May 10th, hills again today but really pretty as we hiked in the fog through the valley towards Coimbra. It was a3.5 hour hike till we got to the first coffee opportunity, but they had no pastries or anything else

Last nights dinner, at cafe in the town of Rabacal ,as the various pilgrims we have met arrived

some artisan pizza, chicken and salad,,,all good. Actually I have found that no matter what we get we are happy, normally we are so hungry we could eat a horse, then come back for the rider.

coming into the village of Conimgriga, we crossed over a freeway and could see the pilgrims headed to Fatima below us on the highway, and right there was the evidence of the 5 pilgrims who lost there lives a few days back, a shock to thee senses for sure, it doesnt not get more real than that.

it made no sense, we were on the pilgrim trail, and they were walking a short cut on the highway, can't fathom that.

Tonight is in the town of Coimbra, this town was once the capital of Portugal, until 1255, until it was sacked by a marauding force, most likely a group of drunk Texans.

The old town here has been declared a world heritage site, total population of 100,000.

coming down the hill into town, about 1 minute after taking this photo, I heard my name, it was the Porto Rico gang who have injuries and took a cab ,they found a place for us all to stay, so I downed "Leonard the Girl Elephant", as I was tired of carry her today, sat on my ass with the gang and had a beer.  The end,,,,for today

Last night we stayed in the dorm room of the Santa Clara cathedral just before town and crossing the river Mondego.

It turned out to be graduation day for the college, and what a scene. Everyone was dressed in black attire with colored top hats, the color spoke of the division they were in, and they carried canes the same color as the top hat. This in fact was the original format and where the author got the idea for the uniforms the students wore at Hogworts (harry potter), difference was these students were riding around in floats they had made, in a parade, and handing out free alcohol, well, the small amount that they hadn't consumed themselves..
Long time since I've seen so many pickled people. They then proceeded to dance at the river festival till 6 am this morning, we know this because we were hiking past the festival grounds when the band played its last number.
Today wasn't that long, about 16 miles, so we got into the stop at lunch time. We are staying at a proper Alberque tonight.
This is typical of the night stops, except this one is clean and new. It looks good because we were the first ones in, apparently we have not mastered the art of rose smelling. So we get first pick. Things change when 20 pilgrims arrive and hang crap and back packs , towels and smelly socks everywhere.

I can hear some old girlfriend who may be reading this say" when pat took me away for a weekend, he said this was the nuevo Hilton Experience",  don't panic girls, we will go somewhere better, and "ILL LEAVE THE LIGHT ON FOR YA"
Got to thank Maureen and Mark for the gift of the blessed Crusader Crosses that John and I are wearing, to protect us,,,,,,,who's going to protect the others?

.MAY 12,  ALRIGHT, today someone lost their mind. We hiked two days worth in one, as the trail is really really crap, it asphalt (tar to the foriegners) and it went on forever, well a marathons worth. From here it is going to be boring all the way into Porto as its the same. BUT ITS MY CAMINO,so I have to do it for whatever reason.
Anyone who knows me, knows I hate broken things, so yesterday we were walking through a village and I saw an abandoned broken umbrella. Well, I did a McIver with a toothpick, and little bending, and a rub of Ben Gay( don't ask). Today I was so grateful for that mangy umbrella as the sun was scorching at 30 c( plus 90 f) for 9 hours

at about 3 pm today I had to rest in a forest area as my core temp was so high, I had run out of water so I poured a little sports drink on my head to cool down, those punk rockers got nothing on me.

Last night john and mark, and myself, went to a pig roast meal which is the specialty in this area of Portugal. They slaughter the pigs at 8 weeks ,then roast then for 2 hours at different temps. We had the whole tour, from 5 weeks to MY DINNER PLATE.

THE OVENS,,,,DA ,  DA. DA. DAAAA

THE PIGLETS WITH A SCEWER UP THE BUTT,,,,,,,,,,,INGA( who is vegan and a best buddy)

MY DINNER,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,INGA, INGA, INGA

THE END,,,,,,,,,,,,TILL THE NEXT TIME.

13th ,May .we were a little late getting started today,6.30am. The first 5k was through Eucalyptus forest, which was great, the sun stayed behind clouds all day and made for easier hiking. Trouble with starting early is that we get to coffee stops before they open and have to march on. 2 hours in and we found a cafe in the little village of Pinheiro.

A ham and cheese sandwich on a fresh baked roll, a coffee and I'm ready to keep on.

