We met Vanda at the starting point of the Portuguese Camino. She is the female part of our Portuguese friends and had decided to come with us on our first leg. It was wonderful as she led us out of ‘fadoland’. The male part had painted some dripping yellow painted signs in strategic places where we could see them because we were looking for them, while locals could not easily see them for they weren’t looking.

Luckily it was a short journey today as I was struggling on many fronts. After a few kms I struggled to get my legs moving, while later I struggled to find my breath, then felt a little faint. I walked up front because it gave me more incentive to keep ahead. The girls were a bit oblivious to this as they were having a lovely time discussing all things Portugal.  

While I was against Britain leaving the European Union, it was enlightening to hear our friend’s perspective. With Germany controlling and making most of the decisions, it is obvious that Germany gets a relatively good deal. I mean why wouldn’t Portugal want two of their submarines, with all of the wars they have? And why do they have to grow certain products for the union, lesser roles than the big countries? It is partly for these reasons that smaller countries want to leave.

I had to sit down or I might have to leave as well. My body needed a break and as soon as a type of traffic island with chairs and an archaic men’s loo appeared, I took one. The others arrived and Corrie crossed the road to get coffees. Here she met a local man with whom she chatted for a while about his life in Wollongong. I could tell by the temperature of my drink that she found out his story of a cancelled visa but could not explain why. I could though, I think it was because he made bad coffee!

We arrived at our destination but there was no accommodation. We rang ahead to see if there was a bed…but none. I suggested we catch a train to the first place that did. In my blurry state we ended up catching a train to a town much too far away. So tomorrow we will backtrack by train to where we were supposed to be and see how I go on the second day.