Day 4 Aguçadoura 17km

Last night, everyone went to bed quite early, and so, we all got up quite early as well. We left just after 0730 with light rain, but it didn't last long.

I had thought that today's walk would be reasonably easy as it is only 17km. However, I was surprisingly tired, and my leg muscles were very stiff and sore, and my feet were aching before we started. Despite that, we made good progress, but the soreness just got worse, the backpacks felt heavier, and we were suffering from not having had breakfast. Needless to say, our pace slowed.

We met the Irish lady from a couple of days ago and chatted with her as we struggled along. She asked about people's reasons for walking a camino. The answer is, of course, not straightforward, but I mentioned St Augustine's famous phrase that "it is solved by walking."

It seemed obvious to me that she was working through something, but also that she wasn't ready to speak about it. But I tried to answer her questions as best I could.

We said goodbye, again, and headed off at a quicker pace. We stopped for breakfast at the first cafe we found open, and it was very good. We were really feeling the effect of having walked about 10km with no breakfast, and so we were very glad of it.

It was very hot, and there was really little shade, especially along the boardwalks, and we were soon tired again. So, we were very glad to arrive at the albergue and meet the lovely hospitalera, Connie. The albergue was modern and clean with good toilets and showers and as we were the first to arrive we had the choice of beds, and were first to get our washing done. Eat my dust pilgrims.

After a fabulous menu del dia, the rest of the day was spent relaxing. We have to get up tomorrow and do it all again.Read more