Wednesday October 3 and Thursday October 4: we covered 18 miles on Wednesday— our greatest distance so far and probably will be our longest day of the Camino. Bill’s feet managed thanks to gentler surfaces under foot and nicer places to stop and rest. We walked through zambujal where there was a traffic jam of tractors heading to the fields, women sitting beside their men at the wheel. Then fonte coberta, where tiles told the story of st James in Portuguese French and English. Before noon we reached cernache, our last possible place to find a hostel before Coimbra, and decided to walk on after a picnic lunch and rest in a churchyard. Up a hill with great views of Coimbra, down the hill, past a Roman aqueduct now cut in two by a highway, through a tangle of cobblestone streets, across rio Santa Clara to a hotel on a pretty but noisy square and we have settled in for two nights. Ahhhh! Today we will explore Coimbra. It is Portugal’s university town and third largest city after Lisbon and Porto.

tuesday October 2: we are in Rabaçal, where we arrived about 1 pm after 11 miles of walking. We had planned to walk another 6 miles but it is hot, bill’s feet are killing him and mine are tired. So we have had a quiet afternoon and are enjoying some wine and the local cheese that is a mix of sheep and goat cheese delicious. Tonight bill will make his Camino soup for dinner with the help of knorr’s

sunday September 30 and Monday October 1: we are now in ansiao after much hard walking but the experience I most want to tell you about is our hostel on Sunday night in Vila verde. It is a new hostel that helped us avoid a 19 mile walk into the next available place. We arrived about 1 pm to a note on the door that the owner was expecting us and would be back soon. So we ate our lunch in the yard. Soon Kate and merrilee from Vancouver arrived along with Kees from Holland and Natalya from Moscow both journalists arrived. Finally Eloise from London and her partner Giovanni from Brazil arrived to welcome us to the house. They work for the owner of the house liede from Holland who was not expected to arrive until later after attending her grandfather’s funeral. All so informal but community in the way liede had planned. Her hostel had only been open three weeks. She purposely had no WiFi so people would get to know each other. She Eloise and Giovanni are all in their early 20s. Giovanni is doing construction and Eloise prepared a delicious vegan meal. Roasted beets butternut squash and onions so delicious. It was a delightful community evening that I think will be one of our top Camino experiences. Sweet dreams❤️

Friday september 28 and Saturday september 29: on Friday we walked to Vila nova da Barquina, a pretty town on the banks of rio tejo. We have been following the river all the way from Lisbon. Today Saturday we turned away from the river and climbed hills much of the day. We are in tomar, founded in the 12th century by crusaders, the knights Templar. The highlight is a castle that we walked up to today. Inside the grounds is a church, gardens and such. Henry the navigator planned his voyages from here. Columbus and vasco de gama also we’re here. Would like to stay longer but we will move on tomorrow.

Thursday September 27:  the brits and kiwis took the train up two stations then walked into golega. We yanks walked only partway to golega, to azinhaga. Much to say about the walk and our hostel but I want to tell you about our dinner conversation with Astrid teodoroa from Holland and Kate and merrilee from Vancouver. Mostly Kate. She is 68. Her husband, a firefighter, died on October 6, 2016, of a rare degenerative disease after 13 years. She walked Camino Frances in 2017 to grieve. She is walking Camino Portuguese now to heal. She is still so teary finding the second year harder than the first. Please pray for her on October 6. As I write this, Bill is talking to a couple from Ontario who feed cats along the way. Sweet dreams, all❤️

