Today I started out from Apulia to walk about 10kms to Marinhas, because it was raining. Everything was fine. My very cheap poncho worked at first. The rain was off and on and I was on the right path for the most part. Then the path divided and of course, I took the one I hadn’t meant to take.
The path is known as the Litoral Camino and it’s described as being not for the faint of heart. There was no signage. My GPS map told me that I was on a Camino route – so what was my problem?
We’ll the heavy traffic, the gale force winds that shredded my poncho and the lack of a sidewalk – I now have a measurement between life and death. It’s about 12”.
Being on the wrong route meant that I overshot Marinhas and had to steel myself to walk another 10kms. Miraculously, at one point the paths merged and I was able to slip over to the one I had intended to walk at the beginning.
Little did I know that I was about to go through a heavily forested area with lots of rocks, lots of mud and lots of ankle-breaking tree roots. There was also a cement bridge (without handrails) over a raging river which I had to cross. It took three “Hail Marys.” The one earlier in the day, had handrails, but a very iffy, makeshift walkway because of construction. That one took 6 “Hail Marys.” I did, however, make it though, reaching a hostel at about 2:00pm. It’s a little out of the way, with another 1km walk to a restaurant, which didn’t really appeal to me and a grocery store. I decided to buy a ready made sandwich in the deli section and went back to the hostel for a light meal.
I could justify this pilgrim meal, because yesterday for lunch in Apulia, I met a Danish woman – a medical doctor – who wanted a special lunch. We opted for a traditional Sunday spread at a fish restaurant with a line up.
When we finally got a table, we had grilled sardines and clams in butter with garlic to start, followed by grilled Sea Bass and boiled potatoes again in butter. Vivi ordered a bottle of white so it turned out to be a very elegant lunch, which Vivi insisted on paying for. I protested, of course, but Vivi won.
Heading to Viana do Castelo tomorrow, if the legs hold out.
Bom Caminho