We leave at 7am and discover a new sensation for the way so far, walking in misty rain. As we go along the narrow country lanes we walk past a snake, cat and rabbit, all roadkill. I decide this is probably a place to keep a watch out on the road. Portuguese driving seems to emphasize speed, but until today the only things I have seen dead on the side of the road are tomatoes.
We stop for breakfast at 9am, it's a nice nice place but with expensive freshly squeezed orange juice. In most places you pay after you have finished rather that when you order, so there is a little room for bill shock. Mostly though it's a really nice way to have a few things and then pay at the end. Generally, food here is very cheap.
At Avelãs de Camino we reach a sign saying 303km to go, so I have done more than half the distance to Santiago. I am definitely no longer just starting out. I have noticed that over the last few days my thoughts have been less about the physical side of walking. This morning I have been thinking about the differences in the places I have passed through.
Everywhere I have been I have found helpful people. Often they have gone out of their way to make sure we are ok and get what we need.
While I remember, I got a helpful message on an earlier post from a local to tell me that my guidebook is wrong about the aquaduct south of Coimbra. It's 18th century and was not cut in two to make way for the freeway. I shall have to pass this on to the author, John Brierley.
One thing that I have noticed as I have traveled north is that more and more of the Church bells have been replaced by speakers playing the sound of bells ringing. It is not as good as the real bells. Real bells ringing and echoing around the hills to mark the time is wonderful. The fake bells have often been distorted and completely lack the charm of the real.
Another thing is water fonts. Most are dry. Most of the rest that have water have signs saying that it's not fit for consumption. A few don't have any sign, just so you can take a guess. Perhaps one in one hundred provides you with the confidence of a potable water sign. I don't normally think about where I can get water from but as a walker it becomes an issue. This Camino is changing my priorities, at least temporarily.
At Aguada de Baixo we stop and try a glass of the locally made wine, purely for research. It's delicious and only 60c.
We arrive at Agueda at 4:30pm and find a nice place for a drink. Then it's off to find the Albergue. I have to ask three separate people but eventually arrive at Casa Azul. It looks like an abandoned house. I decide to see what it looks like inside, so I wait until the manager arrives back at 7pm. It is habitable inside so we both stay. It's only €5. Many places in Portugal are trying to build the same sort of support for pilgrims that exists on Spain, but it will clearly take a lot of effort. This one turns out to be a very nice and friendly albergue, even though Carlos and I are the only two here. They have had 7 guests this week, mostly to Fatima.
Today's photos: 1. Carlos at a font. 2. Me at the 303km to SC sign. 3. Local wine. 4. Tiled church. 5. Agueda. 6. The Albergue.
We leave Coimbra at 7:45am. The way follows the river for the first couple of kilometers and my feet feel completely healed so I set a fairly fast pace. Most of the walking today is on asphalt. It is a cool and overcast day, much nicer than the hot days so far.
We pass a church with a pilgrim statue, including the scallop shells on the base. The town also has a McDonald's ad in a bus shelter. The language is a mix of Spanish and English, 'living la Vida low cost'. Look out for it everywhere near you. It is hard to see anything positive from their presence here. We make two breakfast stops in the town, as we have learnt that it is best not to pass on the opportunity before you while looking for something better. That something better often isn't there anyway. Today it is, so why not enjoy it twice?
We are walking up into the hills and through small villages again. People say hello and we are getting more greetings of 'bon voyage'. An older woman is also walking up the hill. As we pass her I am quite impressed by her ability to carry a large bag, probably around 5 kilos, on her head. It leaves her hands free for another bag and a walking stick. Respect.
We loose the arrows 7.5kms from Mealhada, and so keep on the main road, missing the day's only forest walking. It's a busy road and we have to pay attention as a few of the trucks like to use the whole road. The sun is out again now but the temperature today only reaches 26 degrees. It makes the walking so much easier, mostly as my feet are not getting as hot.
