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Today I crossed into Spain!
Left "the gang" this morning and headed for Valenca. Amazing old fort town. Took LOTS of pictures - you can see Spain just across the river. After spending some great time at the fort, I stopped on the way out and had my last meal in Portugal.
Funny, just before the bridge in Portugal, I met an older man and we exchanged "buen Dia"s with each other. Then, 5 minutes later, saw another man on the other side if the river, and it was already "Buenas Dias". Guess I didn't expect the language to change so quickly - thought there might be a while of blending. It also looked so different on other side pretty much immediately. Amazing. Headed up the hill to Tui.
MAJOR MILESTONE alert ;). Tui is the 1/2 way point from Porto to Santiago!!! This is just all going by way too fast!! Now, this is not to be confused with saying I'm moving fast - I'm the one always stopping to take pictures (camera in right pocket, phone in left to be able to post), re-tie my shoes, switch socks (staying dry - NO blisters this way!) and just stop sometimes to look around. I'm really trying to take in every drop. I haven't even listened to music once. Love hearing all of the sounds. Funny, in the evenings, I'll be chatting with others about what I saw - they say, "I didn't see that! It was on the path?? Where was that?" And I share my pictures.
So, there was a place to stop overnight in Tui, but it seemed too early, and I was feeling so good (well rested) so I decided to go onto the next stop in Porrino. Spoiler alert: it was a very bad move.
It was a very hot sunny day, and everything from Tui to Porrino was pretty much on hot asphalt - no views and no shade. And absolutely NO choice for accommodations in between. Really quite an unattractive and unpleasant walk. (Was missing Portugal already!)
You will notice no pictures after Tui today, as it was all busy roads, dirty buildings, traffic, industrial parks for miles, etc. ugh. Who wants to see that!?
This was my longest (and hardest by far) trek. With the amount of hills, blacktop, and heat, my body let me know I had made the wrong decision. Now, I know this is a pilgrimage, and not a spa vacation, but it was miserable. I took 2 Aleve (first time for pain meds) and went right to bed. Didn't even have energy to go out for food (or beer, so you KNOW I was completely wiped out!) I fell asleep dreaming of the Portuguese countryside ;) and the days of only 1/2 marathon walking ;)
Oh, and after today, bubba was put on an intense and immediate (exhaustion driven) weight loss plan - went through entire pack piece by piece and let go of a LOT of stuff!!! (Small pad of paper, contact solution (new glasses as working well, so no contacts planned), extra headlamp batteries, most of aleve, last pair of knee length light pants (it's shorts all the way now), extra contact cards, blister treatment (none so far!! Hope this doesn't jinx it), blow up travel pillow, 2nd Purell, rubber bands, etc, etc. whew! All adds up!
Stats:
21.38 miles (a very DIFFICULT 21.38 miles - ouch!!!)
Start: paca- ish, Portugal (9am)
Finish: Porrino, Spain (7:30pm)
Yep, that was 10 hours walking and 1/2 hour for lunch for those keeping score (hurts to even type this info)
- comments
Mom and Dad Glad to hear of your progress, but 21 MILES??? Whew! Hope the following days have been less intense! All of us following your Blog anxiously wait for the next one. Happy trails!
Jeannette and Dave We have been following your amazing travels! 21 miles- yikes! Thanks for sharing and we look forward to hearing more. Just got back to a trip out west but no backpacks and hiking boots! Take care of yourself!
renee kubesh wishing you butterflies as companions (don't know why I said this...it just popped into my head)
olsonc58 Your pictures are all well done and and really capture the essence of the area. Tough day though. Better days ahead I'm sure.