Rabacal To Coimbra

---

October 31, 2017, to Rabacal, Casa do Turismo, 17.5 km. We had a late start this morning Breakfast wasn't served until 8 (we had already paid for it on Booking.com). Also our clothes that were washed the night before had not arrived back. A nice walk along country roads and narrow paths. The morning was cool and shady - the afternoon hot with no shade3. It should be reversed. We had an almost perfect spacing of cafes today - 5 kms. to our "second breakfast" and another 8 for our lunch stop. I got my first blister today, on the tip of my little toe. Hmmm. I'm wearing my Wright Socks with built-in liners that guarantee that you won't get blisters. Again, 3 days in a row, we are the only ones staying in the Residencial. There's an Italian brother and sister we've seen on and off today, Giacomo and Caterina, who are staying at the newer albergue in town (O Bonito). They joined us for dinner, and we had a great conversation about Italy and our experience on the Camino.

November 1, 2017 to Condeixa-A-Nova, Residencial Borges, 14.25. It as nice and cool this morning, and we made good time. We walked along mostly country roads and a very narrow path along the "river." I put river in quotes because Portugal has been experiencing a severe drought, and there was no water in the river. All day long we've been passing groups of cyclists, part of the Black Bulls Cycling Team. Almost every group has wished us a "Bom Caminho," unusual for this Portuguese Camino. We didn't have too far to go today, but by early afternoon we hit some steep hills and my blister really started bothering me. At one especially steep hill shortly before Conimbriga for the first time when Charlie asked if I wanted him to carry my backpack I said yes. We made it to the ruins at Conimbriga, the most important Roman ruins in Portugal and had a quick stop at the cafe there. We are staying at Condeixa-A-Nova, a kilometer or so off the Camino. Right after the ruins the Camino trail goes off to the east through the forest and more up and down hills, and so to spare my feet Charlie found a more direct route into town on Google maps, and no hills! I wish we'd had time and energy to explore the ruins. I'm exhausted and feeling discouraged.

November 2, 2017 to Coimbra, Guest House Infanta Dom Henrique. The next town with places to stay is 30.5 kms. away. After a bad night on a hard lumpy bed, my blister and feet aching, and feeling worn out, I told Charlie that, unlike last year's Camino Frances, I wanted to quit and go home. He promptly reminded me that I had said that at least once a week on that Camino. It does seem like I was much more determined last time. So given the length of the walk (and did I mention it was raining?) we caught a bus to Coimbra. It's hard to begrudge the rain when Portugal needs it so much with the wildfires and drought. Coimbra is a big city, population 106,000. We're at a just-okay place - cheap, clean, private bath, but noisy. We picked it because it advertised a washer and dryer but were informed that the washer automatically dispenses bleach so we'll have to wait to wash clothes. Grrrr. We're staying another night anyway. Tomorrow we need to calculate the number of days we need to reach Santiago de Compostela by November 21st. Another bus ride is probably in our future.

November 3, 2017, 2nd day in Coimbra. We slept late (by Camino standards) - 8:00 - and went to the local pastelaria for some cafe com leite. I noticed that they had quiche on the menu - yay! Eggs for breakfast. I pointed to the item, he nodded, said something in Portuguese, and a few minutes brought us paninis ("tostas" here) on white bread yet. Oh well, just go with it. We spent the rest of the morning planning out the rest of our trip. So far, we've taken it as it comes - short days, long days, rest days, but had realized yesterday that we had no idea how long the rest of the way to Santiago would take. So we pulled out our handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet of places to stay on the Camino Portuguese (downloaded from the Camino Forum website), pulled up Brierley's maps. cross checked against the 2 Confraternity of St. James guidebooks we have on Kindle and created some piece of mind. With a decent pace (average 20 kms. per day) we can get to Santiago just a day later than we originally guessed. As we have a 2 1/2 week vacation planned at the end - Madrid, Lourdes and then leaving out of Paris on 12/7, we decided we didn't really need a week in Paris as we've been there before. That should give us some wiggle room for rest days, sore feet and injuries. Whew! We're actually further along than we thought. Feeling a little more optimistic.



Not too many pictures this time.

---

Photos

P1000430
Santiago, North; Fatima South

P1000434
Old water pump

P1000435
Saffron Crocus growing along the road

P1000433
Narrow path

IMG_20171031_161533277
Olive oil mill

Comments

[Robert Deming]

Love your story
We are enjoying your story! We are planning to be in Lisbon May 5, 2018. We are a Camino Love couple, met 6 months ago on the Francais

[Clara Serrano]

Loving the status updates and commentary!
Once again, loving every word that you are writing and your photos. It's so cool to follow along with you, and remember our very, very similar experiences on the way. Thanks, and take care of that blister! Did you try compeed?