Rates to Tamel (sort of) – 26.0km, 6.5hours, Thursday, 19 September

First, I have to say that when I woke up today, my back felt quite good. I took a second dose of Camino Candy, just in case, this morning and walking 26km wasn’t a problem. Last night, the 150m to and from the restaurant was agony for me. Without Melanie to lean on, I would not have made it. Every step caused a shooting pain up my back but today, it was fine. I am as happy as I can be. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. They worked. 

I’m also happy that I stayed upright all day today. My feet were firmly on the ground. 

Next, why is the data saying that we walked from Rates to Tamel “sort of”?  That is because we are actually sleeping in Barcelos tonight – about 17km after Rates but 9km before Tamel..Tamel only has a albergue (hostal) to sleep in and we prefer the luxury and privacy of a cheap hotel room.  (More on that later). Anyway, we walked to Barcelos, had a quick lunch, then called an Uber to take us to Tamel so we could walk back to Barcelos.  Tomorrow morning we will take another Uber and walk the 24ish kilometers to Ponte de Lima.  The other reason we added the 9km to today’s leg was so tomorrow’s walk didn’t have to be 33km. The reason we didn’t just walk straight to Tamel and call for a taxi back to Barcelos was because Tamel is out in the middle of nowhere and wouldn’t have many, if any, Uber drivers waiting for fares.

The trail today included a total of 4.9km of natural trails which was greatly appreciated.  The further we get from main towns, the better the trails are.  Most of the natural trails were in the first few kilometers out of Rates so that made the morning even better.  On one dirt far trail though, we did have some excitement too.  A large farm truck had broken its axel due to the ruts in the trail.  The payload in the back was on a perilous 45 degree angle to the ground.  There were several men standing around trying to figure out what to do.  As we squeezed by under the lean of the truck, Melanie turned and pretended to try and push it upright. The men all had a laugh but I wish I had thought to take a picture of Melanie, the manic mechanic.

We met a lot more pilgrims today while walking, particularly while going backwards from Tamel to Barcelos. We chatted briefly with many of them but hit it off most three young ladies from Hong Kong. We met them just after crossing the river into Barcelos (the first time, from the south) and then again while walking southward from Tamel where they are staying.  As we are all walking from Tamel to Ponte de Lima tomorrow, Melanie arranged for us all to have dinner together there. Asians – they are always thinking about the next meal. 

Regarding the wildfires, today was a good bit clearer for us but also much sadder.  Our eyes never teared up from the smoke, our throats weren’t as irritated and the sun shone a good bit brighter and hotter.  What is sad though is the fire closest to Porto has gotten much worse and closer to the city, only 4km away.  They are suffering from the haze a lot more than when we were there and worried about the advancing flames.  Also, towns we walked through ten years ago, like Águeda and Albergaría-a-Nova are currently inside the largest fire zone in the country. 

Other than all that fun stuff, today was just another walking day with time to contemplate and meditate.

Peace y’all

Goodnight George and Leo .