Still hot, but covering the distance

Walking on the side of the road leaving Coimbra, dodging kilometres of pampas grass.  The dew formed in droplets at the end of the grass.
Artists had decorated this wall in the village
Hurray - a dirt track through forest, but only for 2 kilometres!

There are a number of things that I am grateful that I changed, or continued to do, for this Camino. The first is that instead of wearing heavy boots / shoes, I have changed my footwear to trail runners - Brooks Cascadia 17's.  Why is this a good change you ask?  Firstly they are considerably lighter than my normal hiking "clod hoppers".  Secondly they are very "grippy", no matter what surface I am walking on, and lastly, I am finding that my feet have not been getting tired, especially after these last two days of mostly walking on roads.   Indeed, of the 50 kilometres or so covered in these past two days, I estimate that all but around 8 kilometres was on tarmac roads.
There is quite a lot of heather in flower in the forest areas
The church was open in Mealhada, but I had no energy to sing and on returning, it was closed.   This church is sandwiched between other buildings, unusual for most villages. 
There was even a colourful garden in the centre of Mealharda (last night'sstop).

The few occasions when we were "off road" were a delight, walking through forest, but all to soon the path led us back to the road again.   Some of these roads have been quite busy, which means care had to be taken.   
A concrete footpath, next to the road.
Shopping at the mobile shop.
This scooter wasn't one, but there are many electric scooters  here - so quiet compared to the buzz and whine of the normal petrol ones.  Have to check carefully before moving "off course"

Decorated entrance for wedding.

Aguelda, tonight's stop

The other thing I was especially grateful for today was my umbrella!  Walking after lunch, which couldn't be avoided, meant that the temperature had crept up to around 33°.  Today, on this last stretch of about 7 kilometres, the path was not only along the road, but through an industrial estate - hot, boring, and exposed.   Walking with my own patch of shade made this much more bearable. 

For days now, there have been pilgrims heading South to Fátima, fully laden, they look just as hot and weary as we do heading North to Santiago de Compostela.   Leaving Coimbra I couldn't believe the number of walkers out in hi-vis, heading in the opposite direction to me.  I thought that maybe it was something like "walk to work Friday ".  It turns out that they too are all heading to Fátima.   October 13th is a special day in Fátima and so they are all on the road for this.  Even today there are still plenty of stragglers heading South.  I didn't realise this, but this mass of pilgrims creates issues with accommodation as both sets of pilgrims stay in the same accommodation, putting quite a load on what is, at times, limited facilities.  
Pilgrims on their way to Fátima 

Comments

  1. B&I Step By Step10 October 2023 at 03:51

    Really interesting that you're finding the shoes are so much better. Got me thinking that for me a change might be coming too.
    As for walking so much on roads, it's such an unforgiving surface and tiring as you say....plus the heat. Soldier on!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janet12 October 2023 at 12:56

    Yes Bruce, I'm loving my shoes, and more importantly, I'm loving how my feet feel at the end of the day. Will happily earbash you re types of trail runners etc on my return.

    ReplyDelete

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