We started the day early again, without breakfast hoping to stop at a cafe along the way. It took about an hour to walk out of Coimbra, and we did manage a stop for coffee and a pastry early on. Walking in and out of larger towns and cities is the worst part of the day. The progression is through run down residential areas, industrial areas and waste/refuse dumps, crossing motorways and train tracks until we hit farmland, small villages and country tracks. Life is a lot calmer and relaxed out of the cities.
Some small towns got great effort to be part of the camino. Trouxemil had a wall painted promoting the camino. This town was also one of our coffee stops.
This was also where we caught up with other pilgrims walking to Santiago de Compostela. A french couple, a Japanese man (Hiro) walking some of the Camino in traditional japanese Tengu Geta. A type of wooden sandle that has only one 5-6cm stilt under it. A man from Belgium (Lars) who was going to cycle from Belgium to Lisbon, but his bike broke-down so flew to Lisbon instead.
A part of todays walk was through more Eucalypt plantations. The traffic from the tractors and trucks had turned the path into thick dust, it was like walking through thick red bulldust in the outback. While the surface looks smooth, underneath are potholes filled with dust that when stepped in you can sprain an ankle (I nearly did).
We are seeing Bougainvillea everywhere,
And while there are water fountains in some towns, the water is not suitable to drink.
We did 22km today and stopped 2km short of Mealhada so we will have to add that 2km to tomorrows walk. Our accommodation is an old style motel, just off a major highway. There are few people staying here, but no other pilgrims. It has king size beds (finally, as we have been squeezing into standard double beds), a pool, gold fish pond and bird aviary.
We went about 100m down the road for dinner to a restaurant that specialises in meat. We hade a great shared bbq meat dish, chips and rice washed down with a bottle of wine. Than walked back up the hill to our hotel.
Russ and Jan's Camino 