Caminha to Oia

Up early, as we had to have breakfast and be at the dock by 11.00am. Well talk about dinning in a stately manor house. The decor, the furniture, the cutlary, the china were all centuries old. OMG it was just so lovely. This gent had his own little chapel off the library. The library had a fire going, as did the dining room. I wished he could have adopted me. His family had owned it since the 1850's and it showed.

Got to the dock and the boat guy was there. He had a stamp for our passport. Good job he asked for our passports if not I think the authorities at Santiago might have had an issue with our walking authenticity. One minute we are in Portugal, the next in no man's land, and then we are in Spain. All in the space of 5 minutes.we cross the river Minho. In Portugal side there was a dock, but when it comes to Spain, the boat which is one with an out board motor just lands on the sea shore and you jump off the boat on to the sand. There's is a photo of our lonely Boardman heading back to Portugal. It cost us euros 5.00 for each to come over.

Our welcome dignitary in Spain was a snake. That was something that I certainly had not worried too much about. From then on it's right there in the fore front of your mind ,Thank you very much. Walking along the Spain's coast line was different as it did not have the wooden walkway. But it was between over grown under growth and scrub. So out came my trusted weapon of choice. My handy walking stick. I want to live as much as the snake. So as long as he went in the opposite direction to us, when we came face to face we were all going to live happily ever after. I wished and hoped he had my same sentiments.

Finally we came to a village. It was right on noon. Our walking speed is approximately 4kms an hour. So we had walked a long distance in our mind, but actually it was only around 4kms. But as we had not seen any cafes on the way it was best to get our lunch here. We stopped at the first cafe. By now I would get my phone out, and try and translate words so both parties understood each other at cafes especially. When I put in the word rice the waitress says Paella. Fantastic. That and a jug of fresh lemon juice ordered we were both sorted. Well what a dish that was. It took a longtime to come, but it had to be the best in the world. My mouth waters thinking about it. Yum. I hope Shyamas does too

It was a very long long day. Over 22 kms in all. Some of it on path ways, some on the main highway, some on over grown paths, and the coast at this stage was rocky. The houses were few and far between. The only good thing was if you needed a toilet break, you could go on the side, as there was no others in the vicinity. We only met one other person, and that too on the main road.

After a long long day we got to our accommodation. Going out to have dinner was an effort. But luckily it was two doors next to the casa we were staying at. The Sangria was ok, not the best. Dinner was a need, more than a desire to eat. Bed was a desire that was an absolute necessity. Point of interest is that the main pillow in Spain is a very long one. It goes across the bed. It is narrow, but long. Useless bit of information I thought I will share.Read more