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Caminho Português 2024: Day 3

20 May 2024 Denise Ketcham 0 Comment

Beautiful day, beautiful way

Beautiful morning with fog lifting off farmlands.

Well I guess I’ve got time to double post today since we are at a laundromat washing clothes. Today we entered really beautiful country, getting well beyond the city environs of Porto. We only had about 16km to walk today, which was good because my legs are stiffening up. No blisters so far!

Today’s route is a huge improvement with some dirt tracks and pretty country.
A “pilgrim” park, complete with poetry, picnic area and mementos left by our predecessors.
The symbol of Barcelos is a rooster. Here a Pilgrim rooster sculpture commemorates the special pilgrim year of 2021. Note his walking stick and water gourd.
Looking across the river with medieval bridge at Barcelinhos.
Barcelos!
With the original rooster in Barcelos central town.

A word about our fellow pilgrims. There’s a great bunch of people traveling along with us. We haven’t met any Americans since we left the coastal route, but I’m not complaining. I think the biggest group is German and then we have some Brits, Irish, Danish, Dutch, Slovenia, Canadian, Brazilian, and Korean. We certainly had quite the party last night with the singing. I know that will remain one of my fondest memories.

Our lodging today is a hotel. I am looking forward to a peaceful night… the hostels have their downsides such as climbing into your bunk in the dark because the majority of your dormitory went to bed at 8! Or the pilgrims departing at 5 am that aren’t so very quiet. So we took advantage to have a nice nap in our private room after a fabulous lunch. Sleep, so blessed.

Tomorrow we have 20 km to Casa Da Fernanda hostel. Fernanda is famous for her hospitality (and wine from what I gather). Looking forward to it.