Leaving town this morning, we took a selfie with the stone bull in front of our hotel. I have no idea why there is a stone bull there, in the square, but it’s there, so we “selfied” with it. Then, just around the corner, a man keeps a little shop. He was working on a piece of furniture, but he stopped to welcome us and introduce himself as “a joiner,” but his shop was full of Camino souvenirs. Sara and I had not yet acquired the pilgrim’s symbol, the scallop shell. The joiner had plenty to choose from, so we selected our shells and he helped Evan attach his to his daypack. Sara wore hers around her neck. He charged next to nothing for the shells. He also had a bell and a small chalk board to keep track of the pilgrims who passed his shop. Evan became pilgrim #715 since July and Sara #716. He had each of us erase and update the numbers with chalk, and he rang the bell for each of us.
Today we anticipated our most difficult climb on the Portuguese Camino, the Mira Alto climb up to 450 meters above sea level. But the first 10km or so were pretty easy. We climbed, but very gradually as we walked past farms and through hillside villages approaching the mountains. As Evan likes to say, “The weather gods are still with us.” Despite the threat of rain, our morning was hazy and cool at first, but quickly became clear and beautiful. We couldn’t ask or a better day to walk this. It was a lovely and easy walking for quite some time.
The first five miles of this walk have been just beautiful. We’ve walked on dirt roads, through the forest on small, single-lane country roads. We’ve followed the river, seen waterfalls, listened to the birds, and stopped at a little café along the way. We walked for a time with Leon from Holland. Like “The Joiner” this morning, Leon said he’d met several Americans on the way. Evan and Sara have not yet met any Americans. We’ve met lots of Germans and quite a few from the Netherlands.
Even when the climb got harder, it wasn’t bad. We’d have a short stretch of a thigh-burning climb, but then it would level off giving us a bit of rest. We could climb like this for hours. Eventually, however, as we rose above the hillside villages and into the forest toward the mountains, there was more steep climbing with less rest. Sara and I took our rest stops, wishing them “Bom Caminho” as other hikers climbed past us. And finally, we reached the Mira Alto – the high point from which we could see above most of the forest and across to the other peaks. We made it. And it’s all downhill from here.
At first the descent was steep and rocky, so again we were grateful for our hiking poles. But soon enough it leveled off and we made our way back toward civilization, cobblestone roads and farmland. Finally we reached our accommodation, Quinta das Leiras, in Sao Roque. We think this is only part way down the mountains because there is so little nearby. For tonight the house would serve just us and one other couple, Olga and Christian from Vienna. We’ve met them a few times at cafes on the way, always amazed at their early morning beer consumption.
There is no place to eat nearby, so a transport van drove the four of us, and three others from the Albergue next door, to a restaurant. Here Sara and I met our first American, Michael, a retired lawyer from Seattle, who was dining with Chandru, a young student from Switzerland. We had seen them the night before in Ponte de Lima, but tonight we dined and visited with them. Chandru is a nice young man who’s trying to choose his next career. So here the poor fellow sat with three old, retired folks to offer their “wisdom.” The conversation was lively, and Chandru welcomed our reflections, probably with more grace than they deserved.
After the van drove us back to the house, we met the owner, Helmut (German, of course) who greeted us, chatted, offered us port and accepted our payment.
