Camino Portuguese - Oh well ... I tried!

Anyone who knows me will realize how tough it was for me to say “enough”. This morning after another taping session with Dr. Paulo and hobbling for a little over a kilometre I decided that it was not possible to walk today. Paulo flagged down a bus which was going to the train station and voila I am at the Casa do Largo in Golega our stop for the night.

The owner of Casa do Largo was incredibly kind as I showed up just after 10:30. “No problem your room is ready”. Without that kindness well I would not have had a chance to rest. The combination of heavy rains, constant road walking, long distances, walking too fast, using compeed and the need to stick to a schedule did me in.

To date have met Peter from Wales who at breakfast this morning told us he was taking a day off to heal blisters...he does not have a set schedule. Christa and Mike from the US were also there and they had already taken the train once. Mike who has hiked the Appalachian and Pacific Coast trails commented that the flatness of the terrain combined with asphalt surfaces was making for tough walking....”asphalt grips your shoes”

In the train station met the family of 4 from Germany who we met briefly in Vila Franca de Xira. They were walking the Camino and decided to take the train to Porto and do smaller stages from there. So Paulo is the survivor to date.

This morning the conversation focused funnily enough on tomorrow Friday. The forecast is dreadful with thunderstorms, local flooding with some areas up to 200mm of rain etc. The area of forecasted rain seemed more north however we were already talking about taking the train to Tomar. Probably a given now.

So if and when I resume the walking I will publish a blog entry. If no blogging appears then I packed it in. I have thoroughly enjoyed this...thanks for reading!

I leave you with a single picture of our 3 year old granddaughter Rose creating a birthday cake for her mom Lise (oldest daughter) with my wife Dawn who is incredibly good with letting little ones do their thing without rules and just have fun!!!

Rose with the birthday cake!