We reach Mealhada and stop to have lunch. We decide that we will not push on to the next town as the accommodation there is limited and expensive. We have walked the day's 22.5km by 2pm. I head to a pilgrim's hostel, Albergue de Peregrinos Hilarió, while Carlos goes to the Bombeiros. Not long after I have checked in he arrives since they don't take pilgrims anymore. We have an afternoon nap interrupted by a man with a lawnmower. For some reason he keeps changing the throttle and so the engine sounds goes up and down in an unpredictable way. It's a little torturous.
As we are walking back in Mealhada for dinner we meet two more Santiago pilgrims! They started today in Coimbra and they are tired. It is 7pm. A local man is leading them to the place they are looking for, even though he has no language in common with them. We are able to confirm that they are close to the place they have booked. Hopefully we will see them again tomorrow.
This region has a lot of restaurants selling the local delicacy, spit roasted month old piglets. At €95 I am not that hungry. Half a pizza for €5 is enough.
Today's photos: 1. Some of the famous local wine grapes that we haven't tried. 2. That horrible McDonald's ad. 3. The statue. 4. The toughest woman in Trouxemil. 5. Another font that you can't drink from, this one celebrating the piglets and a house we haven't seen. Notice the clouds in the sky, a first for my time in Portugal.
We only have a short walk this morning, 12.5km, to get from Cernache to Coimbra. It's a lot of hills through both suburbs and patches of forest. Walking through a remote section we pass a car, parked by itself, and I joke "where's he putting the body?" Then a man in camouflage with a shotgun comes into view on the track. He's too serious looking for anything more than a 'good morning'. The next guy is friendlier and we find out they are hunting some kind of bird, not pilgrims.
We cross over a section of the southern highway into Coimbra. My guidebook tells me that the Roman aquaduct we see bisected by the highway was cut in two to make way for the road. If true it is certainly a crime of progress.
We arrive at the top off the hill south of the city and see our first glimpse of the old city across the river. It's amazing, with several churches and monasteries, tiny alleys separating ancient buildings and the university perched on top of the hill.
After getting some directions and a map from the tourist office we wander down an alleyway for a drink and decide that it's time for lunch. It's weird being in a trendy tourist area for a day, a very different experience from the small villages that we walk through. I have a bit of fun saying 'bom dia' and 'boa tarde' to people as we pass. They clearly don't expect their existence to be acknowledged.
Some of the churches and monasteries have small entrance fees, but we get in for free as pilgrims. Don't tell too many people, but if you are prepared to walk 240kms from Lisbon you can save yourself about €6.
Near the top of the hill is a museum with an outdoor cafe. It has views over the old cathedral (12 century) and the city. It is an excellent place for a coke, with ice, and at €1.50 definitely worth the small premium for the view. We pass on the museum, at €4. Clearly we have developed a sense of pilgrim entitlement.
At 3pm our hostel is open. After a shower (and clothes washing) I am ready to try to get a charger for my camera. We get a taxi to the shopping centre. I know we could have walked, but it is nice to occasionally enter a building not completely covered in sweat. Neither of the two electronics shops have a suitable charger. It looks like I will be carrying my camera as a rock. Since my phone takes photos anyway I know it's not really necessary, though I have missed a few things the camera alone can do. We get a taxi back to the city, I could get used to this riding around thing. Walking back up the first street we passed through this morning I decide to try a tiny photo shop. He has a charger that works. I am not sure what the lesson is here, but I now have a charger.
It's time for dinner and we find a cheap place up the hill and just out of the main tourist area. Several policemen are eating there, so I figure it's good sign. Probably the safest place to eat in Coimbra and good food. Today is the first time I have had two meals in the same town in Portugal.
Our last goal for the day is to see a Fado concert. This a particularly Portuguese music style, and renowned for its sadness. It would probably help to understand the words but the guys singing are definitely lamenting well. There's a woman or possibly a pet out there somewhere who doesn't know what they are missing.
Day 10 ends around midnight.
Today's photos: 1. Coimbra from across the river. 2. Santa Cruz monastery. 3. Alleyway. 4. An alleged crime scene.
