Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

Given the heat from the day before (and the fact that we’d fallen asleep at about 10pm, so very rock and, indeed, roll) we were up at 6:30 and on our way by ten to seven.

I'm thinking about the breakfast we're going to have soon

We retraced our steps and rejoined the camino, crossing over the railway line through a station, beyond which was an open cafe. So, breakfast then. As I mentioned bars/cafes seem to be primarily cake shops. Liz came out with a ham and cheese filled danish and a couple of pasteis de nata (basically custard tarts, but really really custardy and rather good).

A healthy breakfast is the basis of a good day

Suitably refuelled, we set off. The guidebook (John Brierley’s excellent Camino Portugués) had warned us that today would be a bit industrial and for the next couple of hours we were on the hard shoulder of the N10. We took a detour in Alhandra to avoid the traffic and we wound up on a riverside path that seemed pretty popular. That took us to Vilafranca de Xira where we admired the bullring and the tiles and the general impression that all of the buildings looked very similar to the ones we were familiar with in the non-Buenos Aires parts of Argentina. We popped into the (tiled of course) market and picked up a couple of bits to eat for later then paused in the main square.

Did you get the tiles in?

The next couple of hours were similarly industrial, the instructions included a Lidl as a waypoint and we turned down the back of a series of warehouses and industrial buildings along which ran a stinking ditch. Very pleasant. The temperature rose steadily, hats and suncream obligatory. We pushed on to a bar in Castanheira do Ribatejo arriving at around 11:30. Some of the workers from the nearby factories came in as we were having a cold beer and some crisps (it was a temptation to do an Ice-cold-in-alex on it but we resisted, slaking our thirst with water first). People seemed to eat much earlier here than in Spain but even for our English sensibilities it seemed a little early so we decided to carry on. The industrial areas disappeared and were replaced by fields of tomatoes. We kept being passed by lorries full of them.

We walked into Vila Nova da Rainha ready for food, although it took a few minutes searching to find a cafe which looked promising. The first one we saw had one old guy sitting outside looking about as welcoming as cholera. Fortunately down a side road Liz spotted a cafe which looked much more promising. Unfortunately it was full but our obvious desperation for food led the waitress to asking a couple on a table for four if we could join them. They were also pilgrims, but heading for Fatima (on the same route until the following day). We chatted and ate (I think what we had was called Jardineira… basically stew). The girl was American, the guy Italian, both living in Paris. They had done the camino Portugués from Porto to Santiago the year before. After a pleasant lunch we parted, our plan was to have an hour or two’s rest in the shade in a white tiled park we had passed a few hundred metres before, they were going to continue.

"Thermarests are just fantastic" – Liz

The last seven kilometres were a bit tough, along the N3 being passed by tomato laden lorries. The heat hadn’t really started dissipating yet so when we passed a garage and Liz spotted the all important Nestle sign we stopped for an ice lolly, dawdling.

I wonder where all those lorries with tomatoes go? Wait, do you smell spaghetti sauce?

We got to Azambuja at around six. It took half an hour of wandering and asking directions (and finding one pensão shut) before we found our place to sleep. It was above a cafe and there were three old chaps outside sitting around a table. As soon as he saw us, one of them stood up and rung the bell of the residencial (like a pensão but, um spelled differently). There was no response, our faces must have fallen because he basically said, no problem, wait here, I’ll be back in a moment. He toddled off across the street and came back with the keys, let us in (again no messing about with registering or passports) and took our money for the room.

After a shower we went for a stroll, okay more of a hobble/shuffle along the cobbles… pausing at a pharmacy to pick up some compeed. We ate at the cafe under the residencial, the cafe owner recommended the green bean soup so we had that and then some fish and rice and cold white wine. The cafe closed at 9. Once again we were asleep by 10.