Day 7 - To Azambuja

To Santiago de Compostela: 556 km
Walked today: 23.5 km

Total walked: 82.3 

We got up at 5:30 am, the idea is to walk as far as possible before the mid day heat.  The forecast is for 29C today.

We started at 6:15 am, by then the sun was up.  I think tomorrow we'll get up at 5 am.  We had a good start, walking again by the river and later through wheat fields.  The temperature was nice. After a bit more than an hour we got to Castanheida. 

We stopped at a little cafe, since we had breakfast in our room (orange juice, banana and a sweet bun) Brenda had not have her coffee. I asked for a Coke Zero ( they don't seem to have diet coke). The lady did not understand so another lady translated for me. Then another Portuguese lesson started with everyone participating.  I think I know now how to ask for Coca Zero and Brenda knows how to ask for coffee with milk.

Then things changed, from now on we would be on paved roads.  The next hour or so was a quiet road.  Today there were very large number pilgrims on their way to Fatima.  Really well organized, with support vans that would stop and offer water and candies to all of us walkers. 

All of them wearing fluorescent green vests. We were told the police mandates the vests for anyone on foot on the roads as a safety measure.  So I asked a lady where we could get one and how to call them in Portuguese.  They are called colete. She went to a van and came back with a new vest for me.  The man in the van is called Orlando, and he showed me onece again the kindness of the Portuguese people. So now I'm wearing in the best portuguese pilgrim fashion a super bright vest.

Finally we arrived to the last leg, 6 km on the shoulders of the busy N1 highway.  Not as exciting as the other day. The shoulders here are a lot wider. 

The temperature went up, the road got hotter and we started to feel worn.  All the Fatima pilgrims left us behind.  I have to say, the last 2 km before Azambuja were really hard.  By the time we arrived to town I had nothing else to give.  Very hot, exhausted and with very sore feet.  Even Wonder Woman admitted to being tired.  And we still had to cross the town, one more brutal kilometer.

We arrive to the posada Flor de primavera, the woman took us to another house a block away, the halls are beautiful covered with tiles.  But, the room is tiny, the bathroom is the smallest we've seen.  There is no phone or internet. When we went out, we could not lock the room and when we came back, we could not open the front door.  The TV does not work.  Today is more like a pilgrim' s day.

In any case, I think that for an overweight 71 year old to walk 20 km in 6 hours with a pack of just over 10kg this is not bad.

Tomorrow we are going for only 15 km.  It should be easier. Right now we are at a small restaurant.  The woman who owns it offered me meat or fish, I said fish and she said no, it takes to long.  You have meat.  So there.

We did meet a few pilgrims to Santiago, a young Italian couple and just a minute ago an older Dutch couple.  In the room next door we met two ladies from Virginia, US.

After lunch we had enough energy to walk to a supermarket, we both some dried fruit for tomorrow and juice, bananas and sweet buns for breakfast in our room. We also got a bright green vest for Brenda.

We noticed in the streets, they are setting up barriers.  The town festival is coming and they also have a running of the bulls;  just like in Pamplona and as we learned yesterday in Vilafranca de Xira.

Today I ask Our Lady of Guadalupe for her protection.  Lupita has always been there when I need her Hail Mary full of grace.