The streets of Porto were washed for us once again as we searched for a special cafe. We walked in and out of our first one, but soon returned after failing to find a decent croissant in another. The barista in the ‘rejected cafe’ seemed to be waiting for us, as he gave us a ‘what took you so long’ look. Corrie was also getting her share of rejections. After getting into trouble asking for [...]

There was no accommodation inside 25 kms and at this stage we decided that it would be too risky to walk with a leg well below full capacity.  We scanned the maps eager to see other possibilities, but the patchiness of distances, many over 20 kms, was too vast. From Porto onwards there appears to be closer distances between sleeps and a much larger support system to give both of us peace of mind.  In [...]

Another misty morning greeted us as we opened the curtains on Tomar’s last performance. We had balcony seats so we also felt the touch of the cool air as we strained to see the castle we never saw. The others had already made a start so it was off to breakfast to join them and talk about the day ahead. We had a meeting and agreed that distances are too far at present and rail [...]

Well we explored a bit of Tomar and started to get an idea of why it is most revered. First it must be noted that Portugal has a very large catholic population dedicated to the church and its loyal protectors. These professional soldiers, known as the Knights Templars were made up of an elite fighting force (around 10%) with their support staff, admin team etc. making up the other 90%. The Knights Templars were most [...]

We are catching up with our English/Australian friends today so our walk will be a 4 km walk to the station to catch a train to Tomar, a medieval town, so crucial in the Portuguese story which I will tell you more about after tomorrow’s exploration with our friends.  In the meantime, we walked through parts of this ancient city, chatting about old times, and potential new times for us, family and the globe. With [...]

We’ve just left the best bathroom in the world. A huge shower room with a huge shower head that tries to drown you, a loo with the same space, you could dance in the ‘cleaning teeth room’ and then no door at all into the ‘getting ready for bed room’. We leave this one hundred horse town, where they breed, train and sell the famous Lusitano horse. They are a beautiful, strong chested horse used [...]

Today our host arranged a visit to Golega’s Natural Reserve with Fernando who is in charge. The area is about 5kms square and we spent the morning walking through mostly ‘untouched by human hands country’. While our trail walking is often filled with bird sounds, there is little that is so highly concentrated on nature as this Reserve. Walking initially between two small creeks, through long wet grass (where my non-waterproof shoes don’t work so [...]

So, a bus back to Santarem and it was off walking again as we headed back to familiar camino territory. Through copious vineyards with ‘just planted vines’ to still young ones, planted so methodically, divided by yellow daisies. Every one hundred metres or so we would see a small brick hut in the middle of the vines that could be a workers rest place or storage for grape things. Many puddles were the evidence of [...]

A steep hill to the bus station provided our morning fast walk as we walked from our hotel to the bus station way up in the village of Santarem. It was curious knowing the place we were travelling to was partly about visions of the sun dancing or moving at least. I was quick to allow my imagination some rare freedom when Corrie called to me to come and look at the faint rainbow.  I’m [...]

There wasn’t a distance I could confidently complete - ie. ending up in a village with lodgings or a train station - so we decided on a ‘two village walk’. We looked in on a 16th century church with its tiled walls of the same era in this ancient settlement dating back to Roman times. The station of Azambuja continued the blue tile theme, as did many of the shops and residences. The same white [...]