Everyone else staying in the same guest house had disappeared by the time I ventured out this morning. They were all heading to the town of of Santarém.

This is a 33km walk on a hot day with little shade that I had decided to split into two.

My morning walk of just 15km crossed the fertile flood plains of the Tagus River from Azambuja to the little village of Valada. The area is cross- crossed with irrigation channels.

I thought that I was walking on a dirt road, but its actually paved with stone .

The fields used for growing wheat are being ploughed.

They are also laying chaff on the fields .

Walking along these long quiet roads gave me a Hitchcockian sensation.

This is a typical farmhouse.

Tomatoes are planted by machine.

I came across a group of farm workers from Pakistan who were hand planting tomatoes in the spaces where the machines had missed.

I asked whether they were here just for the season. They explained that some were here for just 6 months whilst others had been in Portugal for 9 years.

What’s that saying about mad dogs and Englishmen? This dog’s not mad.

After around 3 hours I arrived at the village of Valada located on the Tagus.

As it was too early to get into the albergue, I went to a riverside cafe for lunch .

There were 5 other pilgrims there who had the same idea, including Joe who I met at the infamous Purple Spa a few days ago and a couple who had also stayed there. All had the same experience of having trouble getting in and bringing a bit amused by the state of things there.

There’s a levy bank here so they must have some flooding.

When I got to the Albergue that I’d booked I found everyone else there as well!

Joe from Ireland outside the Albergue Dois Caminhos.

This very clean and pleasant Albergue is owned by Enrico from Italy.

We all went to dinner together at a local hole in the wall and all that was on the menu was steak and chips. Unfortunate for our vegan pilgrim from the USA.

Here’s my video of today’s walk.

https://www.relive.com/view/vMv8Gmx1ANq