Camino Portuguese II, Esposende to Caminha

Esposende to Caminha
Saturday April 27, 2024,
Esposende to Viana do Castelo It rained heavily during the night but had stopped by 7 am. We left the apartment at 8 am but it soon started raining again. There was a significant throng of pelegrinos heading north along with us. We got chatting to Ariana, a girl from Toronto, who'd just graduated with a Bachelor's degree in business. She already has a job lined up advising private equity purchases but was envious of our being able to spend 6 weeks in Portugal. She asked us if we were retired so we evidently don't look that old. I told her we invested in public equities but we assumed she'd also be able to retire early, perhaps even earlier than us. Then she told us she'd bought shares in a Canadian insurance company that had gone up 38% in two years but she had sold her position to pay for this trip. We've never sold shares to pay for a trip but it does pose a conundrum. Is it better to spend money now or forego the experience and have it compound for greater, future sending potential? There is no hard and fast answer to this.
The trail today wound through forest, instead of following close alongside the Atlantic. We stopped for lunch at Igeja e Mosteiro de São Romão do Neiva for lunch, ascending a series of steps to picnic tables. After boiling water to make coffees I made the mistake of disconnecting the stove from the fuel canister before removing the pot. The torsion on the.line leading to the stove caused the pot to fall over, dumping boiling water onto the stone table that then cascaded onto Patsy's leg. Fortunately, the water must have been cooled by the cold stone so it didn't scald her leg. I shalln't make that mistake again.
We crossed the Rio Lima and went to the Pingo Doce ("Sweet Drop") hypermarket en route to our lodging for the night to buy groceries. We dropped off pur backpacks in the 2-bedroom apartment I'd booked then went out to explore.
Outside Pastelaria Natário was a huge line of people. I asked one young couple what they were waiting for and they said, "Bolas de Berlim", the specialty. They'd travelled here from another town and eating this pastry was apparently the thing to do here. Patsy and I went to check out a different cafe, sat down and ordered coffees. Ken, meanwhile, had disappeared. He showed up 10 minutes later with a bag containing 3 Bolas de Berlim. He'd given €5 to someone near the front of the queue, asking if they'd buy him 3. They did, but they returned his €5, treating us. Wow, how nice of them!
We ordered another round of coffees for all three of us. The Bola de Berlim turned out to be a custard-filled doughnut, a bit like a Beard Papa or a Malasada. We made dinner in the apartment, Apartamento Vi-Ana, but the kitchen was poorly equipped, lacking coffee, salt, olive oil, etc., etc.
17 miles Sunday, April 28, 2024, Viana do Costelo to Caminha
We spent the morning walking with Navine, a young woman born in Sri Lanka but living now in the U.K. She's a geriatric doctor. "Oh, we're in good hands then", I said. "Oh no, you're all too young", she retorted. She has to deal with lots of fall injuries, including broken bones. It seems as though most injuries on trail would fall (no pun intended) into the same category.
Walking along a sidewalk as we approached Caminha I came across a viper sunning itself. It acted aggresively, coiling like a rattlesnake and striking at my shoe.
We reached the place we were staying, Casa Sebastaio, in Caminha around 4 pm. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms but only a pokey kitchen. There were also two A/C units that were both running but they were a little noisy so I turned them both off. I wasn't sure how we were going to get across the Rio Minho to Spain since the ferry supposedly doesn't run on Mondays.
We walked down to the harbour and were met by a guy who told us that "Taxi Mar" could ferry us across in the morning for €6 each. Since it was Sunday, we had figured the supermarkets would all be closed and had made a dinner reservation but we discovered there was a "Pingo Doce" ("Sweet Drop") supermarket close to the harbour that was open so we canceled the reservation and bought food to make our own dinner.
Patsy and I were going to cook Dorado again and Ken bought a box of muesli (again). I don't know how he can do it but he's quite content to eat muesli both for breakfast and dinner. Back at the apartment, I realised there wasn't a stove or oven. Oops! I had just assumed there was one in the kitchen. Rummaging around, however, I discovered a portable one-pot induction hot plate.
17.2 miles.