Walking the Camino de Santiago

Sept 5-

“Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too”- Fleetwood Mac

Today my hiking buddies stayed behind. Too many issues with their feet to move forward with me. Luca headed to the doctor to have his sore ankle checked out and Christian was off to the store to find hiking sandals to alleviate that pain of his aching toe. I ventured out on my way, full of energy and super excited for such a beautiful day. First, I needed to walk down 800 steps from where our accommodations were located. No problem…. I was in too good of a mood to let that get to me and I mastered those steps like I walked them every day.

The trail out of the city led straight to the coast where the path stretched for miles adjacent to the ocean and the striking beaches of Portugal. I wanted to gain some headway on the trail today and then at some point I’d find a cafe and get a coffee and a breakfast. Since I was walking fairly quick and listening to music on the headphone’s, that happened in pretty short order.

As the path continued on, you had a choice to go in toward the forest and away from the ocean, or take a less traveled nature path. I chose the nature path which ran along the ocean. It was incredibly beautiful.

I stopped for my morning coffee and sent a couple text messages back to my trail buddies to see how they were doing. Christian let me know he was on the trail and making good time, after failing to find trail sandals. That was great news and I let him know I would meet him for lunch at a cafe up ahead. Lucas would have to stay off the trail for a couple days and had decided to take the train to our destination for the day. He would meet us both in the afternoon.

Eventually, Christian caught up with me as I waited for him at a cafe. We had a quick bite to eat and checked our guides for the correct path to take. We headed out toward the town of Caminha with the sun at our backs and the cool sea breeze in our faces. In Caminha we would rendezvous with Luca and together the three of us would take a water ferry across the water to our final destination today, A Guarda. This would be another milestone in the journey. Somewhere during that quick ride across the water, we said goodbye to Portugal, and hello to Spain. We had officially crossed the border.

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Once in Caminha, we found Luca waiting for us at the ferry. We paid our fees for the water transport and hopped on the boat. The boat quickly sped up and off we went at high speed, skipping across the water.

My thoughts: I can’t believe I’m already in Spain! That seemed to go by faster than I anticipated. Feeling gratitude for the opportunity to walk this journey and grateful I have no feet issues.