Day 22/11 Viana do Castelo to Vila Praia

After a very cool, windy night, we embarked on our walk to Vila Praia de Ancora at 7:30 this morning under blues skies with a temperature of just 12 degrees. My companions have begun looking at me menacingly for having brought the miserable weather with me from Vancouver.

Fortunately, after a steep uphill climb minutes into our walk, we all warmed up pretty quickly and began shedding layers of clothing. Soon into the hike we were out of the city and walking Roman roads through some lovely forested areas. Parts of the path were a little rugged, wet or muddy, but overall the morning went by very quickly.

We made a stop for coffee at about 10 kms into the hike and didn't stop again until we reached our seaside destination.

The rest of the day was spent eating and drinking. The highlight was our delving into the hot cocktail here: Porto and tonic. The girls had white port and tonic last night and we decided we had to try it with a Tawny. We bought a bottle of Tawny at a local market for €4.70 and killed it with a bottle of tonic water as pre-dinner cocktails. I think we need to bottle it and sell it at home.

It's an early night tonight as we're all a little tired from today's climbs and the prospect of another 25km day tomorrow, which will be our last full day in Portugal.Read more