Hmmm. It’s been a long hot 33.2km and the soft tissue on the soles of my feet have clearly remembered the damage I did to them in April 2018 and are scared witless that I’m about to repeat the offence. It’s been pain signal after pain signal all day long 😢. I’ll try to be a little more careful tomorrow and we’ll aim for a little less mileage. Still it’s been 41,225 steps and 200 floors worth of ascent so I have some sympathy.

We started around 7 a.m.

10m from the hotel door that Dorothy is standing next to is this odd group of sculptures.

Barcelos was pretty deserted until we got to the main square where hundreds of people, large lorries and awnings were setting up for some sort of festival.

We trudged on.

Some 5km or so later we left the town (after a quick stop for coffee and croissant) and found ourselves on a pleasant woodland path.

The heat started building, I wore shorts, we haven’t brought the usual sun screen and I’ve now got a very impressive red tide line above my socks. Oh, and some painful itching. It’s set to reach 28 degrees tomorrow so it’s my Ronhills – warm but protective. Dorothy as always is totally covered so is fine.

Five years ago we passed a group of men engaged in putting down a new road composed of individual cobblestones. It’s a lot of effort but the cobblestones are large cuboid pieces of what looks like granite and are likely to look relatively undisturbed in 200 years time. Today we passed the fruits of their labours.

They’d not quite finished and alongside are large, deep coloured blocks for the sides of the road.

I’m completely blown away by this approach. Whereas in the UK we put down a thin layer of tarmac which quickly breaks and leaves potholes everywhere or some form of faux marble on the pavements of Oxford which crack as soon as an overweight American walks on it, the Portuguese intend that their roads and streets are going to outlive their great great grandchildren’s grandchildren and build accordingly.

Rant over.

The lizards were out in force along the stone walls, scattering quickly into holes as we hove into view.

We finally saw some Japanese knotweed.

It’s quite beautiful but apparently a significant problem around Europe.

What seems to be careless cruelty is rampant in this part of the world. Dogs tethered in farmyards in the full glare of the sun, chickens in tiny enclosures, pigs gutted in the street – yup, look at the 2019 Portuguese blog.

It’s now 18:50, we’ve checked in to this hotel where we stayed five years ago. Our stay then was notable for the cold fish and chips we were forced to eat after waiting 20 minutes for one of our group to find the dining room 😞. Our stay this time around is notable for the lack of food and the presence of mould above the shower and in the bedroom. It’s not pleasant but we’re tired and have another fairly long day tomorrow ahead of us and can’t face a further 6km now.

Dorothy is in bed keeping warm (it’s a very cold room). When I finish writing this I’ll crawl in beside her, do some Duolingo and possibly listen to a couple of podcasts. Hopefully tomorrow night’s accommodation will be better.

Buen camino