Short but Steep to Carrapateira
I pack our breakfast and lunch. Jaap-Willem also get bread with cheese. Although he will not walk with us, I know he will not enjoy a relaxed breakfast in the hostel or in town. I take a few liters of water with me, and we walk at 7:15. I know we will have a relaxed day today. Just 16 km, climbing will be fast, and when we will be at our next hostel, Jaap-Willem will be there and he will do our laundry! Since we arrive so late, it is always a little bit wet the next day. But today, will be different.
Average
The climbs are fun, we go fast this time. Now the girls complain. Tiring climbs and they need to rest. On every hill, we rest with a beautiful view. Eef and I eat our daily energy fruit bar, I brought 12 but Cinta and Jaap-Willem don’t eat these.
My oranges and grapefruits are finished too!
We walk with some parts with really nice pilgrims, they couldn’t find places to sleep. Some pilgrims stay two nights in one place and use the Uber to go back. One of them carries a tent. He complains that it is heavy and tells us that foxes in these region destroy the tents because they smell food inside…
From the hills we can see the beaches, and we are going to swim at the 3rd and last one before reaching Carrapateira. The last two beaches are almost connected but there is a hill in between. We cannot see if the water is high. Mother and son, who we see all the time decide to try to walk via the water. They will skip the last hill. Cinta wants that too, so we also head towards the water. We can pass! We walk all the way to the end of the beach to take a long break. The mother sits and chats with me but they leave earlier, to early for the boy of course but she wants to go and do groceries etcetera… I just rest. We don’t need to do all that stuff today: Jaap-WIllem takes care of that hopefully.
There is a cafe too, very busy. There is a long line but the girls want ice cream. After a while, Eef decide not to go for this ice cream. We skip the line and walk further. A km later we pass a restaurant, and they have ice cream. We go in and enjoy a cold treat.
When we pass the city we walk out towards our house. It is near a restaurant where we will eat too. Jaap-Willem is waiting for us at the crossing and Cinta sprints to her father, like she did yesterday too when she was behind and Jaap-Willem was far away in front. What an energy.
Sleeping @…
Carrapateiramar Guest House
The house is lovely. You enter via the garden with swimming pool and there are 3 or 4 other guests. Jaap-Willem has Bongo juice for the kids, and some beer for me, the laundry is drying in the sun. We snack and relax outside. The swimming pool is really an ice bath, so the girls don’t go in. They play inside, I take a long dip until my body is really cold and dry in the warm sun. This is a beautiful day!
Waking up: 7:00
Start walk: 7:45
Blisters: 0
Pains: Cinta: knee pain
Falls: 0
Climbs: Yes
Caminho (boring long straight flat paths): No
Steep climbs and descents: Yes
Arrival time: ? We stayed a long time on the beach
Time to relax after the walk: Yes
Swimming in the ocean: Cinta and Eef Yes
Swimming at the swimming pool: Ay Lin Yes
Bath: No
More about this path you can read here.
