Almost a rest day.

Today's stage is only 16km so we leave around 8am after breakfast at a bakery. The town council have decorated four streets with umbrellas, which looks nice, and fake grass which looks less nice.

This is hilly country, a mix of houses, an industrial zone and a few crossings of the major highway. We cross over what may be a Roman bridge and the under two newer ones. We then reach a point where the old arrow, which agrees with my guidebook, has been crossed out and several new arrows point to the highway. After we hesitate for a little we decide to go with the highway. It's a big bridge across a valley. We see the old way go under the bridge and then across to an old bridge over the river. It looks like nicer walking.  As we get further along we can see why we are on this detour. The middle of the bridge is missing. It would have been time for a swim or a long walk back to the new bridge. Good decision to go with the new on this one.

In one of the little villages we pass a woman walking from doing her washing. We have seen a number of communal washing areas in villages but this is the first time we have seen that they are still being used. This woman has walked at least 500 metres when we loose sight of her. It's probably not as far for most of us from the laundry to the line. And yes I have carried washing to our line at home, at least once.

We walk through some more eucalyptus. These trees are everywhere, both as plantations and dispersed among other trees. While I like the smell I do wonder if they are taking over Portugal. As we enter Albergaria-a-Velha I can see smoke on the horizon again. There have been fires around the country everyday since I have arrived. This one is a few days north of us. We have lunch and then find our accommodation. Carlos finds a free basement in the parish house. I pay for a room as I still feel like a shower and a mattress. The options available to pilgrims are different in every town and strangely it is not consistently better the further north we go, at least not south of Porto. It has been a very enjoyable experience to walk a path that few tread. It is definitely easier on a higher budget, for which I am grateful. The church in this town uses it's real bells, for which I am also grateful. Inside it is decorated differently than any I have seen so far, quite Baroque. I managed to spend a little bit of time there in the afternoon, I have a vague awareness of it being a Sunday.

Today's photos: 1. Breakfast time in Agueda. 2. A village past the bridges. 3. The bridge adventure we didn't have. 4. Washing time, old school. 5. More Australian trees. 6. Smoke on the horizon. 7. Inside the church.