Ponte de Lima – Rubiães May 5, 2024

I woke to the sound of heavy rain through the night and in the morning things weren’t looking good .

One good thing though was that I paid for my my washing to be done and it was ready for me in the morning . It’s the first machine wash for 3 weeks.

After a healthy breakfast I was off.

Today’s walk starts with a crossing of the famous bridge. The police were down at the riverside car park sounding their siren to warn people the cars there would soon be flooded.

---

It wasn’t long before I ran into trouble as the pathway was flooded.

After crossing some soggy fields I reached a road and found a few others in the same predicament. A local drew a mud map for us. An excited Brazilian walker waved his walking pole around and managed to hit me in the eye. It was the one that needed an operation last year.

It was “ water water everywhere”.

The next section of pathway was also flooded so it looked like I needed to find a way by road .

Luckily the pole waving Brazilian dissapeared into a bar along with the worried German woman .

After about an hour’s walking the heavens opened. It became dangerous walking along the busy road with limited visibility. Also, it wasn’t clear if there was a way to cross the stream to get back on the track .

I met Hans from the Netherlands, and we decided to share a taxi. Other pilgrims came past as we waited for our cab at a bar .

The taxi driver was listening to Sunday mass in his radio. I tried to have a conversation but it was a bit difficult.

At my accommodation I met another Brazilian man with his two sons. He’s done this walk before and had also decided to take a taxi. He explained that there is a steep 400 climb through a forest that would be very tricky in heavy rain.

The forecast is looking promising for the next week and hopefully my totally soaked boots will dry out over the next few days .

Today’s short Relive video …

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