TUI
TO BARCELOS: A BACKWARD CAMINO
Monday
evening
I walked
today from Tui in Spain to Rumiaes/Saö
Roque in Portugal. A distance of 20km. Or 22 if you take into account
the inclines. Or 24 if you add the false paths taken and backtracked.
Things
started badly when, thanks to a poor recollection of Tui's street
plan, I parked a good 15 minutes further from the footbridge over the
Miño than I needed to do. They didn't much improve when I got to
Valença and failed to find any
yellow arrows indicating the way to Santiago. But, after a couple of
false starts, I finally found the way off the main road and onto a
pebbled, rural trail southwards.
As I saw my
first northbound pilgrim in the distance, I readied myself with the
answer "No. I'm going to Fatima" for when he asked me why I
was going the wrong way. But, as he got close, he beat me to the draw
and asked "Are you going to Fatima?" Yes, I lied.
It's a lot
tougher going 'backwards' than it is going forwards on the camino.
The direction arrows are harder to find, especially in Portugal, where
they aren't as helpful as in Spain. But the good news was there were
blue arrows for those really going to Fatima and these eventually got
more frequent and visible.
I'd expected
the walk to take me 4-5 hours, meaning I'd arrive around 6, well
before sunset. But the killer aspect of this leg of the camino is
that the last 7km(4.4miles) is all all uphill. With pretty steep
gradients in several places. Frankly, it was tough and the going was
slow. At times, very slow. With regular stops.
As the
afternoon wore on, I began to worry it'd be dark before I arrived at
Rumiaes, where I was planning to get a taxi for the 1.5km to a hostel
in Saö Roque. At a cafe
at the top of the minor mountain I'd struggled up, they told me it
was 4km to Rumiaes. I walked these as fast as my weary legs could
manage, as the sun began its descent over the hilltops. But, by the
time I reached the main road, it was almost dark. Worse, I couldn't
find arrows to tell me whether I now walked along the main road or
continued straight ahead on a forest track. Wrongly, I took
the latter option and found myself winding this way and that, past
isolated houses with no sign of life. And no arrows.
By now I was
seriously worried about how I was going to get to Saö
Roque and find a bed for the night. Especially as I hadn't made a
reservation. But the Gods were with me and I eventually hit the main
road and a bar where I could take refreshment and call a taxi.
At the
hostel the door was ominously locked but things worked out and I got
a room. And a chance to get to sleep pretty early for me. Only to be
woken at 2.45 by barking and yapping dogs. After half an hour of
this, I got up and inserted my earplugs.
I
breakfasted at 8 with 6 Brits heading for Santiago and was summarily
ejected from my room by the owner at 9.30, who'd neglected to tell me
this was check-out time. She sent me on my way with the news that the climb would be even tougher than yesterday.
Tuesday
evening.
Somehow I've
just lost what I typed 10 minutes ago. And I need to get something to
eat,
Maybe later. Or maybe tomorrow.
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