Day 4: Viana do Castelo(Portugal) to Guarda(Spain)

So we started this morning at 7.57, because we were high up we were in a cloud. 

Today we had a boat crossing across the Mino river estuary and had reserved the 14.30 boat and estimated that we should make that easy. 



We descended the hill heading north, not on the official Camino route. You could tell as there were lots of branches and leaves down so the path wasn’t that well used. Also there were no Camino arrows. However with the use of  google maps we just dropped straight out on to the Camino. 

After about an hour I realised by water bladder was leaking as my shorts were wet, I could not believe it. So I had to empty it out and later bought some regular 50cl water bottles, that I’ll reuse. The both fit into two pockets on straps of my backpack. 

The terrain was difficult enough,  it undulated and we were not getting  the sea breeze  with 6 metre high walls as we walked along cobble stoned alleyways for at least 7 km. It was not easy going. 
 


There were  some cool water features and a strange tractor show case.



We stopped at a roadside cafe for coffee and cake. 

We realised that with a third of the way done we were pushing it to get to the boat on time and we needed to ensure a steady pace.  We started to climb into a eucalyptus forest and up over a ridge and then steep down into a valley. It was tough going as it was very wet under foot and I got attacked by insects and had two big bites Right at the edge of the forest there was a cafe but there was no way I was stopping there because off the flies. 

The paths were very wet in places

Find Bob?

At the top of the ridge, there was some gaps in the forest that gave great views of Atlantic


We then dropped down into a seaside village called Ancora and we need to keep up the steady pace to get to the boat but it was not easy. We did eventually make it to the boat with just enough time to have a beer. The boat was just a regular boat with an outboard motor. Our captain was Paul and it was a 5 minute crossing costing €6  but it was a lot better than a 30km round trip. 
Bob and Paul our skipper



Arriving in Spain

We got off the boat in Praia and were now in Spain. We  had a 3.6km walk to our hotel with a 150m climb. We were soar from the 27km getting to the boat but we eventually made it to our accommodation which was an old convent till 1994. It was right on the corner of the harbour and sea front wall. We checked in shower and changed and headed out for our first G&T. 


It was very goof and Bob was not disappointed. We had dinner and shortly afterwards went to see the sunset before heading back to the accommodation. There was no time to do a blog hence the delay in posting. 












Today: 30.8 km (19.1M)

CdP Total: 106.05km (65.9M)

Remaining CdP: 163km (101.2M) of 270km(167.1)

Remaining CdP+CdF: 255km (158M) of 362km(225M)






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