Day 4, a rocky start turns fantastic

Leaving Apulia, we headed through some forest, where we enjoyed fragrant wild honeysuckle. But then crossed the Rio Cavado via a very long, very narrow, and a bit rusty bridge. Didn't love that! After the Camino trail gets a bit tricky. We had to do about 10km along the busy N13 road. Narrow shoulders, and Portugese drivers! My impression so far is that they mainly show utter contempt for road markings, speed limits, and a reckless disregard of pedestrians. It was harrowing, and the worst part of the walk so far. But then! Magically our yellow arrows reappeared, as we searched a bit with apps and a Czech girl who assisted.

Now we have a trail! Road noise recedes, to be replaced by bubbling streams and bird chirps. We met German Ute, and continued tagging back and forth with the Czech student. She shared that she has to rush her journey, as she has to be back in Porto to defend her thesis long distance after her finals date got changed. Sounds stressful to the extreme!

But now, we're climbing. A long twisty up through narrow valley roads means a long twisty down, if course. But before that, a church founded in 862 becomes a resting spot. Refreshed, we all begin the long haul onwards. We hear soft music in the distance, round a corner, to find there is a surprise honor system cafe set up! No host in sight, just everything a pilgrim could need and a whole lot of trust. So we trudge the last few km through Valley village stone wall lined roads, to end up at the absolute haven of Casa Carolina

Where the weary dusty travellers are given a glass of ice cold lemonade, a cool pool to plunge feet into, laundry, showers..and Grandma Marias vegetables soup. A highlight meal, made here from vegetables grown here, and shared around a convivial table. This, is how I imagined it could be!

Also, day 4 turned into 25km. I've been under counting!Read more