Ourėm and Seiça

I have had the best stay so far on this journey.  It was in the medieval village of Ourėm, high on a hill overlooking the town by the same name.  I had trouble finding my way out of Fátima.  I started following one lot of arrows, but fortunately read the very small print which told me that following them would get me to the coast rather than heading North - not what I wanted to do.  

Leaving Fátima 

An intesting building on the way

I did see one arrow!

It was out with google maps, and a route, mainly on roads,  that eventually joined the designated path about a kilometre from my destination. This was, apparently,  a novel idea.  My hostess had never had anyone arrive having made their own path!  Finding accomodation on this path is very tricky, and after making enquiries,  I finally booked a place in the medieval village itself, just below the castle.  I couldn't have chosen a better place.

Heading towards my destination - the white buildings below the castle.

Just about to walk through the gate, with the town of Ourėm far below ......

..... and leaving in the early morning.

This village was a wonderful surprise, and a great place to stay as it was empty by early evening.  The only person I saw as I left was the cleaner, sweeping up the leaves that are just starting to fall. 

The castle was impressive,  complete with stunning views.

As was the village itself

The walk to the village, like today's,  was frustrating as I had no path to follow (other than good old google maps!), which meant for a lot of the journey I was on roads, rather than the bush paths which I was meant to be on.

Leaving Ourėm the exercise was repeated.  There were a couple of signs as I was leaving and that was it.  Today's journey has been so frustrating that I have abandoned the path and caught a train.  There was nowhere for me to stay (well, there was, but I wasn't about to part with €3 - 400!), and so I made the decision to catch a train - didn't care where - and abandon the Carmelite Way.  Instead, I will bus or train it to somewhere where I can pick up the Camino Portuguese the next day.  

The town of Ourėm sits some distance from the medieval village of the same name (in the distance).  The church was open for me to have a sing, and see the beautiful tiles.

As it turns out, I caught the train to Entroncamento.  Getting a room in a 4 star hotel now gives me time to sort out how I can resume walking - hopefully tomorrow.   This is a railway town, basically founded when two lines merged and the whole town was built around it.  It looks a bit tired now, though there are some parks.  After crossing under the tracks I had to chuckle because, lo and behold, I was greeted by three signs for the Caminho de Fátima.   This, though, is the path from Lisbon TO Fátima,  whereas I was trying to walk FROM there.

A hardware store in Ourėm 

These little "tractors" zip around everywhere, and this one was parked in front of a lovely garden

I did see some signs today,  but they were going back in the direction I had come from.  It shows the path I had missed out on.

A post script to my day.  While I was sitting in the foyer typing this blog 2 people checked in.  We had a bit of a chat, went our separate ways, meeting by chance an hour or so later.  They invited me to go with them to a big hyperbole.  On the way I asked, more or less as a joke, if either of them were nurses - they both were!  After explaining my dilemma about not being able to get my stitches out without a doctor's letter, and that they needed to come out fairly urgently, they agreed to do it for me.  What a load off my shoulders - I was not looking forward to trying to take them out myself!  The saying still holds true - the Camino does provide, this time in the form of Ted and Ann

Ted and Ann doing research on their next day's travel