Author: Charlie

• Camino walking: Marinhos to Anha, 10.1 miles in 6:11 hours
• Elevation: up 604 feet, down 435 feet, from 1 to 391 feet, we were inland today and there were a lot of hills, it was also quite hot so we were tired and sweaty when we got to the hotel.
• Flight of stairs climbed (equivalent per Wynette’s Fitbit): 72
• Total walking: 11.05 miles
• Percent on boardwalks: 0%, we missed them.
• Pilgrims seen: we didn’t count but probably over 100, this is a popular Camino and April is getting into the season.
• Pilgrims walked with: 4, two pairs, one couple from Ohio, USA, and one couple from Cornwall, England.
• Breakfasts on the trail: 1, we have been having breakfasts at our hotels where they were included but we prefer to walk 2-3 hours and then have fried eggs and toast with coffee. We ate at a pastry shop but she was happy to make us eggs.
• Pilgrim trails walked backwards: 1, this would be the pilgrimage to Fatima. The Fatima walk is popular in Portugal and goes along the same paths as the Camino, sometimes in the same direction (farther south) but here the Camino is going north and Fatima is going south. It is funny to see the Camino (yellow) and Fatima (blue) arrows pointing in opposite directions.
• Rugged forest trails walked: 1, there was a long section along a river. The trail had lots of rocks and roots and parts where we had to be very careful scrambling down. We almost fell once or twice. Wynette was using her hiking poles.
• Pilgrim memorials passed: 1, you see these along all the caminos.

• 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.

Love this stuff.

Regular foam, drizzle the art with chocolate syrup.

PS. That was our breakfast today, a very large egg, ham, and cheese panini-type sandwich that we shared. Quite good.

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.

Seems like a lot of options. Here is one of the pumps.

Only four nozzles. Not sure how you get the other three options.

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.