19.5 miles

6:30am to 3pm walking time

I’m borderline hangry right now. I realized after walking around Barcelos for the past hour that the town doesn’t seem to think people want to eat anything other than pastries. I wanted pasta. Some spaghetti sounds amazing right now. But it’s no where to be found in a half mile radius of where I’m staying. I finally landed at a place that has soups and sandwiches in addition to pastries. I don’t know what’s in this soup and to be honest it doesn’t smell very good, but I’m so hungry that I don’t care.

Despite my food struggles at the moment, it’s been another great day on the Camino! I started early again at 6:30am, but with company this time. A mom and daughter from Slovenia wanted to join me since I had walked the connection from the Coastal to the Central Route last year. One thing I noticed today was how few pilgrims were starting early. Normally in the albergues, you hear people waking up and getting ready at 5am or earlier. Anyway, Sasa, Ema and I took off before sunrise with perfect weather.

I had forgotten that my Camino family and I had taken a shortcut one of the guidebooks recommended. It got us to Rates faster but today after not taking the shortcut, I realized that we had missed out on some cute countryside.

I stopped a couple times to find some caches and show Sasa what the game was about. We made our way to Arcos for a first break of the day. I guess mothers think that I’m a good choice to walk the Camino with for their daughters. It was my cousin Justine last year and this year Sasa sent Ema to walk with me to the next break spot.

After the break, it was time to say goodbye to Sasa and Ema. Our paths may not cross again on the Camino but hopefully it works out that I’ll see them again.

The rest of the walk was as beautiful and long as I remember it from last year. The outskirts of Barcelos seem to take forever to walk through, especially when you’re approaching 19+ miles of walking.

Barcelos is super charming. But like I said, it could be that much better if someone put in a few more restaurants that serve something other than pastries.

Tonight I opted for a private room in a hostel due to the fact that I have a short walk tomorrow and can opt to sleep in a bit. Yay for my own bathroom with full sized towels! Tomorrow I have a reservation at Casa Fernanda which is supposed to be the best albergue on the Portugués Camino.

By the way, the soup was pretty meh.