Viana do Costelo to Vila Praia de Ancora 19km
Total distance 106kms
Climb 300m
Total climb 1060m

The music was not at all bad last night. It did start up at 10.00 again but the deafening rock band had been replaced by a much quieter female singer. So nice she sang us to sleep. I stirred a few times after midnight and it was still going but it did not disturb me.

The rooms in our hotel were very modern and each had a different quirky twist with the decor. Ours was the wiring to the TV. The signal cable came out of the ceiling and ran a random route to the TV in red/black cable with oversized clips at about 400mm centres. The power cable came from another wall and did its own random route in the same sort of cable. It started in a metal sort of cage above the door. This cage also had an exposed fluorescent tube light fitting and a hanging umbrella painted on the wall. You can see it all in the first photo. I liked it. Recently we had a hard wired smoke detector installed in our apartment and the fire services guy went to a lot of trouble with small white pvc ducting, drilling through beams, and trying to hide the cable as much as possible. We should have just run red cable any old how over the ceiling and walls.

Leaving Viana do Costelo we again took the high road of the Coastal route although a lot of pilgrims went for the seashore. It was a bit of a climb up into the foothills but was worth it. Like the day before yesterday it went through little villages, farms, forests, little lanes, and although a lot of it was on cobbled roads it was lovely walking. We walked with two guys from Southern California, Ricky and Mike, one of whom visited the South Island of NZ last year. He had also cycled the Race across America as part of an 8 person relay team. 3000 miles in one week, from the west coast to the east coast. There was at least one  person on the road cycling all the time. He reckons he did 500 miles of the ride. He also said he cycled through the Rockie Mountains in the middle of the night and it was somewhat cold. They did have a well organised support team.

We saw our first cows today. We could smell them a while before we could see them. This part of Portugal is definitely not for grazing animals. Lots more horticulture today, mostly small domestic lots, some vineyards and eucalyptus forests. In Portugal and Spain these forests are considered a pest as they suck up scarce ground water, wipe out competing native species and destroy habitat for native animal life. The bark and leaves are also highly flammable and are a huge risk in forest fires. Eucalyptus was introduced from Australia in the 19th century as an ornamental tree but thrived in Portugal’s climate and then were commercially grown for the pulp and paper industry.

There were very few opportunities for coffee or food today but about the right time we came across a cafe and had coffee with Ricky and Mike. Then about 1.30 (breakfast had been at 8.00) we were starting to wilt, needed food, and came upon a small caravan and a guy selling baguettes and cold drinks. He was pretty popular among the hot tired pilgrims.

We had another couple of firsts today. Near the middle of the day we came across a little stream and decided to take off our shoes and socks and soak our feet in the cool, clear, water. When we stop for coffee or lunch we try and remember to take off our socks and shoes to give our feet time to cool off and relax. This is the first time we have done it at a stream. It was very refreshing but after half an hour back on the trail our feet were back to being hot and swollen. The other first was at our hotel which has a swimming pool. It is not our first with a pool but the first time we have used the pool. It was a hot day but the water was very cold and took your breath away when you first jumped in. After a few seconds it was great.

Dinner was included tonight, not at the hotel restaurant but at a little restaurant about 200 metres away. The Fonte Nova. What a feast, bread, olives, two little tapas, soup, pork, potatoes, spinach, wine, water, dessert and coffee. The meal portions are large in Portugal and we couldn’t finish everything. We were served by the original energiser bunny. One little guy doing all the ordering and waiting, as well as the wine and coffee for about 20 people in the restaurant. He didn’t speak any English, French or German but got everything everyone wanted. We had only sat down when the bread, tapas and olives arrived and we were still looking at these when the soup arrived. He darted around keeping everyone happy. We were in and out for a four course meal in less than hour.