No more washing today, the streets are clean but wet, and the big dryer is about to emerge from its slow shifting cover. We’re on the move again venturing out into a perfect day. As we opened our guide book to check directions I thought of the delightful young Canadian woman and her new Camino friend, a young Italian man. We met them in Porto resting on their first day off since Lisbon and fell into a Camino debriefing. When they saw my guide book she said with intrigue: “no- one uses those anymore”.
As I was reflecting on her dinosaur quip, a young man on a motorbike pointed behind him suggesting that was the way. Further along I pulled the book out again and an older man crossed the road, put his hand on my shoulder and waved his hand vigorously in the camino direction. An older woman seeing the same thing insisted on walking with us when the book had a sudden memory loss.
So this got me thinking about what our young friends were saying to us when they inferred that these days everyone uses an (App). So we tried the two they suggested, both insisting theirs was the best. We downloaded them but we’re not sure exactly what to do with them. In Portugal however there is another way. Buy a book, remove all the pages (less weight), and when you need it, open it, look at it for a few minutes at most, and wait for your Portuguese navigator.
Mostly our walk was through busy traffic areas which was okay as we got a sense of outer Porto and the people who live in places away from the more popular areas. Walking north we were aware of the neatness of the streets and houses, the odd home with walls tiled with different designs and colours. We stopped twice for a snack to spoil my leg and slowly climatise it to the extra walking. I had the usual stiffness after 5 kms, then after 8 kms and 11 kms roughly, with the last few home giving me some encouragement.
Corrie on the other hand is still having a walk in the park. In the past I have shot ahead too much at times but now I’ve slowed a little, we are walking and talking more together. This led to discussions about why no-one (except when we got really close), knew where our lodgings were. Finally we found it but the problem was it had changed its name. The locals did not know, nor did our book, so maybe it’s time to work more on our App, surely it knows.
