Scores on the doors 22.45 KM or 13.95 Miles. 86m up and 110m down
Thursday Evening.
We hadn’t accounted for the fact that May 1st was Labour Day in Portugal so most restaurants were shut, so after a wander around town we ended at a Chinese takeaway with a few tables, and had a set meal of Spring rolls, special fried rice and Sweet and sour pork for Lesley and Kung Po Chicken for me for 7.95 euro’s each, which was very good. We then went back to the hotel for a night cap and to sort our bags.
Friday Morning
We both woke up around seven and got the bags down for eight. We then went into breakfast and met a couple of British pilgrims, Sonya from Reading and Elaine from Portsmouth. Again the hotel had a good selection for breakfast. On our way back to the room we saw that it was raining heavily so took out time in getting ready. We then had a false start because we thought the rain had stopped, but it hadn’t, so had to dash back inside to don waterproofs. We then retraced our steps from yesterday to the boardwalk along the river and were back on piste. On one side it was very reminiscent of the mashes around Cley and Morston, back home …
whilst on the other was heavy industry including a green hydrogen plant. The path is way marked by stickers with both the Fatima and Santiago symbols on them proclaiming “Caminhos Da Fé” or Paths of faith.
We then came to a new section of boardwalk which was closed off behind a fence, as it was not yet open, and therefore, had to wander inland on good paths through a wetland bursting with bird life, amazing wild flowers and at one point an otter crossed the path in front of us. Then after walking parallel with the main railway for about a mile; with a stop on a bench by a water fountain; we crossed over it, using the bridge at the station at Alverca. We were expecting this, but a passing runner, also pointed out the steps to us. The locals are very friendly & clearly well disposed towards pilgrims.
In the town we stopped for an ice tea, before navigating the town and industrial area before a 2km walk along the hard shoulder of quite a main road, with traffic, including lots of big lorries, thundering close by …
… before passing a massive cement works that makes Blue Circle at Rugby look like a toy! This brought us into Alhandra and back to the river which we walked along all the way to Vila Franca de Xira which we entered by again crossing the railway at the station.
Vila Franca de Xira is famous for bull fighting Portuguese style (where the bulls don’t get killed) and everywhere there are statues of bulls and Matadors. There was bull fighting on that evening, so the town was busy.
We then found our hotel …
and, after showers, headed out for a beer, bumping into Sonya and Elaine in a bar where we had a good chat over beers, before ending up at a restaurant for a pilgrims meal, Croquette for me and fish soup for Lesley followed by Lasagne and a glass of wine. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for coffee at a restaurant and practiced our pronunciation of the word for a milky coffee, rather than the tiny cup, of strong black coffee favoured by the Portuguese.
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