Two Days in One, What A Deal

On Tuesday July 4, 2016 I walked from San Pedro do Rates to Barcelinhos which is right across the bridge from Barcelos. Here are two pictures of their landscaped names facing off against each other across the Rio Cávado. 

I walked 13.5 miles. The first part and last part of the walk today was in nice country areas, but the middle part, the longest part, was on roads with cars. I stayed in the Alberque Forklorico in Barcelinhos, with a view of the river.  There were only two of us there for the night, myself and Robert, who is a recently retired German gent. I did walk around Barcelos some and toured an old castle/fort, built by the Earl of Barcelos in 1328, but I spent most of the time reading and responding to all the lovely birthday posts I received. 

The people at the Albergue fixed Robert and I a fantastic dinner for 5€. I had roasted leg of chicken, with oven roasted potatoes, rice and salad. Then for 1€ I had a nice dish of homemade nut ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce.  What a nice birthday dinner. 

Here's a picture of part of the fort that is still intact. 

Today I woke up early again, 4:30am. This is good because the weather has been hovering between 95 and 100 degrees. So I walk mostly in the cool morning right as the sun is coming up. I walked from Barcelinhos to Lugar da Corgo a total of about 14 miles. A lot of today's walk was out in the country, including a water element. 

Poles make it a lot easy to cross these water elements without becoming part of it. 

On a part of the walk today that was on a major road with no walking area, I spotted four Spanish men behind me. They were older, three of them were pudgy and the pudgiest was talking on his phone as he was walking. I decided to use them as a human shield. I told them I would walk behind them, so if there was an accident, the car would hit all of them first and hopefully slow down or stop before it got to me. They all thought it was funny, except the guy on the phone who missed the whole exchange. They were a jovial, but noisy bunch, so after we were out of danger, I slowed down and let them get ahead of me. They stopped to take a picture of each other and took one of me too. I guess they wanted proof that they had saved my life. I ran into two of them a little later. They were splashing around in a pool created on the side of the road, with a diving platform. Those guys like to have fun. 

I made it to my destination, Casa Fernanda. It is a little famous among Pilgrim's and is reputed to be a special experience. And, the reputation is well deserved. I arrived and Fernanda got me a bottle of water and sat down to talk with me. She said she had heard about me from several Pilgrim's who stayed there last night. Oh dear, I thought, who did I offend. But, it was good stuff, about my tattoos ( I really didn't think anyone had noticed them,) my purple hair, my bracelets, and that I seemed so much younger than I am. She said I'm famous. lol Just out being me. 

Then she asked if I was hungry, would I like a salad. So while I showered and did my laundry she made me a yummy salad and a vegetable stew with bread. Just hit the spot.  Oh yeah, I also scored the veranda which is a double bed on the porch. So cool. Here's the view from my bed. 

Well, enough for now.