Eileen Joll

Walked 21.75 miles under sunny skies, 84 degrees with little shade. We collapsed onto beds upon entering our room. Tomorrow is to be 89 deg.

We left from Lisbon and saw 5 pilgrims from Lisbon who are walking the Camino to Fatima, a much more popular route in southern Portugal. We also passed 2 Slovenians who were biking to Santiago and a Frenchman and a Canadian walking- actually, they passed us. Other than that, it was just the two of us walking through parks, fields, along highways, or over boardwalks.

We are at Retiro and spoke with Jason from Florida. He is a 40 year old doing his second Camino. He said his flight landed at 8:00AM and he went directly to cathedral to pick up his Camino passport. He obviously walked faster than us, arriving only an hour later.

This was the second time we went into a restaurant only to be told that the kitchen didn't open until 7:00. That was ok, just gave us some dedicated beer drinking time.

Things we learned.
- Stop at the cafes along the way when you see them - we didn't and then they weren't around when we wanted one.
-. Carry snacks!! (Fortunately, we did!)
- Carry extra water it fill up at the cafes you stop at. We ran out before we got to our final destination.

I'm thankful for:
- the beautiful wildflowers that were in season today.
- our health. Although we were very tired and very sore, we made it without complications.Read more