Today was very hilly and we lost the trail at one point, when the pilgrims walked the way, they invariably spent the nights in local churches, so we headed for the town church, which was at the top of the hill, obviously, and found the trail again. Outside of Canicos, through a very rural area, we passed this cute home and the lady was calling us in, today is the date the Lady of the Rosary presented herself in Fatima in 1917, and the reason the pilgrims walk to Fatima each year. Well the mass was being shown on TV ,and as we were pilgrims, she wanted us to see it. Yesterday there were over 200,000 pilgrims in the Fatima Square, they stayed there overnight, and I have no idea how many were there today for mass and communion. Anyway, this lady insisted we come in to see, which I was glad for, I took photos of the TV screen showing the square to get an idea. 

Before I went into her house, I dropped my backpack, I could just see me with " Leonard the girl elephant" on my back, turn to see something in the house, and knock her prized crystal off the book shelf, which would fall and smash itself as it knocked the pot plant off the lower shelf, that would roll off and fall, mortally wounding her cat, which would throw up the mouse if ate last night which would make the kind lady scream, and throw us out.

Anyway, it was so touching to be so welcomed, this is the lady in her TV room with me, she was so excited to have pilgrims in her house at this moment, that she was calling and bragging to her friends, I think its good luck.

Banana break as we headed through the back alley of an old farm community just before lunch

taking a break with 10k to go at the Pont Ui

met a couple on trail who are doing just a small section of the Way, turns out they met on a Kontiki tour in 1976, whom i worked for for 6 years, and I know their driver.

Going to try and hook them up together again after all these years.

He and I got ahead and with 5 k to go for the day, we decided to stop for a beer at this little bar and wait for the others, turns out we stopped outside our night stay without realizing it, had we not stopped, we would have walked by and put another 5 k behind us, only to have to walk back. Can you imagine how far I would have spat the pacifier out of the stroller had I made that mistake. Going to find a local pub and watch the semi finals of the UEFA CUP football tonight, then tomorrow its a long one, all the way into Porto,  we are well over half way of this leg.

Today was Madiera to Porto, a long 22 miles of cobbled street and pavement. We expected this so we left early and just punched it out in 6.5 hours.
Apart from aching at the bottoms, my feet are now great, and I hope they stay that way.

one thing one has to learn, is not to sit on the ground with Leonard on your back, it makes for a whole new set of problems when trying to get back up.

We had all four seasons today, and when the rain hit, I broke my broken umbrella. That was sad as I had grown attached to it.

 Coming into Porto we crossed the river bridge and headed for the cathedral which was today's end. Here we can get new credentials and get them stamped before moving on to the coastel route in two days. Going to rest up and see the city tomorrow, maybe have some nice fresh sea food

we are staying in the old town area which is in the bottom photo, in a hostel, eight per room but its clean, and I can get out of my boots

15th May, and a day off. Didn't seem right to just blow through this pretty city without taking in the sites. I needed to get a new brolly and some compression socks anyway.
Had a local specialty for breakfast, meat, sausage, between bread, covered in cheese and  fried egg, surrounded by French fries, then smothered in a tangy hot sauce. Not for the weight watcher, but pretty tasty. not sure what my heart felt about it though.

Just got back from the Porto Cathedral de Santiago where we signed in and got new credentials for this next leg.

Cathederal de Santiago

had to go into the old train terminal building which is very ornate, then into town .

the PACOS DO CONCELHO building at the end of the city gardens was worth a visit

Now we are headed to the Rio Douro which flows through Porto, going to find a waterside cafe and have dinner, 

we lost our Dutch friend Mark, he's staying in Porto longer, but inherited two rookies, sisters from the USA, Sherl and Liegh Ann.  .Sardines are my favorite food here, and I've had my share.

This region of Portugal is the Douro Region and famous for its Port. I have tried a few of the port wines and can't say I found one I didn't like..

anyway, had a great afternoon down

 Along the Douro river and in historic Porto, now its time to load up for the morning and get back into the walking mindset

feet start working at 7am

Porto to Vila do Conde, 21 miles with no hills, just a cool sea breeze to keep us happy little campers today.

Resting those puppies

From a bridge over a stream on the way

May 17, left the hostel in the dark and headed for the coastline, the first half of today was along the boardwalk which went for miles and miles, and was kind to the feet as the wooden walk way was soft and had spring to it.

