ShakeyJay

Short today. Why? It was 38 C here today. All I could think of was getting to our destination without dying of heat stroke. Unbelievable that it is so friggin hot here and it is the 20th of September for ef’s sake.

At the end of a long hot friggin day. The beer here is awesome 😎 👍.

This country is beautiful. The infrastructure here puts Canada to shame. Why!!!

Man fishing off the coast near Bonaio Spain.

Great day,bad day. Bad day in that our Google maps was way off. Thinking we only had 20km to do turned out to be 26km. On top of that the temp hit 32 C. I shouldn’t really be doing this in this heat but I feel pretty good all things considered. But when you’re hiking about in this heat all you can think about is the nice cold one awaiting at the end of the day.

Weather has been spectacular. Not a cloud in the sky – but hot and very little breeze. The city of Bonaio was larger than we expected. It took us almost 2 hours to walk out of it. The city is situated at the mouth of a large bay with giant surf, rocky outcrops, many reefs and small islands that would fit right in in Jurassic park.

We were a wee bit off today. Gerry felt worse than me. I think it may have been what we ate last night but we are both feeling better now.

We hit hills as well today. Two major ones and the second one was just before arriving at the Alburgue. Of course. We persevered and made it. Chilling out.

 

Somebody photoshopped a basketball 🏀 in my gut

Read ya tomorrow.

 

Short day today. As you can see or maybe not the dogs are burning. Knocked off 20 km but did 29 km yesterday. My trusty navigator Gerry the explorer said we had 1 kilometer to go. After one hour and 5 km later I said how far Gerry. Oh 1 kilometer bai. Just around the next bend you,ll see. Really, 30 minutes later. How far Gerry? Oh, it’s just over the next hill bai. Well, we did get to it after about another half hour. Gerry the navigator failed the litmus test but he is a great guy.

Smelly socks bai.

Gorgeous scenery. This Camino has been the best thus far. Reminds me the Nova Scotia coast and the outer parts of Newfoundland. Rugged and rough with the deep blue Atlantic breakers to our left side. Lovely sea breeze to keep the heat at bay. Cloudless blue sky. There is a God and He lives on the Portuguese Camino.

The Glasgow Hotel. Gerry the explorer navigator is fecked I tell ya.

My navigator. I am truely fecked as they say in Ireland. Hey yer trollies in a knot.

Couple we met from Burnaby BC. They are cycling to Santiago.

Read ya tomorrow.

 

 

Late start today. Left at 7am. Late start you would say? Well, we left our quarters and headed out. It was very cool and the sun was trying to break over the eastern ridge. Because it was so hot yesterday we decided to take the coast route. So we walked about 2 km to the west where we picked up the coastal littoral route. It was beautiful. High surf crashing on the rocks and a nice steady breeze.

So what happened? We got about 5 km in when I realized that my upper partial denture was not where it was supposed to be. How on earth I thought to myself. Was it still in the sink at the hostel? Shyte. Dot will not be amused when she shows up and I am just gumming around. Damn. Gerry was not pissed off. What do we do? Go back. I have to.

So we walked back up to the main road. There was a Petro station near to us. We called for a taxi but this stranger heard us. We said that I left my passport back at the hotel. The stranger offered to take me back and return me while Gerry waited at the station. Got to the hostel,ran up to my room but the partial was nowhere to be found. I told my lift that I found my passport and returned to the petro station. WTF over. I checked my Dobie bag and there it was. Stuck between the soap and the toothpaste. Whew. Saved. We headed back to the coast and carried on. Over all we lost about 30 minutes in time but added about 3 km to our hike.

The rest of the hike was great. Sea breezes all day. It took the edge off. We stopped for lunch at noon then got to the Mino River which is the natural border with Spain. We took the local ferry across the river and entered Spain at Garda.  In time we found the municipal Albergue which operates on a first come first served basis. Everything else is booked – full – complet.  Code for you’re screwed. Just finishing up the blog as we arrived at 5pm. Going out for a Spaghetti Bolognese.

No song as you tube is down.

Read ya tomorrow.

 

All is well.Day 3 is in the bag. We covered 29 kilometers today but we had to accept a ride for the last 6 as it was 34 C at 1pm and that temp became too dangerous for me to continue. After all,at 75 I shouldn’t even be here doing this walk. Be careful what you wish for. Come to Porto they said. Do the Camino they said. Temperatures are moderate here they said. There are no hills on this walk they said. They said, they said. Well they lied. It has been in the low 30s since I got here. That is in the low 90s for the metric challenged. And today we had some serious hills. But it has been great. Meeting people from all over the world. This afternoon after our swim I met an elderly Aussie lady about the same age as me. Good for her. I thought. Whatever she said I could relate to.

There is Albergue etiquette for those who are not aware. If some of your 50 Albergue colleagues decide that they want to start the day at oh dark 30 that is fine but you do not wake up those of us who want to start at a normal daylight time. This morning a whole lot of pilgrims left very early waking the rest of us up. YOU EFFIN LEAVE IN SILENCE AND IN THE DARK you Albergue ass……

Life is tough. Right? But good too.

The walk was great. Some serious hills but we handled them. Our routine is simple: up and at em at 7am. Do 2 hours or 10 km then find a place to have a coffee. Then another 2 hours or 10 km and stop for lunch. Then another 2 hours or 10 km and begin looking for an Albergue. Gerry is very particular when it comes to that. But I,m not cheap he continues to remind me. Yes but you are Gerry. No I am not. Frugal yes but never cheap. Ok I said. It is yours round he says to me yet again.

Me and my Pilgrims buddies.

I am not a fan of Celine Dion but there is no denying her talent. When she first started out she said she would never sing for an English audience. Being French Canadian that statement had consequences. Then reality struck and she became an English superstar. Funny that. Here is her biggest hit: