Today was the longest day so far on this walk and I covered 31km in about 7 hours.

Ready to go.

Just out of town there was a sign showing two routes with one to be taken after rain.

Soon after, the route follows a river which must be prone to flooding the path .

River mist

The beautiful little medieval Ponte de Peniche still carries traffic.

There are lots of loquat trees in fruit along the way, but I can only occasionally reach the fruit. They’re very refreshing and rich in antioxidants.

Portugal is a garden! Many houses have flower gardens or pots of flowers in front of their houses.

A fantasy garden,

I’ve seen our Australia bottle brush trees all over the place.

There was about 600m of climbing today, some on dirt tracks and some on bitumen.

Unlike on other days, there were no water fountains along the way, and with the temperature quite high again I used up all my 2 litres of water about 5km before finishing .

Having a tiny bit of Portuguese really helps, and I asked a man who said hello to me for water and he offered me a huge bottle of water.

Another man stopped his car when I was walking with Maggie who I’d run into again. He wanted to know where we were from and offered to drive us to our destination !

A tree gallery.
A road block
An inquisitive goat.

I’ve got a private room and bathroom tonight for just €20, and there’s a restaurant next door.

At the restaurant, the man who also runs the accommodation was constantly coughing. A German couple staying here ordered their meals, started drinking their beer, then paid for the whole meal and left, as his coughing was too much. I told him why they left and he put a mask on!

I love the way you often get olives with a meal in Portugal.

Then two women from Colorado came in who I had met in the first day a week ago !

Here’s my video of the day . I’ve got another long one tomorrow.