The Last of the Longer Days

… and only one day to go. This really has flown by!

I’ll add all the technical info later, as well as add some photos and videos if possible, since some didn’t load. Photos are loading slowly because I somehow hit the raw option. I’ll fix the photos when I get home … and probably add the other info then as well. I don’t want to spend time on this right now!

Today began with packing our bags as much as possible (saving teeth brushing for after our meal) that are to be transported to our next and final location. We went down to have breakfast (I’m so uncreative I have the same thing every day, it seems!) and pick up our bagged lunches. I suspect the hotel is having difficult getting certain supplies because the fruit we requested turned into a juice box! We both just left those in the room when we checked out.

We had looked out the window a number of times and it appeared to be raining, so rain jackets were donned and we started on our way. The first part of the journey was backtracking from the day we arrived in Alijo. I’ve noticed, though, that when I do a route in an opposite direction I frequently see new things, so I have no complaints about that. I’m sorry I didn’t get great photos of the village, but I can’t manage to take photos of it all, I guess!

Dan checked in with the navigation app, making sure he had the correct day loaded up. And of course he did.

We began with a fair amount of uphill, so we could look down on Alijo.

Reaching a level spot we ambled along and I heard a cuckoo. I just love those birds.

I’ve neglected to write about the gorse. We were told long pants were a good idea — that the plant can really do a number on one’s legs. Since I never wear shorts that wasn’t even an issue, but when I saw the thing (which I believe we’ve seen every day and few days it was everywhere) I could understand the long pants suggestion!

Since it was raining quite a bit yesterday we had a lot of mud encounters. (Later on another couple on the walk passed us and the woman said, “I hate mud!” I understand completely.)

I couldn’t seen to stop taking photos, despite the mud — the Douro region of Portugal is just amazing! Occasionally we could hear workers in the field. Not wanting to be intrusive I only took a photo with them in the distance. I’m not sure if you can see them or not. Sometime during this portion of the walk our jackets came off and cameras came out I was so glad, because there were a few flowers I really wanted to capture. (I didn’t get them all on the iPhone, though, and those are the only photos I can share until I get home.

Then it was lunch time. Please excuse that left side … yes, that’s my finger! Oops.

While eating Patrizia and Rudy walked by … well, first they stopped and we chatted for a while. I really enjoy the couple: they are easy to chat with. (And I believe we will be seated for dinner with them.)

More photos …

The signs for the Camino were seen frequently and we have to occasionally check to make sure we are still on the same route as those who are doing that walk.

More photos …

Through the village of Vilarinho de Cotas (if my gps info is correct) with some uphill. I have to say I’m really quite comfortable with uphill climbs, and I rather enjoy them sometimes.

And then the last leg to our lodging, which included a good bit of uphill and amazing views and one photo of someone who has started a fire (did I write about this already? I think so!) which we assume has something to do with making lunch, but we don’t know for sure. In some of these photos you can see the Douro … we are nearly back where we started this journey! (There should be more photos below … sorry they aren’t appearing. They’ll have to wait until we get home, I think.)

Finally we arrived in the town of our lodging, Casal de Loivos. Prior to reaching Casa Casal de Loivos we went out to an amazing viewpoint (clearly popular as cars drove up and people would get out to catch the view and take a photo). It’s a fabulous view, and we could see Pinhão below, our starting point for this walk.

Then we arrived at the Casa and wow! The nicest place we’ve had with Portugal Green Walks so quite the wonderful way to end our journey.

Following showers and a bit of down time we went to get our “welcome drinks” and immediately saw Patrizia and Rudy there. We spend a good amount of time outside chatting and enjoying each other’s company. I’m so glad to have met them. Initially the Casa owner had said we’d be sharing a table with them, but Patrizia said they brought a little cook stove and would make a dinner in their room. So we had a private dinner while the rest of the lodgers were upstairs for their dinner. With my bad ear I was pretty much okay with this, though it felt sort of strange.