Finally Walking

Catherine and I spent two nights in the charming town of Coimbra and returned to Porto Tuesday afternoon to meet Ina at the airport. We had another glorious day and rested up to begin our walk. We started yesterday from Porto but had been told that the first 10 km. were along the main highway and not so pleasant. We took a bus the first 10 km. and then walked about 26 km. to the small town of Sao Pedro de Rates. The day started out a bit chilly and with clouds but turned sunny and beautiful. I wouldn't change a thing about last year's walk but there is certainly something to be said for walking later in the spring. The landscape is incredibly beautiful this time of year. There are green fields, blue skies, and flowers everywhere: wisteria, calla lillies, birds of paradise, camellias, hydrangeas, roses, wildflowers--It is amazing. The floral aroma is lovely but, sadly, interspersed with the aroma of cows--such is life in rural Portugal. There are also tons of lemon and orange trees that are ripe with fruit--we picked some oranges at Carlos's house and have been enjoying them. Yesterday´s walk was great yet we spent a lot of time reminiscing about last year's walk with Sang Kyoung, Christian, Carlos, and the others and we miss them greatly. We arrived in the village last night in the late afternoon at the unmanned albergue to find Dieter (a German man) and Frank ( a young American). They are friendly but we have decided not to hitch our wagon to their star. The village last night was quiet but beautiful and we had dinner and turned in early. It was quite a luxury to have a room for just the three of us. It might have not have been so grand for the aforementioned Dieter and Frank in the next room who undoubtedly heard us laughing well into the night.
This morning we set out on our very short walk for Barcelos. Fortunately we arrived on Thursday--the big market day which people travel far and wide to attend. Unfortunately it started to rain just as we arrived in town. We stopped by the tourist office for information and were told by the apparent Colgate toothpaste model, "Fonseca" that after we procured accomodation we should swing back by the tourist office for wine and pastries. There are no albergues in town so we found an inexpensive pension for the night. Our favorite thing about this sort of arrangement is that towels are provided and we do not have to use our wretched camp towels. We returned to the tourist office and there was a veritable "pastry museum" as Ina called it. Tons of desserts set up for the taking. We loaded up and then headed to a very leisurely lunch. One reason for the short walk today is that this is a larger town and has a train connection for Catherine who, sadly, returns to Porto tomorrow in the a.m. in order to catch her flight to the U.S. I commend her for her strong work ethic. Ina and I will have some long days of walking ahead of us in order to arrive in Santiago on Wednesday. Carlos, SangKyoung and Christian, we miss you so much and wish you were here.
(sidenote to Mom and Dad:--favorite chicken place in coimbra with east european coal pickers is tragically no longer open for business. We have been to some other places that were okay but not quite the same)