Sid - 28,678 steps
21 degrees
This mornings forecast was for 90% chance of rain with total perception of less than 1 mm. We decided to walk...enough of hanging around already. We had a pretty good breakfast and with a whole bunch more luck than planning the yellow way markers picked up right outside our B & B...and even luckier about 5 km north of our maps starting point. Brilliant
Man oh man oh man it felt good to be walking again. Sid and I both commented on how well marked our path was. We kept our eyes on the way markers at all times
We felt great. Having the temp at 10 degrees cooler didn't hurt either. Most of the path was hard surfaced and urban, hard to tell where one village ended and another began!
At one point the heavens opened wide...not sure if you can see the rain in this pic
But it poured and was accompanied by a symphony of thunder and lightening! We were glad we were under cover.
We had our lunch in our 30 minute rain delay.
On our path
So pretty...and we felt great. We were checking the map and found one town that kind was kind of spelled something similar to what was on the map, we weren't worried in the least...we always had the yellow markers in sight. Much of the guide book wasn't making a lot of sense , we reasoned that by saying we were sure the route was ever improving.
Finally based on time of estimated arrival as we walked past a cafe ....I suggested to Sid that we stop and ask if they could tell us where we were and how far we had to go. Great idea.
The next part is embarrassing. We were 18 kilometres off of the trail! Not even on the map! Buddy said the route used to go that way....10 years ago...sheesh. But 18 kilometres off trail?? We had to call a taxi to take us to where we were supposed to be...and the driver severely and endlessly reprimanded us for being lost...like the whole time...you find a cafe and ask the man...he tell you where to go. Sure...in Portuguese!
Taxi man dropped us off in the central square of the town and we make our way to
It is new and clean and we are the only ones here
It will give us an opportunity to re group and head out again tomorrow ...its not our first rodeo after all.
We must have started on the wrong foot right out of Porto....
Now that's funny. When I walked in Ireland we had that happen one day. We took off on what we thought was the right path and wondered why others went straight ahead. Well we found out when, after a loooooong, walk we reached the end of the road. There were no taxis in sight and very few houses. We ended up throwing ourselves on the mercy of a chap who drove us to our destination just as a whopping storm blew in. We were a sorry sight. So, happens to the best of us. All part of the adventure.
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