Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R.Tolkien

Day 3

But we kind of were… lost, I mean. Or at least heading in the wrong direction without realising it. Much of today actually really sucked… although it started well

It was a bit of a cool blustery morning blowing off the Atlantic coast as we set off from our wonderful guest house and said goodbye to the beautiful Ana. 

We start once again along the coastal route of the Senda Litoral and the long stretches of sandy beaches remind me in many ways of some of the beaches at home.

Our plan is to move inland at Vila do Conde and meet the Central Route of the Portuguese Camino, which we will continue on for a few days for a different sort of experience… but that comes later in the day. For now it is all gorgeous coastline.

The first stretch was lovely- a brand new boardwalk through an eco reserve where once again we were surrounded by wildflowers of many varieties… the sounds of nesting birds (I think under the boardwalk where we walked) and croaking frogs. 

A few small areas of the boardwalks were covered in sand which wasn’t the easiest to walk on but thankfully those stretches were very short.

We passed a few pilgrims with the “Bom Caminho” regular greeting and plenty of local runners and dog walkers 

Turning inland briefly there were cobbles, which are hard on the feet and legs but by now we should be pretty used to them after Lisbon, Sintra and Porto. And I do love cobblestones. Sadly my ankles don’t and where I thought my crappy knee would be the issue… or even my hips, it is the crappy ankles that are causing me grief. Oh well- it is what it is. 

Before long we were crossing the bridge over the Rio Ave to Vila do Conde. This town is one of the oldest settlements in Portugal with evidence of human habitation as early as 100,000 years ago. Theres also a striking 17th century aqueduct…

… and a host of old churches and buldings from the 16th and 17th centuries and Ana had suggested we check out the old monastery with its great view over the town and river…

and Igreja de São João Batista which we did. 

We wandered a little around the vibrant town…

From here we could have continued on the Coastal route but this is where we planned to turn off and continue on the Central route towards Rates where we were staying tonight.

I had a few concerns about finding our way to the central route today as I had read that the markers weren’t great and knowing me, we’d get lost. Directions are certainly not my strongest talent. But in hindsight, I wish I had followed my gut and Google maps as my Camino Ninja App doesn’t seem to switch between routes. Anyway, we ended up following the shells and walked and walked and nothing seemed to really change. By now I was expecting to be walking in the beautiful Portuguese countryside where wildflowers grew in the meadows, cala lilies flourished in big clumps under grape vines and every town or village seemed to have an ornately patterned chapel. This is what I had read about today’s journey but it just wasn’t happening. Eventually I checked google maps just to see where we were and realised we had been following the waymarkers for the Senda Littoral or coastal route where we were meant to have turned off. We are now an hour past the turn off and it’s no point going back so I just resort to google maps to find our way to Rates. 

I am so angry with myself for not following my intuition and am in a VERY bad mood. Not only have we added several kilometres to an already long day but we have replaced the beautiful rural villages we were supposed to walk through with seemingly unending suburbs, industrial areas and fairly major roads with lots of traffic… with nowhere to stop,  nowhere to sit, and nowhere to even walk at times as there were no paths or shoulders on the sides of the roads leaving us very vulnerable and nervous. It was actually dangerous at times. And then, just to top it all off, the rain set in! I actually wanted to scream or cry. 

There was some rural areas

… and we did pass some pretty shrines…

… pretty gardens with stunning hydrangeas that are prolific here… even in colours I have never seen before.

But my eyes weren’t really seeing beauty at this stage and I stomped on… and on… and on. I think the relief of peeing in a cornfield might have been the highlight of the afternoon 😂🤷🏼‍♀️. 

We continued for what seemed like forever and by the time we arrive I am stumbling like a drunk old woman I am so tired and in pain. 

We were booked into Casa Anabela for the night which was right on the camino and we arrive shortly before 4.  Such a relief to pull off the shoes after walking 23km and have a hot shower. We ask for restaurant recommendations and find there are only three restaurants in town… one is a bar that doesn’t look like it welcomes women. We take a little time to look around the village… it’s very small so we don’t need long to explore. The historical centre had an interesting collection of buildings including a Roman church…

…. and the 18th century chapel of senhor da Praca but it is very quiet although it looks like perhaps there are preparations happening for something. We don’t think much of it and continue on to find somewhere for dinner. A while later we are happy when the lovely Constance and Matthew whom we met yesterday, wander in and end up joining us for dinner. And there was a pretty sunset.

Lovely ending to a not so lovely day. 

And the preparations for the thing that we noticed earlier… whatever it was went noisily into the night including very loud fireworks at midnight. 

Steps today 33,172

Kilometres today 22.45

Floors climbed 8

Temperature 22°