17km. It rained for a lot of the night, but we stayed dry in our tent. We awoke to dark clouds, and we thought we had another day of rain. However the rain had stopped, and it never rained the rest of the day. We put on our wet clothes from the previous day, packed up the tent and headed north. We walked through Portela de Vila Verde, which, like most of the villages from the previous day, look almost completely empty. Its rare to see anyone, and lots of the houses are for sale, with the occasional collapsed building.
The cloud started to break up, and we started to see patches of blue sky. We draped our wet clothes over our rucksacks to help them dry. Then it was a climb uphill to a hill at 305 metres, then down the hill through a very overgrown path, that became just rocky, but Greg managed to trip on a rock, and fall down scapping both his knees. The morale of this tale is to use both walking poles not just one.
Then we found a service station just off the track when crossing the N-110, and purchased drinks and icecreams. It was then 3 km along a road, in sun, and quite warm, we were managing to dry even more clothes hanging on our rucksacks.
It was then a turn-off for the last 5km which wound through little lanes through villages and farms all the way to Alvaiazere.
Enjoying following your daily travel and pics and getting a great geography lesson.
Really admire your stamina.
Hope the weather improves.
Thanks Gayle, glad you’re enjoying our adventures. We have just heard about a guy who walks up to 130km per day, with blisters, which make our efforts seem pretty pathetic. I’m not going to even try to come close to what he achieves.
I hope Gregs knees are ok and he’s able to continue on . No wonder the countryside is so lovely and green with so much rain ! Fingers crossed for sunshine . xx
Greg’s knees are okay thanks Sal. One is nearly better and the other has impressive scabby bits on it. I’m wondering if the last time he had scabby knees was when he was about 50 years younger! Gorgeous sunny day today … all day!
Have a fantastic trip!! (Sally and her mum are going to the UK for a couple of weeks – The Lake District, The Cotswolds and the Chelsea Flower Show – I’ll see if she’ll do a guest post for us when she gets home to tell us all about her trip and share some of her photos)
Pleased to see you now have blue skies and sunshine. Everything looks so much nicer in good weather. Hope your friend Sally brings the sunshine to the UK . have a good day.
It was a bit of a relief after all the rain, Margaret. Hope you’re having better, warmer weather in the UK. Greg spoke to Fay a couple of days ago and temps were still in the mid-20s in Adelaide.