Cortiça

Today's walk was my favourite up till now. Almost the entire distance was spent on trails and walking paths or quiet country roads with very little traffic. We did have to contend with a fair amount of hills however, accumulating an elevation gain of 751 m over the 28 kms walked. The steepest hill was upon entering Calvinos, a 10% incline which mercifully did not last too long.

The highlight of the day was when we walked through the town of Sorianda. As is our habit when we pass locals along the way, we call out a "Bom Dia". Today, not only did we get a Bom Dia back, a kind lady picked oranges from her tree to give us for our travels. It was the first time I'd ever eaten freshly picked sun-ripened oranges. They were so incredibly juicy and sweet.

The Camino trail splits shortly after Calvinos and we decided to take the longer and more scenic route through Areias. We therefore walked closer to 28 kms today but the weather was relatively cooler (a high of 28 degrees only!) so it seemed much more bearable.

We're staying at the Quinta da Cortiça tonight. The accommodations are fairly new and they're right on the Camino trail. There's a pool for guests to use as well as washing machines, though I wouldn't have enough for a load of laundry even if I were to wash all the clothes I brought with me. The only negative about whether we're staying is there aren't any restaurants nearby so dinner was a small microwaved meal and a salad.

Total kilometres walked since Lisbon: 178Read more