16 miles

7:45 am to 2:45 pm walk time

This is my current view at my albergue…

I guess that view will have to do for the night. Yesterday Lena gave me a tip for a new albergue that was past Ponte de Lima but before the “big mountain.” Right now I’m pretty happy that I followed that tip. I actually splurged the extra 7 euros to book the “suite” in the albergue. Luxury pilgrim. 🙂

Today’s start was later than I generally leave, as Casa Fernanda doesn’t start breakfast until 7:30. Though I didn’t want breakfast, I did need my stamp in my credential and I needed to pay for my stay. So I got up with everyone else and then went on my way. Though I didn’t leave before saying goodbye to some of the cats at Casa Fernanda.

It was overcast and a bit foggy for much of the morning – perfect walking weather. Other than two pilgrims, I didn’t see much of anyone but locals for the 8 mile walk into Ponte De Lima.

Even though it was still early on in my Camino day, my legs felt tired. All the hard rocks and cobblestones really take a toll on your legs and feet, especially after three days of already wearing your body out on the Camino. But you continue on.

Upon arriving in Ponte de Lima I was happy to finally see more pilgrims. Laurent and Ralph from Luxembourg waved me down, so I joined them at a cafe for a few minutes before they took off again. They still had 20km and the “big mountain” to walk today. As I was about to leave the cafe, Lena along with Stefano from Italy and Sergio from Sweden arrived. I took off to find a geocache because it’s streak week for geocaching and I need to try to find one every day for the rest of August. After finding it, I headed off for Labruja.

Again, walking alone and not seeing any pilgrims, I started to think how I was never alone or far from other pilgrims on my past two Caminos. I like the quiet time to think and enjoy nature, but I like being social and meeting people from around the world. It’s probably my favorite aspect of the Camino to be honest. Any loneliness that might have started to set in was quickly avoided for today after making my next stop at a cafe where there were familiar faces.

With only about six kilometers left to walk, we were hitting the prettiest scenery of the day.

So far no other pilgrims other than Lena, Stefano and Sergio are here at the albergue. There’s another albergue next door where we know some other pilgrims. There’s pretty much nothing to do here except sit and enjoy the view and the company. Ah the Camino!