22 km 26 May
Every day it is getting warmer and today will be the climax of 34 degrees. This is really killing in Portugal because it is too much. The forecast is the temperature in the shadow. When walking a trail or caminho out in the open, it is hard. There are not a lot of cafes or places on the path and there is no shadow to rest. For today we hear that there is one town halfway, where we can buy something in the local market.
We rest outside, I drink a lot of water on the terrace of the supermarket, so I didn’t fill my bottle. I think it will be enough.
Hot and Heavy Path
Continuing our path we have a Sahara. We go trough a forest with only sand. It is not really cool even under the trees it is so hot. One bright moment I remember I have two big grapefruits in my backpack. We sit down and peel and eat. I knew that my grapefruits would come in handy. They are our saviours of the hot Sahara-walk. I say to Willeke that I don’t want to be in a hospital or local newspaper. Well, at the end of the day I talk to pilgrims that saw an ambulance and two pilgrims less on the trail today. Because of the heat in combination with the lack of water it was the most heavy day I had, since I start walking caminho’s.
The ocean is kind of rough, the waves were high and the inclination is immense. it looks dangerous to go into the water, and since there was nobody in, just a few people sunbathing, I didn’t do it. If something happens with me nobody would be fast enough to rescue me. The lifeguards are not on duty yet.
We see some supermarkets and cafes. We buy some things and I see nice Toblerone Icecream, they don’t have this brand normally, so I buy one. We made it today! I know the worst path was today, it will not be worse or more exhausing.
Sleeping @ Hi Almograve Youth Hostel
We are heading to our hostel Almograve. It is really ugly from the outside, I thought of a convent but it looks like a jail according to some. However, it is really nice from the inside with lots of nice colours. There is a nice little garden to rest in a hammock and a big garden at the back where we can dry our clothes. There are big communal spaces and a kitchen. There are books in the relaxing room to read, also in Dutch. I find an interesting one for me: Portuguese for dummies!
There is a balcony with a nice view of nature and behind we see and hear the ocean. Here we can also dry our clothes.
We talk with the pilgrims next to us, father and daughter that stayed in hostel Nature too yesterday. We drink and eat some fruits.
We walk 600 meters for a restaurant a little outside the center
Again we choose Nepalese food, it was so good yesterday that we like more of nice exotic food. We shared the table with another pilgrim from Austria who was alone, we had a nice dinner together. This one was not so good as yesterdays restaurant but still we enjoyed.
Back in our hostel, the room is cool, and we could close the shutters. Dark and cool, the best combination for a good night sleep!
