Camino Portugues Day 4

Camino Portugues Day 4

Tamel to Ponte de Lima

Starting km: 74.4

Finishing km: 99.1

Distance walked: 24.7

When I woke up this morning I was already composing another paragraph about inconsiderate hostel mates.  But a day like this makes you say “let it go, life's too otherwise wonderful and too short”.

We're now fully out of Porto's exurbs.  Walking today was 100% in countryside with goats, pigs and grape vines abounding.

The trail was mostly over cobbled laneways, which are tough when you're in jandals, especially when walking downhill.

Speaking of feet and so on, both of ours are pretty much fine.  My soles are taking a pounding walking in jandals, and I surely wouldn't want to do more than about 30km a day in them, but it's starting to become one of those silly things where once I've come this far in them, I don't want to stop. Plus I love being known by all the other walkers as Flip Flop Guy.

Got to Ponte de Lima and my isn't it pretty!  Huge avenue of trees leading to a medieval town and a Roman bridge.

Got there before one and the Albergue didn't open til four, so we had some time to pass.

We had a craft beer each in a cafe (came with free cake), and then bought a bottle of wine (half the price of a single fancy beer at the cafe.  I must learn more about the economics of all this) and sat in the park by a very high river.

Made about 14 litres of soup for dinner.  A German brought bread. A Spaniard brought wine.  An Italian cigars. Czechs, Koreans, Brazilians, Germans, Poles and Spaniards brought their company.  Ended up struggling to give the last few bowls away, but the lady at the Albergue front desk was happy to have one.

Twenty bed dormitory with all single beds!  It's on the top floor, so the rain that the forecast predicted only slightly early is lulling us to sleep.

Today's wine: Maezinha Verde Branco.  We ended up drinking the local mini market out of this bright, fruity, cheap, petillant white.  When the first bottle was €1.30 and very yummy, why go elsewhere?

Bonus wines: light (in tannins) fruity reds that Massimo brought for dinner.  And still more Verde Branco (this stuff without a label, which usually is either a bad sign or a good sign, in this case it was good) that Domingo brought.