Leann,john, Shirl and me on the boardwalk

Walking along the river park, Shirl trying to imitate a monkey
The next day was back inland to the village of Barcelos, 18 miles , on the river Rio Cavado. Coming into town you again cross a river on an old roman bridge, this place is as cute as heck, and the town square is vibrant and alive, it was also Sunday and the football was on, the local team were playing for the national title , which they won, which in turn sent the place crazy.
LeAnn is having hamburger syndrome, her feet look pretty bad so we are going to doctor her up, give her a beer and tell her to hush up, not that telling her to quite yapping will get her to do that, yap yap.
The Barcelos Bridge.

our Albegue was a dump, but the flowers outside were refreshing, what can you expect for 5 euros a night. Leann put up a good fight, she walked in, but her feet are not doing well,we are suggesting a days break, maybe two, then plow on. See how they look in the morning 

today we had to turn inland and wind our way to Vila do Conde, our night stop at this little river estuary town. This place is beautiful, set alongside the Rio Ave. Our entry came by crossing the bridge and entering the town park. One thing I found was ,don't prejudge the rookies, one is a mountain racer and I got my butt kicked for the first half of today, that would be Shirl, for the rest of the hike I simply got my ear chewed off by,,,,,,well......

Turning onto another Roman Road, these are the hardest on your feet, as they are mainly cobbled, and the high points on each cobble punch the sole of you foot, there isn't much way around that, after  1 0 miles of that, you get pretty worn out and tender.

It was a funny day today, I spent a lot of time on my own, started thinking as one does when doing this.I remember back in the late 80s when I took the time to learn, and grow myself, overcome my ADHD, or how to deal with it, one of the greatest gifts I was given and learned, was the knowledge of setting boundaries.. I got so annoyed today, at myself, because I have not stayed true to that with some people in my life, I got lazy because of who they were and its non ones but my fault.  So as I pounded out the miles, I got back in tune and figured out that I need to stay true to myself on this, and be better at communicating what is OK and what isn't. Its moments like these that make all my walking worthwhile. I just need to be better at it. In all honesty, I have to laugh because I know a few of you who really know me, and who are reading this are laughing too right now, I strive to be better at most things and I'm always my own worse critic when I fall short. But its OK, its MY CAMINO.

Barcelos to Ponte de Lima, 21 hard miles with lots of Roman road.
LeAnn took a cab to try and save her feet for a later push to the end, wise move, she may not be able to walk every step, but that OK  as its her Camino.
If your going to visit any northern Portugal village,make it  Pointe de Lima

The Roman bridge over the Rio Lima that we crossed into town to find the Albergue for the night. 5 euros but clean. 20 to a room, rubber covered mattress, plastic enveloped pillow.WHAT DO THEY THINK PILGRIMS DO IN BED?. ..,so I opened my sleep bad and spread it out over the mattress, and slipped the pillow into a t- shirt. We had a rude French couple cross paths along the Way yesterday, guess who got the bed next to mine?

this Albergue only opened at  4 pm, so first come first serve.

I had LeAnn to my left, then Shirl, Ivan and then John. Seeing as speedy Shirl started the war with the French by trying to beat them in, I expected her to take my bed,,,,,like taking one for the Gipper,but no way.

6am and people start to move towards their clothing, not the French, they are dressed and ready, so if your dressed and ready, why would you turn on all the lights and blind the south African who was still sleeping?.bastards!!!.

She didn't like me anyway, and they are out of there and speeding on trail.

I got mad, my Camino Pat wasn't anywhere to be found.  LeAnn was taxiing again today, so Shirl and I dressed as team pink ( the French were wearing pink) and headed out determined to beat them in to Rubiaes.

leaving the Albergue, someone forgot their beige sun hat on the door, I need one.  Off we went.

An ominous cold front coming in this morning

from Pointe de Lima, we had an immediate 1200 foot climb, straight up, for some reason my team mate dropped off the pace and I caught up with a lovely man from Slovenia named Alois. He was cracking along at a great pace

Alois from Slovenia
We struck up a conversation and walked all the way in together from there. He was a fascinating guy, and was Caminoing to celebrate his health.

Ivan ,Shirl and John early this morning

As we climbed through this forest it got chilly, but the pace kept us sweating. Great scenery on the way but very steep and rocky

Climbing for about an hours and we got from the valley floor to the top, had to take a breather and some water

Too tired to lift my hands in victory...........to be continued