Agueda to Branca

27.4km

Today it rained and rained and rained. Yesterday in the town of umbrellas, I bought one. It fits nicely over my pack and me. It slides in nicely next to my poles when I am not using it, so definitely worth the 6€. My pack is lined with a trash compactor bag so the exterior gets wet but not the contents. So far this is working well. I don’t have to scramble to cover my pack when the rain rolls in. I walked for 8 hours today. 7 of them were in the rain.

The landscape continues to be lackluster. There were spots of beauty but not mile after mile like I had had previously. I am staying in an alburgue just off the route. It’s just me here by myself. The owner and her assistant have been lovely and we have had lots of laughs trying to communicate. They ordered me dinner in, so I don’t have to walk the 4km to town.

I posted a picture the other day and I forgot to tell you all about it. The picture was of two arrows on a rock. One going left and one going right. One blue and one yellow. Yellow is the road to Santiago. The blue leads in the opposite direction to the Camino de Fatima. Many believe it’s where the Virgin Mary made an apparition. Everyday since Tomar I have passed pilgrims going to Fatima. It’s a shorter pilgrimage and begins, I believe in Porto.

Tomorrow I walk about 18km and then take the train to Porto. From Porto, I will switch from the Portuguese Central Camino to the Portuguese Coastal. Jack is meeting up with me on Sunday night.Read more