2025 - Day 9 - Ansião to Coinimbriga Roman ruins

Scores on the doors

It’s great when a plan comes to fruition, and that’s what happened today, I had looked at the itinerary and it was yet again to far, and tomorrow (day 10) was only 10 miles, so as a taxi was going to pick us up at the end of the day, (no accommodation was available at the end of the stage so we were having two nights in Coimbra) I emailed the driver and asked if he could pick us up at the Roman ruins of Coinimbrigia instead which was at least 2 miles short of the suggested finish at Condexia de Nova (which was off the Camino anyway).  The taxi driver was happy to comply and so my plan was hatched. 

The day started with breakfast a bit earlier than usual, i.e.before 08:00. It was the usual offering with a friendly lady supervising and topping up. She gave us a stamp for our credentials, as with no manned reception we hadn’t got one at check in.

As we had already packed we had our earliest walking start at about 08:40. We walked through the town, crossed the river then went up a steep hill. The walking was pleasant and a mixture of quiet roads and paths. The scenery was lovely and very green: If it wasn’t for the olive trees it could have been England. 

It was all very quiet and rural. The villages we passed through had lots of properties going to rack an ruin (seems to be the norm in Portugal) and were too small for cafes. After 7 or 8 lm we spied friends Sonja and Elaine ahead of us. They were at a fountain which we lingered at as it had a wheel to be turned by hand to pump the water. Jeremy got us water but it was signed as not treated so we enjoyed the experience rather than the water. 

After 10km we reached a large village (Alvorge) where many pilgrims stay as it gives more equal distances for day 8 & 9 rather than the short day we had yesterday, followed by another 20 miler today. A coffee was tempting but we ploughed on as it was a long day and we wanted to break the back of the Kms before stopping. We left the village on a off road, rocky hill path and climbed upwards. Before we had gone far the heavens opened and we (and the many Fatima pilgrims heading south) got soaked to the skin. We came across Sonja and Elaine trying to shelter but there was no escape. After about 30 minutes the rain eased then stopped. We found a wall to wring out soaked sock and put on dry ones ( we are learning). At the next off road section we found the Irish ladies having their picnic so stopped for a quick chat before completing the path to Rabacal where there was good cafe and stopped for our usual, long, galao, coffee. We had just over 7 miles still to go so messaged out taxi driver with an eta of 17:00 giving us 3 hours to get there.

We then followed country roads passing through the hamlet of  Fonta Coberta, where a group of pilgrims had set up a sort of commune offering refreshments to pilgrims and pilgrim stamps for a donation and inviting pilgrims to join them at 6 pm to pray the rosary.  We stoped for a stamp and carried on our way.  Soon we were back on tracks, following a stream to the hamlet of Poço, before ascending up a forest track with the river at the bottom of the hill, after a couple of KM we then dropped down hill to cross the river to get to,our journey’s end at Coinimbrigia.  We WhatsApp the driver to say we had arrived and he let us know he was in traffic and would be at least 30 minutes, so we went for a drink in the Museum cafe, where the Irish ladies arrived as well, at just after 5:30 the taxi arrived with a second car for the Irish ladies as they were going back to Ansião. The driver explained he didn’t speak English but we thought we would cope. In his boot were our big bags, so we jumped in his cab and set off.  The traffic was horrible and as he drove the driver communicated with us by dictating into Google translate and the passing us his phone.  We did the same to him with my phone  and it all worked well. Eventually by taking back roads etc. he got us to our hotel. On the way we saw hundreds of pilgrims walking to Fatima walking on the hard shoulder of the road, as on the 13th May there is a big festival there.

After checking in we showered then packed a rucksack with dirty clothes and headed for a laundrette while the clothes were washing we visited the nearby shopping mall to see if we fancied any of the food offerings, but after once the clothes were dried we decided to head for a restaurant called Papa recommended by our receptionist,  by then it was 9 pm, and they could only seat us outside, Lesley had Chicken, chips and salad, and I had Steak, Black beans, rice and chips.  After the meal we then went back to the hotel to sleep.