Breakfast is a pastry and coffee from the baker on the edge of the village. From there we take the road to Rabaçal. Yesterday we saw a fire in the distance, towards where we are heading. On the tv at the bakery we see it is near Coimbra. There is still some smoke on the horizon which makes for a very red sunrise but no sign of an active fire like yesterday. There is even some fog as we walk through the next little village. We reach Rabaçal and take a break. This area is known for it's cheese and we see several types for sale. As we continue through the town we have to stop to let a small herd of goats pass on their way to be milked.
We lose the arrows as we are leaving town and have to backtrack and ask for directions. The next section takes us through farm lanes to Zambujal, where we eventually find it's shop and stop for something to eat. We see some cheese in the display and ask for some local cheese. After sorting out that we want about half a block the woman sends her daughter off. After a few minutes she returns with some cheese. It is home made by the woman, and it seems that we are buying blackmarket. It is not officially for sale as it is not 'stamped'. We ask for some bread and again the daughter disappears for several minutes before returning with several types. We pick a big round loaf and she goes off once more to slice it for us. The woman suggests a place further along the way where there is a font as a good place to stop and eat. She says it is 15 minutes away. We decide to sit on the benches in the town square. The bread and cheese are amazing. The cheese is slightly crumbly and has a sharp smell. As we pass the font 45 minutes later we are glad we didn't wait till we got there. That woman is either very fit or used to having someone else do all her walking. I suspect the later.
The day is getting hotter and we slow our place. We reach a Roman ruin at 3pm and have a little look around before heading on. At 4pm we cross a roundabout. It is the first piece of grass we have encountered in a public place that we can remember for the whole trip. We lie down and make ourselves very comfortable under the shade of a chestnut tree.
We still have 6.5kms to reach our destination, a Jesuit college we were told yesterday accepts pilgrims. As we enter a more suburban area the arrow system seems to change. After a while we come to a fork in the road and one way is suggested by a yellow arrow and the other by the new system. As my guide says there are some temporary routes through here due to some construction we decide to go with the new. After 200 metres and old man greets us and starts pointing is back towards the old way. We are not sure whether to go back, but he is quickly backed up by two more people so we go with local knowledge, which turns out to be a good choice.
We pass a fig tree with a ripe fig on it. There have been many so far on the side of the road. I pick it and break it open. It looks good. Carlos has never had one so I get him to try it. I had him try blackberries earlier. You could almost survive off the road pickings if you timed it well.
As we pass through our final village before our destination we meet a pilgrim coming the other way. He is Italian and has walked the Camino Francis, is now walking to Fatima, then Lisbon, Madrid and then back to Santiago! He says it is a circus in and around Santiago, but the coast at Finisterre and Muxia is better. It will be interesting to see how I find it.
We reach the college at 6:45 and find it shut. Carlos asks at a shop while I see what our alternatives are. They are 7 to 10kms away. News from the shop is better. There is another gate and they do take pilgrims. We walk around and find a gate that isn't locked. It's a big place with a school on one side, big houses on the other, and a lake in the middle. It is also empty. At the second house we try a woman answers and then tells us to wait. Eventually a priest comes and we are told that yes we can stay tonight. We are fortunate, Lorenzo tells he has only returned today and is going camping tomorrow. The place we have tonight is a beautiful little house in front of the lake. We shower and go out to eat. Tomorrow we have only a short walk and we will enter Coimbra.
Day 9 is done.
Today's photos: 1. Giving way to goats. 2. Lunchtime view back over our morning walk.
The temperature today is predicted to reach 40 degrees so both Carlos and I are keen to try to do a lot of our walking early so we can then take it slow in the afternoon. Since we have stayed in separate places we meet up at 6:30am and find a coffee on the way out of town. We walk through the hills till 11am when we reach Ansião. We have walked 14km and it is definitely time for breakfast. I introduce Carlos to the word 'brunch'. It is now getting really hot and so on our way out of the town we find a shop that sells ice creams and we both enjoy a lime ice block. It's hard not to walk back and get another once I am done, but we keep going north. Definitely north. We are both grateful that the way is well marked today. As we reach the next village we see that a parked truck is a fruit and fish seller. I'm not so interested in the fish but buy some oranges to eat through the day. Walking on a day like this gives space to appreciate some very simple things.
