoped and imagined and now its hopefully about getting back into our stride and enjoying the scenery.

Tonight we are in Tomar, which is watched over by the Knights Templar Castle (I was tempted to visit – but it’s UP and after 30km ‘up’ is no longer an option). The view of the Castle is outside my window and that will have to do it! Tomorrow we have 32.5 km to look forward to – cool weather and an early start.

IT RAINED!!! SO HAPPY!!!

After the flooded boot incident last year, I never thought I would be so happy to be walking in the rain. PERFECT temperature for walking in the low 20’s, a breeze the whole day and RAIN. We headed off from Santorem and headed “down” to the valley of the river Targa and started our way to Golegã. We were so happy because we were not hunting for shade and we were not on asphalt, but back on farm tracks and walking through vineyards almost the entire way.

The little towns all had cafes open and so we were able to stop for coffee and eat the bits and pieces we stashed in our back packs from our early breakfast. The owners of last night’s amazing house offered us breakfast for 8.30 – very civilized however, we chose as usual to head out early. The nice offer rather than a late breakfast was that they laid us out some fruit and croissants the night before and we made ourselves a coffee and headed off.

The walking today was great because it was cool and essentially we got into our stride getting closer to the 5km an hour we are used to walking. And the most exciting event of the day was that we got to crack out our wet weather gear again. We both commented that it is so much more pleasant walking in the rain than in the heat.

We are now in an area of Portugal that is known for its horse studs as well as its vineyards and the place we are staying in is clearly reminiscent of the old El Caballo Blanco – no Andalusian horses in sight though. On the way to Golegã we walked through Azinhaga where the entire town was decorated for a festival that occurs every four years – streets and streets with “festoons” and bunting. Very festive.

So tomorrow another 32 km day….if the weather stays the way it is, we should be fine.

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Well you couldn’t get an experience more opposite if you tried!!!

Today we left Cowboy town (Azumbuja) where the bathrooms were the size of a single linen press and the bull run festival resulted in music being “beamed” through speakers attached to every light pole in town until 10 pm and mercifully….industrial ended!! (We hope!!). We have walked into what is referred to as Portugal’s food bowl. Tomato plants by the 100,000s of thousands, grapevines, corn and potatoes – made me feel like I was back in Spirivood in the old days. The walk was finally reminiscent of last year’s Camino Frances. Bucolic…and essentially we felt as though this was doable again. Nonetheless, the heat started to set in which slowed us down, but with a couple of stops, fruit and nut breaks and downing several litres of Hydralyte and a couple more stops we did finally make it to the foot of Santarem.

The reason I say “the foot” is that it is a climb of about 300 metres up to the town and we have rediscovered calf muscles and the joy of stretching them out. The road to Santarem is an old Roman road and we were walking on the orginal Roman cobblestones – this still does my head in! Anyway we made it UP to Santarem, downed some more cold mineral water in the first cafe we could find and then went in search of our accomodation. Remembering that last night was in Cowboy Town and that we actually never completed check in because the owners were out partying, we arrived in Casa da Alcacova Santorem, rang the courtyard bell and entered the most amazing courtyard to a Manor House that is built within Roman ruin walls – absolutely NOT what we expected and SUCH a difference to last night’s accomodation.

The owner showed us around and explained that they bought a shell, every floor collapsed, no roof structure, simply walls (the same as what my brother in law was looking at in Vela Luka) – basically a wreck that no one would touch. They spent two years in their mid 20’s (25 years ago) restoring it and turning it into a private hotel…it is amazing and filled with the most fantastic art, classical and contemporary Portuguese. Interestingly the owner said the house is her love, her life and her prison.

So tonight we lap up the spoiling in the best prison in town – knowing that this only happens a couple of times in your life and we hit the road again for another 30km day tomorrow – hoping for more green hopefully matched with cool breezes.

The heat is zapping us completely. We got up early and skipped breakfast again, opting for a cheese sandwich and an apple take away. The walk took us again through a couple of villages and lots of industrial areas with one small section that “felt like the Camino” – wheat fields and poppies. It really is such an incredibly different walking experience in this heat. I am almost longing for a day when my boots can fill with water like last year. We anticipate another couple of days of heat like this and hopefully a cooler change on the horizon. There were still opportunities to laugh especially when we found a railway station with some shade (almost no trees for shade on this section of the Camino) and sat down to eat breakfast and work out which way was best to go to get to our next stop – the photo says it all. Lori diligently does a Lori, reads two books, consults the paper map and uses the app that we were given “to be sure to be sure”. Meanwhile, I look up at the train schedules and a train taking us to out destination was due in 20 minutes….tempting – we both looked at each other willing the other to say yes, but no we persevered and have made it to Azambuja on foot. Along the way we have bumped into a six more people heading to Santiago and mercifully they all looked as drained and exhausted as we did. We have discovered that even a service station can provide relief from the heat with a semi chilled bottle of mineral water – interestingly we could also have chosen to have a pulled beer…an idea I can’t see becoming a norm in service stations in Australia.

