Day 4 - Tamel to Valenca

If you are familiar with the Portugues Central Route at all this would certainly cause raised eyebrows. After all it’s 57.9 kilometers, over double of what we have done any one of the first three days.

So, after yesterday’s traumatic but blessed day, (See Day 3 herein) neither Claudia or I slept very well, tossing and turning, maybe snoring trying to figure out how we would finish with our schedule as it was. It turns out that in our time frame I have put us in, the walking pace is a little more aggressive than we originally thought. 15+ miles a day for two weeks is a little tougher than it used to be.

I woke up at 5am ready to make a go of it and woke up Claudia. She asked me to talk outside the room. She remembered that to “finish” the
Camino and receive the Compostela you had to walk 100km. We could do that and finish on schedule if we were transported in time to Valenca. She also reminded me the goal here was to complete the Camino by arriving at Santiago de Compostela, not just walk 170 miles.

My first thought was disappointment, but I realistically knew that completion would not happen without some miracle, especially under the time constraints I had. My next thought was this was the miracle I was praying for. I did. I don’t want to go home without the Compostela, and now I won’t.

So, we took the train for a little over an hour and we’re transported to Valenca, Portugal. I want to walk across the Minho river myself into Spain. We took the rest of the the day planning how far to walk each day and where to stop. The kilometers would be a little more each day as my feet heal. We bought 50 Euros worth of blister protection at the Farmacia. We bought me a pair of sandals that fit and won’t hurt my feet 🙏🙏, and relaxed the rest of the day.

If you have read Matthew McConaughey’s book, this is where the chapter would end and he would say “Green Light.”

The journey continues tomorrow. I have a plan, but will follow God’s plan.

Still got over 7000 steps today.Read more