Disclaimer: this post is mostly complaining, but we did have a fabulous day together !! Lots of laughs… met some fellow pilgrims, ran away from some fellow pilgrims. Laughed with some locals. Ate delicious food and stared at the ocean most of the day. It was blissful. It was heaven and if I could move to Portugal, I would.

I had forgotten how much my feet could hurt.

I’m lying on the bed in our shoebox hotel room, the window wide open… the kind that opens like a door. If I were to stand up right now it would hit me in the face. and honestly, if it did, I don’t think I’d even notice.

That’s how sore my feet are. The pain of putting them on the ground would be more unbearable then walking into the metal framed window.

I have two blisters, each on my baby toes. War wounds of the day.

Today was supposed to be a simple 21.3 km down straight sidewalks and boardwalks with the sea to our left… the latter was. The 21.3 km turned into nearly 30 km after ( I will not mention names) my fellow partner in crime wanted to take the tram out of the city instead of the bus… Let’s rewind a bit. Porto to Vila do Condé would have meant walking 31 km. We had decided to cut of the portion leaving Porto by taking the bus. Which would have left us with 22 km to walk. For a first day we felt that was sufficient, and is often what many pilgrims do.

However, and that is a big however… we did not do that. The tram dropped us off, in what we thought was the location we wanted to be in, but in fact we were 6 or 7 km from our previewed route.

Which means we walked 28 km on our first day. And why if I were to take my feet off this bed and put them on the floor I believe they might just snap off.

Will we be able to get up tomorrow ? I hope so…

Despite our mishap we also didn’t take enough breaks along the way…. Next thing we knew we were only 8 km from our destination. We stopped at Sandra’s Cafe for an orange juice and sandwich, stumbled upon a medival mercado and ate, yet again, more bread and chorizo. Before venturing down the street, over the bridge and into the majestical Vila do Condé.

So far the weather has been perfect. Maybe too perfect, which means most of my clothes are in my bag and on my back… and since I vowed to carry my pack, the whole way this time, I intent to come home half my size. I’d better put down the chorizo sandwiches.

We leave the coast and head inland to Barcelos tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that. As much as the sea brings me joy this route isn’t as fulfilling as I imagine the central route will be.

Boa noite