Tuesday September 25 and Wednesday September 26: a crossroads because of the heat. Susan took the train all the way to Santarém on Tuesday in 26 minutes. Keith, her husband, walked all the way to Santarém on Tuesday. The other 4 of us walked only halfway — about 10 miles — to Porto de muge. The walk was very nice past fields of tomatoes, corn, cabbage, grapes. Past oleanders the size of trees and past    Lantanas the size of bushes. As on the Camino Frances, the distance between towns was less so more opportunities to rest. At Porto de muge, the four of us found we had reserved a whole house to ourselves on rio Tejo. We sat in the kitchen imagining the dinner we could make. But when we went out for provisions there were no shops in town. A bar owner made us sandwiches for the next day, and bill concocted a vegetable and rice stir fry from the scraps in the house and backpacks for dinner. I think it will be among our most memorable Camino meals. Wednesday morning we headed out again for a 10 mile walk at 6:30 am to beat the heat. Past grape fields and headed 135 meters up into the fortified town of Santarém. We were expecting a day as bad as Camino 1 but we had breezes and shade and arrived to a lovely hostel in Santarém by noon. We took care of business, explored the Roman moorish and Portuguese sites of the town, and had dinner with friends. Tomorrow 15 miles

Monday September 24: (I am writing this on Wednesday as we have not had WiFi for the past two days) We began our walk at 7 am while the air was still cool and we watched the sun rise. I thought that was going to be the only nice thing I would have to say about the day because the walk was mainly along a dusty industrial highway, and we arrived in azambuja at noon and learned the hostel would not open until 3 pm. But here is where our wonderful Camino experiences began.  While we waited all sweaty and disgusting in a little square, a local woman bill had been talking to cane back and offered us showers in her house. We declined but this was just one more example of the overwhelming kindness of people we have met. The hostel is fairly new and associated with the adjacent casa de misericordia chapel. We enjoyed talking to Carlos, one of the volunteers checking people in. He told us the church focuses on acts of mercy for children and the elderly, and the hostel is one way of supporting those efforts. Our bunk mates were two women from Canada, another from Ireland and another from Italy. We all had our first real “pilgrims meal” together at a nearby restaurant: olives and bread, pitchers of wine, soup, a choice of entrees, and flan for dessert. I ordered the fish entree and received a plate piled high with salmon, white fish, shrimp and various shellfish. When we all felt we couldn’t eat more, the proprietor came around with a bottle of a cherry liqueur. A wonderful end to the day with the promise of many more. Update on Susan: she walked halfway this day — about five miles — then took the train. We are all being careful in the heat.

Daniel was very happy and relieved to receive donations to pay his and his mother’s rent for the next two months with generous collections from nova Catholic community. Many nova members also have signed pledges to help raise money for Daniel’s college tuition. You can pledge too by going to http://www.novacatholic.org. Pledges can be based on number of miles walked on this Camino or a flat amount. Thank you.

Sunday September 23: a better day today. First half of walk was beside busy roads but second half was through a pleasant riverside park. We walked only about six miles to Vila Franca de Xira because of the heat. Then afternoon siesta, a garden walk, some grocery shopping and some reading of Portuguese history. Then dinner with friends. Susan feels better today and walked most of the way. Ruth from England speaks the best Portuguese and gets us through many conversations. Despite our whining about the heat, we are grateful for the many kindnesses shown to us: the people who wish us bom Camino, or point is in the right direction, the many cyclists who politely share the path, the business people we’ve encountered who offer water and all kinds of advice. For example the proprietor of our current hotel told us about an alternative path further along the river, but warned us not to continue if we come to a closed gate — because that means black bulls are grazing in the area. Ha! I don’t think we’ll jump the gate! Tomorrow we plan a 10 mile day but the heat continues. There is a train we can catch if it seems unwise to walk.

This photo perfectly depicts our day. It was brutally hot. We had a long slog through crowded Lisbon streets and got off track several times because the path is not marked as well as Camino Frances.    We then walked through the pleasant former olympics park and things went downhill from there. Then we walked for miles along a dusty treeless path along a river. After more than 12 miles for the day, we were almost out of water when came to a little cafe and could buy drinks and ice cream. Then another mile or so  to alpriate where the albergue was already full. We took a taxi to alverca and are now in a nice albergue in clean clothes and full from a delicious dinner. One of our party though – Susan from new  Zealand – had heat stroke symptoms and is threatening not to walk any more. Tomorrow it is supposed to be hot again and we are thinking of walking only 6 miles.