We left Tomar very early, knowing we had a long hot day ahead of us. We had planned for this to be a long day, but didn’t expect the 31C temperature and very hilly path. When we started the hotel owner insisted on getting up early and preparing a breakfast for us. Normal Portuguese breakfast, coffee, juice, bread roll with ham/cheese and Madeira cake, fresh fruit as well.
The walk out of Tomar took past a bullfighting ring and onto a path the ran along side a river.
All was good until we started going up hill, sometimes the hills seemed never ending. While one had a warning of 10 degrees incline for cars, some tracks would have been to steep for any vehicle. A lot the walk was through eucalyptus plantations. Some of which are being logged at the moment, and the logging trucks and other vehicles had churned up the tracks making them hard to traverse. They would be impossible in the rain.
After the first 11km there was no support on the track, we knew this in advance and had stocked up on fresh fruit and water the night before. About 4kg worth. We consumed all, bar one apple during the day. We stopped several times along side the road in the shade of Eucalyptus trees, as well in an olive grove, and once in the forest. There are no seats etc, so we just laid out a ground sheet and sat in the shade while we caught our breath. We both had to use natures toilet!
The last 5km was a hot hard slog into town and we stopped frequently in the shade to catch our breath. The closer we got the closer a bush fire nearby seemed to get. We joked that our accommodation was on fire. It wasn’t.
Once we reached what we thought was the edge of town we stopped at a service station for drink. It was still over 1km to out accommodation. A pilgrims albergue, our own room, but shared bathroom, toilets and kitchen, self catering. So then it was shower, change, laundry and back out to find supplies.
Russ and Jan's Camino 