The four of us got off to a slightly earlier start today, at 8. We walked through Vila do Conde and the newer town next to it, Póvoa de Varzim, before returning to the waterfront, with its sand dunes and boardwalks.
Yesterday was September 15th, and a warm, sunny Sunday, so the beaches were packed, but it officially marked the end of the beach season: this morning we passed workers taking down beach cabins all along the waterfront. We sat down for a cup of coffee at a beachside café that was being dismantled for the winter and watched the owner filling a bin with sunhats people had left behind over the season. I rescued two beautiful tomatoes that were about to go into the bin, but they were big and heavy to carry, so I gave one to a Welsh couple we have been seeing all along the way. Then the path took us away from the sea, past vegetable plots where corn and cabbages miraculously grow in the sandy soil and into the woods.
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| Cabbage: the key ingredient in caldo verde |
We stopped at a café in Apulia for tostas, toasted sandwiches, and considered where to stop for the night. Many of the hostels in Esposende appeared to be full, so to err on the safe side we booked a four-bed room at the youth hostel in the town before it, Fao. When we left the café it had started to rain, and we had to root around in oir backpacks for our waterproof jackets and backpack covers - we had not been expecting this!
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| Happy to set out in the rain, with full tummies amd the knowledge we will have a roof over our heads tonight! |
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| Rossana takes a closer look at a cork tree |
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| Our corner of Fão |
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| The youth hostel in Fão has a swimming pool... Sort of! |
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| 23.5 km today, 57.5 km all together... Only 201 km to Santiago! |
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