Unloading

This morning, I set off quite early, 6.50 am as its forecast for torrential rain all day. I want to get to my next stop in good time, and there are a lot of people with the same idea. Caldas de Reis is one of the suggested stops on the Portuguese way. I haven't been stopping at the suggested stops until now as I wanted to visit the thermal waters. Because it's a popular stop, there are many pilgrims on the way. Leaving before me was a family, including a little girl who didn't look older than 10 years old. She was carrying a little backpack as well. What an interesting thing to do with your child. I'm sure she'll have these memories for a long while.

Yesterday, as I was coming into the town, I was looking out for the 45km marker. There wasn't a way marker for that figure. 45km is poignant for me as it's the last distance marker I saw on the 100km walk I was doing before I got my brain injury in 2016. One of the things pilgrims do on their pilgrimage is to bring a stone from home that represents their burdens. They then leave the stone somewhere on the way to signal, leaving their burdens behind. I left my stone on the closest way marker to 45km.Read more