We dressed for rain because, after all, it is Portugal, well this morning it is but after about 10 it will be Spain but it will be 11 because of the time difference which means we’ll arrive late, but no, there will be an extra hour of daylight…I think. Phew! but we still might need our rain gear in Spain, because it is, after all Galicia, and it always rains. 

It was only ‘dodging puddles day’ today as the heavily laden rain clouds loitered to our left out to sea. It was quite special leaving early, walking the empty streets of Valenca. It is a fortress town but instead of looking at its empty shell from afar, most of the old town is inside the fortress. We often miss a look around town but the camino went through the fortress, thus it was easy to admire the cobbled streets as they led us by the historic monuments and churches.

Then it was across the very wide Minho river into another old town, overtaking many of the ‘last 100 km walkers’ as we looked for our first breakfast in Spain. We walked alongside a narrow fast flowing stream, on narrow slabs of stone and across three small Roman bridges.

Our young friends from Belgium were having breakfast on a concrete block on the side of the track. Her blister had deteriorated and was back to its worst which was devastating for her initially but she’s starting to live with it.

After about 6 kms my body did not want to move but I needed it to. We soon reached a cafe to rest. Even after that break I had to will it to move. I decided to set myself a goal of overtaking some walkers who were causing us some danger by walking on the wrong side of the road. It worked, then a small hill and valley gave me much needed momentum.

Later they overtook us for I had slowed just a little, and the woman who was part of this ‘wrong side of the road crew’ said to me: “good walking” because she had read the ‘walking for Parkinsons’ sign on my back. As we talked briefly she told me she had cancer and when she was diagnosed she started walking.

The day had warmed slightly, as we walked along crooked paths undulating through pine and beech forests, alongside another river, and home. We did the usual ‘home and prepare for next day things’, replaced our sim card because no-one was talking to us, then took a short stroll around this pretty town.