Walking the Camino de Santiago

August 19 –

“Floating through time
I’ll go anywhere
I’ll go way up high
Through the open air
I’ll walk through the city on sidewalks
I’ll get some coffee and sit at a bus stop …. And I’ll dance in the rain
I don’t feel no pain
And I don’t know where I’m going
I’m just floating….” – Addison Agen (Floating)

I got up and hit the trail early this morning to beat the heat. Since I couldn’t check into my accommodations until 1pm, and it was directly on the trail with nothing else around it, I took my time today and stopped numerous times to relax and take in the scenery around me. The sky was overcast for many hours this morning and it made for such a nice walk with no direct sun whatsoever. What could be better than that? My legs and feet are feeling great with no sign of “Judas” anywhere to be seen.

A few observations here in Portugal. First, everyone is beautiful/handsome (the man bun is in full force here). Second, the country seems to provide fitness related parks for all ages and they actually use them! I’ve observed so many people, including seniors, exercising outdoors. The photos below are of my walking trail out of the city with various exercise equipment on the trail. Adjacent to the trail is this amazing flowing waterway. Just beautiful!

Today I really did feel like I was floating from place to place. The countryside is so beautiful and the terrain wasn’t too difficult. Leaving the manicured walkway out of the city, the terrain turned into the agriculture region with tomatoes and corn growing for miles to see. Yes I wanted to pick one, but I behaved and didn’t.…mostly because I had one in my backpack I purchased yesterday. 😉 The agricultural workers stopped and waved as I walked by. It felt nice to not feel like I was intruding on their space but was a welcome addition.

I start most days, today included, with one ear bud in my ear, selecting some sort of music to walk to. It helps me set a pace. Today though, so many songs were touching my heart and inspiring me. Including the song “floating”, some of the lyrics I’ve posted above. On this trail, especially alone, there’s a lot of time to reflect. I spent a good deal of my time today doing just that.

As the trail came out of the agricultural region, it veered off to a town called Valada. This is a small little sailing/fishing town that was very quaint. I wanted to spend more time here but I needed to push on to stay ahead of the sun. I’ve definitely got my walking legs back and today I feel I could push on further (another 13 miles) to Santarem. The upcoming 90 plus degree heat is my only concern, so I’ll just wait and see what the sky looks like when I reach Porto Muege.

As it happened, I arrived at my destination an hour before I could check in, but I found a nice park bench under a willow tree to just sit and relax, kick off my shoes, and eat a snack while I waited. It was a nice time to cool down. I started to research changing my hotel reservation in Santarem from tomorrow to today and skipping staying here, but then the sun came out in full force, and I knew walking 13 mile that would not be wise in this heat.

As I checked into my accommodations, the proprietor asked what time I would like my dinner and breakfast served. I told them I would be leaving quite early, 5:30ish in the morning in order to beat the over 100 degree heat predicted for tomorrow. So they offered to make me a to-go breakfast for the morning. I chose my dinner off the menu, and they delivered my dinner and my breakfast for tomorrow to my room. So nice of them!

My thoughts: What a great day! Everything time out nicely and I’m glad I chose to stay with my plan and not push on to Santarem. Shortly after I arrived, the temperature rose quite quickly and the sun was in full force. Always appreciative and blessed to be on this journey, even if I am just floating.