As we are walking through a forest section we are met by two pilgrims heading the other way. They have start in Coimbra and are walking to Fatima. Ten minutes later we greet two more. It's a pilgrim rush hour, but it ends quickly. We are yet to see anyone else going our direction. Both of us are glad we had been able to walk together over the last few days. Even something as simple as eating is far more enjoyable with company. I have certainly found out more about local food and customs and of course I am now expecting so much more from the Spanish part of my walk. I may have also given Carlos the impression that Australia is full of things that can kill you, so perhaps we should expect a drop in Spanish tourists in the coming years.
We arrive at our lunch stop, 6kms later, at 2pm. We have definitely slowed down and taken a lot of little breaks, mainly to let our feet cool down. We still have 13kms to go.
We reach the next town, Alvorge, at 5pm. We are still 10km from our goal of Rabaçal. We go into the local snack bar and find that the woman there can speak both Spanish and English. She asks us if we are staying at the church as it has pilgrim accomadation, which we don't know about. It's new and it's free. After a coke and another ice block we both decide to stop here for the night. She makes a phone call and tells us that someone is there to let us in. And so we find the easiest way to stay cool on a 40 degree day; stop walking in the sun.
It's a new hall next to the church with the 8 beds and showers and toilet around the back and underneath. For Carlos, who has been staying in halls all the way, this is luxury. I think it's the best shower I have had in Portugal.
We go back to the shop for dinner. This is a beautiful little town. Earlier we talked to an English couple that had moved here to retire and I can see the attraction, it's not just that the weather is better for them. People keep appearing through the evening and everyone says 'boa tarde' as they acknowledge each other's existence. It is so much nicer than the bigger towns where people will walk past without looking. The husband and wife who own the shop are incredibly helpful. They also keep a guest book with greetings from pilgrims. It gives us a chance to see that there have been some others passing through recently, but again it is mostly towards Fatima.
Eventually we head to bed, after the shop husband has walked us to the bakery to show us where we can get breakfast and knocked on his door to ask him when he will be open.
Alvorge is the nicest village in Portugal. Day 8 is done.
Today's pictures: Walking through an olive grove. A disappointingly dry well.
Today we leave at 6:30am. My hostel has packed a little breakfast as the included breakfast isn't served until 8am. I meet up with Carlos and we leave Tomar. Neither of us have had a coffee and we don't find anything open on our way. The first section today is through forest and along a river and we make the 8.5kms to Casais where there is a cafe fairly quickly. We stop again in the next town as it is the last place today that we will be able to buy food and drink. We buy some things for lunch and load ourselves up. By 10:30 we are ready to leave, we have already covered 11kms, so we have 20kms to get to Alvaiázere. We pass through a hamlet that has a communal washing pond. It looks like a very social way to do hand washing, but I can understand why it was abandoned for machines. Just washing a few things each day by hand is ok, but I would not want to have to do the whole family.
We enter a eucalyptus plantation which we will be walking through for the next 8km. We reach the top of the first of two hills for the day and decide to stop for lunch as it is midday. After taking an hour for a break we head off. My guide says that the next section is not well marked. I would like to correct that to read not at all marked. After 2 hours walking and trying to keep heading north we emerge from the forest and enter a village that is not in my guide book. After checking GPS I realise that we have managed to walk two hours east rather than north and that we are still 15kms away from our goal. It is 35 degrees and we are running low on water. We fill up from a garden tap and then stumble into the heart of Areias where we find a shop. I don't really want to become an advertisement but right then two cokes made our folly seem worth the effort. Caffeine, sugar and ice cold. We are renewed.
We set off and after 45 minutes we reach an intersection that we should have passed through if we had managed to stay on track and we find a yellow arrow marker. With a couple of rest stops we make it in to Alviaiázere at 7:30pm. I have spent a large part of the afternoon trying to work out where we made our mistake. We probably got close to walking 40kms today, but we made it ok. My feet are doing ok and my blisters are almost gone. After a shower, I wash my clothes and then head into the town square for dinner.
