Day: April 8, 2025

Photo hodgepodge

I can’t think of too much to blog about this evening so thought I would post a few photos that I like. Some of these go back a few days.

This morning, crossing the Cávado River. View from the bridge.
Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote in Portugal.
First day walking (Saturday), first view of the ocean.
First day walking (Saturday), in Matasinhos. Close to our hotel. First Camino marker.
Charlie with rhododendrons. Vigo, Friday morning.

WynChar Diary, April 8

  • Camino walking: Apulia to Marinhos, 8.6 miles in 5:20 hours
  • Total walking: 8.61, no extra walking, we’re just hanging out at the hotel.
  • Meals purchased at the minimart: 2, lunch and dinner, we have been going out for lunch, dinners are usually cereal and fruit. Today we had a picnic lunch on our hotel balcony.
  • Hotel-gas station combos stayed at: 1, and it is quite nice.
  • Missed turns on the Camino: 1. Luckily, once we discovered it, we weren’t too far off-course.
  • Boardwalking: minimal. Almost all today was on cobblestones or pavement. But Google did send us through one field with a muddy track.
The only dirt track we’ve walked on so far.
When we walked around a curve it got muddy, but the mud was easy to avoid.

Today’s hotel

Our hotel tonight has several interesting aspects. Here is the view from our window, looking west. That’s the ocean way in the distance.

Ahh, to be in the country. The view out the front window in the hallway outside our room, looking east:

If you look closely you will notice a competing gas station across the road. Ours is, of course, better.

Thoughts on cobblestones

Walking today we ran across some street maintenance.

I got to thinking about how low-tech cobblestones are. The stones look easy enough to make. We saw some being installed: they just grab one, place it in the sand, and tap it with a hammer to position it. No hot tar. No big cement truck. No waiting for it to dry. It is a cheap and easy way to maintain streets and sidewalks. And small repairs are easy. And, they last a long long time.

On the downside they are not as nice to walk on as asphalt or cement in terms of tripping.

According to ChatGPT true cobblestones are not cut or shaped but collected. What I have been talking about are setts or Belgian stones.