Langostina

Since the "Ferry"man told me pilgrims were leaving Caminha, Portugual on the morning boat, I thought I'd hang around a bit before starting the short days hike. Breakfast at 8 and sunrise at 8:30 gave . time for sightseeing as well and I took the three kilometer hike up and down, Santa Trega, the local mountain, to see the Bronze era dwellings. It was quite amazing to be able to walk right up to the ruins, and there were archeologists excavating more sites as I walked by. 

Although foggy, the views were quite spectacular. I could see Portugual and the way I had come; Spain's coast and the way I would go; and A Guarda, the place where I was. 

Back at 10:00 I gathered my things from the room and headed out. 

Taking the true costal route for a good many kilometers, I saw no one. The coastline is very rocky and rugged, no beach walking here. 

Looking back, the mountain is quite impressive!

The trail narrowed and it became very tough to maneuver through the brush. Quite a few scratches for my efforts. 

Eventually impassable, I took a path up through some houses and unfortunately to the main road...

Cars went by, but still no other pilgrims. Just when I felt I could not deal with the road anymore, a detour would lead closer to the sea. 

With the sound of the waves breaking on the rocks, I walked step by step. 

Seeing a street heading towards the sea I turned, a shepherd with sheep and goats kept telling me to go back. But I sat on a rock instead and had a bit of lunch.

 

Back on the cyclists road and sometimes the main road for quite a while. 

Yay! Back to earth track!

Oia! Perigrinos at the bar!! Woohoo! I think they were quite taken aback by enthusiasm. But it's been so long since I saw, let alone, talked to people walking the path. After lively conversation over wine, the afternoon had become quite late. Three more perigrinas came as we were leaving. We were a total of eight women! I'd gotten even more perigrinos than I had hoped for. Only 6km to go before the alburgue and we ambled our way there. At first the path was earth track, exactly as we'ld all imagine a coastal way should be. 

And then back on the road meandering through neighborhoods. 

Over a bridge and to our waterfront albergue. 

A fabulous evening with langostina, sangria, wine and women!