It's a beautiful little town and at the restaurant we are given more food than we can eat. Even with getting lost and walking for so long I have enjoyed today. We make plans to start early again tomorrow and to not get lost. Day 7 is done.
Today's photos: A village lane in the morning. Grinding stones at Casa Torre at 5pm. The church in Alvaiázere at 8:30pm.
I have the provided breakfast and pack up. I leave at 7am and manage to find a bar open just on the edge of the town. A quick coffee and I'm off walking down a small road with corn on either side. It's only 17 degrees and I cover 5.6kms in an hour. A few times I have to dodge the irrigation spray as it overshoots the corn and waters the road. After another 3km I walk into another village and decide it's a good time for a break. There is a small Mary shrine with some steps that look perfect so I set myself down and get comfortable. I remember that it's stood time to talk to Meredith and so we have a chat for a while. I don't hear from either of the girls as they are watching X factor. What am I going to have to do to out rate that?
As I am getting ready to head on I see someone else walking up the hill with a backpack on. Another pilgrim! He is as surprised and pleased to see someone else as I am. Carlos stayed at the volunteer firefighters last night. I was warned away from that area and it seems with good reason. The festival didn't finish till after 3am. He hasn't had breakfast so after we check plans for the day he goes in search of an open shop while I continue on. As I reach the end of the town I come to the church. I realise that it is Sunday morning and there is a service in progress. I stand in the porch for a while and try to connect with what's happening. It is good to see a community together, even though it is not mine. After 10 minutes I decide it's time to keep going.
The next section is 6.5km through a eucalyptus plantation. It's hilly and the gravel track is not easy to walk on. The smell is a nice reminder of home. The sounds are not, it is too quiet, and I wonder if this is an ecological mistake to put these Australian trees here. There are none of the bird sounds I have been hearing in other areas. I get to a section the has been recently burnt and the track markings disappear. I have gps so I can see my destination but I have to do a little CSI work when I see a tree that has some marker sized bark on it that is a little less burnt than the rest. I take the direction I think it would have pointed in and soon walk past a burnt out fire truck. I am grateful that I wasn't here that day. It looks like it happened in the last few days and I find out later that it was only last week.
Eventually the plantation gives way to something that again looks like Portugal. After walking through a village with no shops I stop at Asseiceira and have lunch in a cafe/bar. After talking with a multilingual truck driver for a while Carlos arrives for lunch. We have a chance to talk about what we've just walked through. He has no map at all. His 'guide' is a single piece of paper with the places and distances between Lisbon and Santiago. We decide to walk the rest of today together, which will be about 11kms.
It's very different walking with company. The time passes differently as we talk about culture and our different experiences. He's a 20 year old Spanish art and history student. He blistered his foot on his third day and had to take a bus from Azambuja to Santarém.
Tomar is an old Templar castle and convent. We walk past a gypsie camp on the edge of the city, where they are building shanty huts. It seems at odds with all the abandoned houses and cottages that I have past today. Of course it is always more complex than the obvious answer...
I find the Pensão my guidebook says is one of the cheaper options. It's €25. Carlos decides to go to the firefighters, as it's generally free. We clean up and then meet up for a drink. We decide that now is our only chance to go up to the castle and convent. We are too late to go inside but still get a reasonable view over the area. We find a place to eat back down in the city and then head off to our beds. We plan to walk together again tomorrow, with a 6:30am start.
I am losing track of days already. As I count up where I have been so far it is day 6 and it is done.
Today's photos: 1. Last night's accomadation, from the street. 2. A 7am pilgrim selfie. 3. 15th century church, (in English) St John the Baptist.
My camera battery has gone flat towards the end of the day and I have found out overnight that it is not charging via usb. I don't have a wall charger for it. As I am leaving Tomar before anything is open I will have to use my phone for the next two days, which will be fine, though the camera takes better shots. Looks like my bid to carry as little as possible but still take several gadgets will continue to require some effort.
