Thursday 29 August 2013

A room with a view

We leave at 7am. The streets are deserted and the city is quiet. The sky is mostly blue, with a dirty halo on the horizon. Yesterday the sky was totally smoke covered and there was even ash falling like snow, so it's nice to see that the fires near here are under control. There are now fires in Agueda, which we passed through several days ago.

The rest day has left me feeling fresh and we set a fast pace for the first two hours. I generally walk ahead, with Carlos a little behind. I stop for a coke and leave my gear outside in a prominent place, so Carlos will see it. Not prominent enough. As I come out of the shop he disappears over the hill. I start after him but when I reach the top of the hill I can't see him. After another 10 minutes I still can't see him and I start to wonder if he has stopped for a break too.

I am now not sure if he is behind me so I stop at a font and take a seat in the shade. It is one of the few potable water fonts that I have seen. There is a queue of people with large plastic bottles waiting to fill them so after a few minutes of just sitting on the bench I decide to fill my water pack too. A conversation takes place around me and although I can't make out the words I can see that it involves whose turn is next and who is after who. I manage to establish that I am next, using Portuguese! Four words can go a long way. Even though I am sure it is horrible and there are a few supporting hand gestures, I am a little pleased with myself. The water is good, very good. Muito bom.

As I walk to catch up to Carlos I start to meet a number of pilgrims starting out from Porto today. This stage of the journey is going to be very different from Lisbon to Porto. I get a chance to chat with a few people as I walk.  

Carlos spots me from inside a cafe and so the mystery is solved. He was ahead of me the whole time and both of us walked fairly fast trying to catch the other. The worker at the cafe is a Camino supporter and tells us about a local monastery that has recently opened an albergue. It is donation rather than fee and it's only a couple of kilometres short of our intended destination.

We reach the monastry at Vairão at 2:45pm, having walked 26kms. There is a small, fresh fire on the horizon, but nothing to worry about. We check in at a nearby house with a couple who are clearly very pleased that the monastry is now being used in this way. It has been here since the tenth century and was the local school until four years ago. It open as an albergue in July and I am pilgrim #190. By 3:30 I have showered, washed and hung my clothes, and can have a little siesta. By dinner time there are two other pilgrims here and we end up eating together at a local restaurant. It seems that the other ten or so pilgrims went to the town we had been intending to go to. I think we found the better place. Much of the evening's conversation is in Spanish so I get a chance to pick up a couple of words. The road to Santiago is going to be a lot more social from this point on an I am looking forward to this new aspect of the Camino.

By the end of day 17 I have now walked 400kms towards Santiago.

Today's photos:
1. The church tower I climbed yesterday
2. Two churches, one for nuns and one for priests, separated by a 1 metre wide building.
3. Some street art on an abandoned building.
4. The church at Vairão, with a panoramic view.
5. The view. I can see a yacht sailing in the Atlantic ocean. I have a blurry 20x photo to prove it.
6. The view out the hall window of the monastery.
7. The view out of my bedroom window.


2 comments:

  1. 26km by 2:45! Good going. Glad you found each other, we look forward to hearing about your new companions.

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  2. The yacht in the Atlantic Ocean is like your mini directories, I'll have to trust you! Good going. L

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