Camino Day 15

Albergaria-a-Nova to São João da Madeira
~22 km/13.7 miles

Today marked the first day of new territory for me on this route. In 2022 I tested positive for Covid while I was in this area, and isolated in a nearby town for 6 days before taking a train to Porto.

I left my albergue and walked about 40 minutes to the albergue where Kelly was staying. After helping Omar, a pilgrim we had met in Águeda with some tech issues we set out.

We enjoyed really good weather for walking. No rain, and not hot.

The big excitement was a bicycle race that passed us by.

I was surprised by how large São João da Madeira is after being in so many tiny towns where everything is closed on Sundays. It was very different in São João. Several large grocery stores and a mall were all open and busy.

I had booked a studio apartment for me and Kelly which was really nice and very new. Apparently Omar's initial plans for the day were too ambitious, and he messaged me for help finding a place. Fortunately, there was one room left for him.

Our friends Cliff and José were in the building next door, and made reservations for our group at a Chinese buffet restaurant with a HUGE variety of dishes. There were the standard rice and noodle dishes plus an area where you could choose meat, seafood, veggie stand noodles to be cooked in a wok. At one end of the buffet were dozens of sushi rolls. Then there was fresh fruits and a huge choice of desserts.Baca lagi