Today was 10 miles and 400′ of climbing, for totals of: 28 miles walked and 800′ climbed.  Well, most of that “climbing” is probably the steps up to the boardwalk and down … because it has been REALLY flat!

A tale of two beaches!

We started this morning on a very quiet town (Labruge),

(Last night, after dinner)

The morning was cooler, the surf was up, and the beaches, very, very quiet.

We walked for many more miles on well preserved boardwalks before leaving the coast for the big city of Vila de Conde.

(the local church)

While a nice enough town, it went on for a long time and we definitely prefer to be out in the country.

We ended the day’s journey in the adjacent town of Povoa Varzim, the region’s designated “vacation beach town”! I tried to take photos of the beach scene, but the beaches were so covered with pay-per-sit cabanas, that you couldn’t tell that it was a beach!

We’re about 300 yards off that scene (better!) And tomorrow in less than a half mile, we’ll be back out in the country. We’re okay with that 👌.

Just before we got to the hotel we were stopped by a man in a wheelchair. No problem, we thought. If he needs help, we can help. Well, he didn’t need help. He spoke (in English) and wanted to know if we were walking the Camino (yes). Where are we from (US), and what part (California). He then tells us of his years working on an oil platform in Long Beach. Of the good memories he had of those times. So, all he wanted to do was talk and reminisce! It was actually very heart warming.

One of the reasons we work so hard to learn languages is to have these kind of conversations with locals. We figured that, since we knew ZERO Portuguese, that we wouldn’t get any of these special connections this time. Well, we got a treat, anyways. What a genuinely pleasant gentleman!

Enough for now. Until tomorrow!