A Rainy Entry Into Spain

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We started hiking at 7:30 AM in Valença, Portugal and crossed the bridge over the Minho River into 8:35 in Tui, Spain. A five minute walk and two different time zones.

As we had a cafe con leche in a cafe near the medieval Tui Cathedral, a light rain started to fall. I had put my rain jacket at the bottom of my pack, superstitious that putting it near the top would encourage the rain. That ploy didn’t work and as the rain got heavier, I dug down, pulled it out and put the rain cover on my pack. We stopped into the Cathedral and collected a stamp on our credential, then followed the route that ran through the ancient old city.

Soon the path passed through forests of giant old eucalyptus and oak trees, following the small Rio Lauro. All in all, it wasn’t bad to walk in the cool rain, particularly after having enjoyed a day of bright sun in Valença. The walk wasn’t long today, just 11 miles, and we were able to skirt the large industrial park that stretched for miles outside of Porriño.

Eventually we re-emerged on the main road running into this gritty industrial city. We had a late lunch at a roadside restaurant, surrounded by shift workers and as we were finishing, we called the host of Casucho de Perrigrinas, a small guesthouse up the mountain above the city, where we had reservations for the night.

In 15 minutes, Jesus appeared in his car, tossed our backpacks in the trunk and turned onto a road that climbed up and up the mountain. Near the top, he pulled over beside a large main house and beautiful small guesthouse, which we had all to ourselves.

After making us comfortable, Jesus left us to our own devices. Having had late lunch, we’ll skip dinner and go to sleep early in this quiet mountain retreat. In the meantime, we’re streaming CNN to keep up with the evolving drama surrounding the impeachment?

Data: A virtually flat 11 miles

BTW, a side note: hanging out in this little guesthouse, I noticed a book on the Himalayas. Turns out our modest host runs a Himalayan expedition company and the book is about his expeditions (including Everest in 1996, the same year as Jon Krakauer’s fated Everest expedition).

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