22km. We woke up to a cloudy overcast and cool day. It really looked like it was going to rain, but it didn’t. The hotel we stayed in didn’t offer breakfast so we went to a nearby busy pastaleria for ham and cheese rolls and our staple, portuguese custard tarts.
Then it was heading out of town soon walking on Eucalyptus forest tracks. After 6km reached the very busy Highway N-1 again. We stopped in a cafe that sat less than a metre from a highway that was full of trucks, cars and semi-trailers (see video). The noise is constant, and how anyone lives near the road is amazing.We left the N-1 highway and walked through quiet roads towards Pinheiro da Benposta. We stopped at a lavadero so Judy could cool her feet. We originally thought these lavaderos where a relic of the past, but we have seen more women using them to wash clothes, so they are still in use.
We stopped at a busy pastaleria for an after lunch ice-cream and iced tea at Pinheiro da Benposta. We tried to post something at the local Portuguese post office Corrios, but of course they were closed for 90 minutes everyday for lunch.
Over the N-1 again (via pedestrian bridge) and then up the hill to an old fonte, that also had a lavadero built in it. Crossing the N-1 again, at traffic lights that did not have pedestrian lights, you just sort of guessed when to go. Through Travanca and then through a railway tunnel. 15 minutes later a train came through the tunnel.
It ws then a hard slog uphill into Oliveira de Azemeis, where we spent 30 minutes trying to find a Residential Hotel, that was closed for renovations, and a Pensao that we never found. We are staying at the four star Hotel Dighton, which offers a cheap pilgrim rate of 55 Euros for two.
Wide footpaths on the N-1 Highway
Woman washing at a lavadero
Judy cooling her feet
Sharing the Camino with trains
ancient fonte
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What a primitive way to do washing. We were on the islands outside Venice a few years back and saw a women doing her washing in the middle of a square at a standpipe We all take our washing machines for granted in the modern world. Look after your feet Judy.