On arriving in Azambuja we discovered that all the streets have had huge wooden barriers put up and are covered in mixture of sand and grit which is all part of the running of the bulls festival. It’s Sunday and people have all set up bbqs outside and tables and chairs are everywhere as people are enjoying a Sunday BBQ with the added bonus of a bull race directly in front of them. We are waiting for some cool and will head out to find somewhere to eat – which could be difficult considering the festival. Well, another 30km day ahead tomorrow and temperatures in the mid 30’s… a challenge.

So, the Pyrenees this is not. In fact, in comparison to the 810 km we walked last year, this was the hardest walk we have ever done. The photos really say it all – it started well. We got up at 6am,were out of the hotel with a packed breakfast and headed off to the Cathedral where the Camino starts. Interestingly the route for the walk to Santiago is the same as that for Fatima for about the first 100km and so we were surprised by how few “signs” there were along the way leading out of the city. The signs (an arrow or a shell) we were very used to seeing along the French Camino were almost non-existent for the first 10 km which made getting out of Lisbon city interesting. However we managed to navigate ourselves out and headed towards the very spectacular newish part of Lisbon constructed for the World Cup. Everything was going well – scenery amazing, perhaps too much in the day packs, plenty of water, good to go. Then we turned off the promenade and basically headed into one of the industrial areas of Lisbon, which seemed to go for ever. That piece was over and then we came off the asphalt and headed onto the rural paths that we usually enjoy. We realized today as the temperature started to climb, how lucky we were to gradually walk ourselves into shape in the cool of the mountains last year. The temperature today kept climbing, there was almost no shade and we were feeling it. I pulled out the trusty poles and got a pace on thinking “get this over and done with”. It was then that I wondered what the “bing bing” sound was in my pack – this is the new phone with the as yet unrecognised message tones. The message was from Lori behind me that she was stopping for a break. So, I headed back and we both were looking the worse for wear. Knocking back the water, adding Hydralyte and Staminade we “pulled ourselves together” and headed on again. This became a pattern for what ended up being a very long day. Walk a bit, find a tree, drink and go again. 27Km has never felt longer. Interestingly, the difference between last year’s walk and this year is the complete lack of people on the path with us. We would have seen close to 100 walking with us on our first day last year (I exclude the Japanese with all the gear and no idea – they don’t count coz they went home on the first day). Today we have seen five others with us TOTAL. However, when we finally did find a cafe (and bought them out of water) we still were given the standard greeting for people walking the Camino – a “buen Camino” salutation as we left. So, we made it to the end of our first leg…finally. We are staying in the most ridiculous hotel which is positioned roughly where the Nickel refinery would be in Kwinana….but we DONT CARE…the Airconditioner is on minimum, socks and jocks are washed…water tanks are in the fridge for tomorrow and it’s feet up. So tomorrow looks even more challenging – 34 km and predicted temperature of 35….I’m hoping Lori doesn’t read this tonight – she thinks its going to be 29…..hmmmm.

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So this is day one in the land of Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, Christopher Columbus and Portuguese Tarts and the unofficial start of our Camino Portuguese. We are looking down the barrel of 32 degree days and 27 km as our first walk tomorrow…and we have to say that it is not looking as inviting heading out through the industrial areas of a capital city as it was on the first day in the Pyrenees in 2018. However, the upside is that we have had a day to wander around Lisbon and test out our location service in our Camino app. We have discovered that the Portuguese Camino is not as well marked as the Spanish Camino and is acknoweldged as being the less travelled Camino. Mercifully, the app looks like it works well but we will probably miss most of the view while staring at the screen on our mobile phone following the blue dot out of the city. Lisbon looks very much like other Mediteranean seaside cities (albeit being on the Atlantic, I suspect winter wouldn’t be much fun). Loads of tourists, loads of seafood restaurants, LOADS of Portuguese Tart suppliers and amazingly organised tinned sardine shops (see photo above). We walked down the tree lined boulevards, grateful for the shade and cool and headed out in search of the Cathedral where our walk commences. The heat has firmed our decision – we are heading out early tomorrow in an effort to skip the heat and will skip breakfast in exchange for an early start. We managed a 15 km warm up walk today and we are as ready as we are going to be (both of us acknowledging that this is no where as ready as we were phyiscally last year) so much so that we chose to TUK TUK back from the end of our walk rather than turning it in a 30km trek….this is a luxury we wont have from tomorrow on. So, back in the hotel, shower and out for a meal and the journey to Santiago begins tomorrow.

 

So….the group are dispersing -we’ve been to “Finisterre” – the end of the world and the placement (strangely) of the 0 Km peg for the Camino…we’ve watched the giant incense burner swing…we’ve eaten tapas and we’re packed and ready to go tomorrow.  DONE!