Sunday

Viana do Castelo to Praia de Ancora
Another gorgeous walk. Aside from the cow in my hotel room, the town of Viana de Castelo was really nice. Big enough where there would be things to do and had a very “old” feel to it.
I have walked on every surface imaginable- sand, cobblestone, (LOTS of cobblestone), dirt paths, rock. Thank the Lord my feet are happy in my Hoka Speedgoat 5’s and my injinji toe sock liners!
Walked awhile with many people today. Almural from South Africa who is currently living and working as a nurse in Dublin because of the economic hardship in her own country. She is walking and grieving the loss of her brother. Mary- a young educational psychologist from the UK- I think she had been crying when I happened on her. Just stayed with her a bit, then let her continue to work through what she needed to. I walked with Martin- also from the UK, who openly shared his take on their political situation, “They traded in one stupid Prime Minister for an even stupider one!”. A couple of Scottish ladies who MUST have been older than me, (although I’m not quite sure since my recent designation as an “elderly lady”.) They had done all 800 kilometers of the French Camino last year. I’m thinking they must have been 75 or so. And then Ernest, who was driving a tractor pulling a wagon full of hay and stopped at the gate to his pasture, got off his tractor, and shouted “Bom Caminho!” He was an amputee, hobbling around on one crutch-(sort of reminded me of my old friend Bob), but he showed me his cows,(vacas) and communicated to me that there was a bar that was open 3 km down the road. (Nothing is open on Sundays, so this was valuable info!)
And then a lot of walking just by myself, which is also pure joy.
I’m getting into the rhythm of the day. It’s such a simple beat. Wake up. Eat (COFFEE!!!), walk.
Tomorrow will mess me up- a short day. Not sure why it booked out that way, but as it is supposed to rain all day, it’s probably a good thing. It will also be my last night in Portugal before crossing over into Spain. My last chance to eat those scrumptious Pastel de Natas, (I think I called them the wrong thing earlier- buen natales, which I’m pretty sure means Merry Christmas in Italian 🙄, soI am now correcting myself!). Also, I talked earlier about that sandwich called the Francosinho. I went to dinner and tried to order it even though it did not sound good to me, but I was gonna take one for the team. The server, who spoke no English looked at me for a long time and then pointed at the burger. I said, “Yeah! That sounds good!”
All Joni Mitchell playlist today. Favorite verse from my reading of James: 2:12 “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement.”Read more