Viana do Castelo to Caminha

We dressed for rain this morning, but it didn’t last long and we soon stuffed the rain gear back into our packs. We have been using our hiking poles a lot ever since leaving the boardwalks — they are so helpful on hills (going both up & down), on slippery rocks, on cobblestones, even on staircases. We did a lot of socializing today: with women from California, upstate NY, and Australia at stops along the way. During dinner, we lingered for two and a half hours over a feast of shared dishes and a bottle of excellent wine from the Douro Valley — complements of the Design and Wine Hotel. While today was 17 miles long, it took us a full 9 hours including breaks — thanks to higher hills than previous days.Read more