Our trail today took us from the coastal route to the central route. We walked to Barcelos today. Well, almost there- we got a taxi the last 9 kilometers. We had already walked about 22 and didn’t have 9 left in us. We were lucky to find a room here, in a hotel. Quite nice. Beds seem scarce in this Camino.
Lots of dry-stacked stone walls here, rural farmland and forest. 
This is a beautiful place. 
People’s front yards are flower gardens. 
They have a festival built around these kind of caricatures. This place is obviously geared up for tourists. 
Finding a bed is a problem right now. I hope every Pilgrim here has one tonight. We have been calling about a bed for tomorrow with no success.
I turned 66 today. We stayed in an apartment rented from a sweet couple who own a restaurant. We went there for breakfast, a huge bowl of fresh fruit! I told her it was my birthday and she insisted I have a sip of Port before we left. 
We walked on boardwalks along the beach all day.
We had a real seafood lunch – charcoal grilled sea bass. Best meal we’ve had on this trip!
Seventeen kilometers today and we landed in a parochial albergue.
We went to mass at 7 pm. I recognized a few words but generally it was a mystery. There were 150 or more people attending, almost entirely old women. 
It has been a wonderful birthday!
Porto is beautiful, colorful, scenic, and overflowing with tourists. We stayed in a very nice hostel (€22 each) and headed to the river. 
it was cool and drizzly, but we finally figured out how to catch the tram after walking all but 3km from the last stop. 
We met a few pilgrims as we made our way from 2nd cafe con leche to 3rd. I almost fell into the Douro River.
The Atlantic shore was spectacular but we walked into a cool north wind gusting from 20-25 knots.
We walked several miles of boardwalk on the beach. 
No restaurant open around here so we got vino tinto at a bar next door and found a great pairing with oranges, bread, and chorizo purchased in Porto. We aren’t as far as most hikers but still walked 17 km today. We found an apartment on Maps.me- rented out of a restaurant which was closed on Mondays. The owners saw us looking in the windows and let us in, said we could have a room for €50 but would we mind if they finished lunch first? (In Portugues. Plus they were in the middle of a soap opera). While we waited they gave us water and homemade chocolate cake. Then she drove us here in her car and said she would pick us up for breakfast at 8:30 am. We haven’t even paid or given our passport info to her yet. Sweet people!
We made a plan: we don’t have the time or energy to walk every step of the way to Santiago, so after 8 days on foot we jumped ahead 90 kilometers by train. A very modern electric train. It would be great to have these in a Texas. We have also been on the lookout for scallop shells, the symbol of the Camino. We found one in the sidewalk in front of our hotel. They have been in short supply. 
We are in Coimbra, where the University is on top of the (tall, steep) hill and is 900 years old. Also up there is the “new” cathedral.
Back down the hill a little is the “old” cathedral from 1135. In it is the body of an archbishop from Santiago de Compostela.
There are scallop shells in the middle of the mosaic! We read about this in the guidebook but the information at the church was wrong.
There are a couple of streets heading up the hill lined with tourist shops. This one we found appealing. The pastel de nata (little custard pie) seems to be the national dessert. It is very, very tasty.
We are in a cheap hotel-not nearly as nice as the hostels we have been staying in, but at €40 it works for us. Should we get a craving for a Burger King this is almost right in front.
We had a great lunch downstairs in the hotel – not a tourist place, it looked like locals. I had baked goat and Kay baked cod, €21 including 2 Sagres beers each. Outgoing and friendly waitstaff who are keen to speak English and quite professional.
Note – I have a friend on this trail right now who says the N3 section of the Caminho has been re-routed – follow the markers, not the guidebook or wise pilgrim app. 10/4/2018
This does not look scary- that is because there was a few seconds reprieve for me to get the photo. This is just the runner-up to the true Pilgrim Highway of Death, which is EN-3 leading north into Azambuja, Portugal. I have no photos- you can’t take your eyes off the oncoming traffic for a second. The shoulder is at most two feet wide, and most of the steady stream of vehicles pass us at less than 5 feet away,
80 ton trucks at 60 mph with drivers talking on cell phones. There isn’t anywhere to go if you had time to jump out of the way. Try this for two solid hours at the end of a 20 km day and at 28 degrees C – it’s like a painting by Hieronymous Bosch at the Prado. Sometimes trucks were pulled over along the side, and the only way past was in the traffic lane, edging along the side of the truck. The emotional toll is as significant as the physical.
Today the Camino took us along EN-365 from Azinhaga to Golega (pictured) – cobblestone, no striping, cars at 60 mph a few feet away as we edged down the side. Maps.me came to the rescue, showing us an alternative which was delightful. 
We spent several hours on this paved road through farmland- busy with tractors plowing and planting crops, but little traffic. (video shows properly)
Now we are in a little paradise of a town called Golega. Great lunch at a restaurant,and a beautiful church. All is forgiven, Portugal.
We are exhausted after five days of walking. Today the walk through farms was quiet and pretty but completely lacking in cafes or stores.
We saw lots of wheat, vineyards, and tomatoes. It was windy and cool but forecast for Thursday is 22c and sunny.
Day before yesterday we walked along a very busy highway with little shoulder for hours to reach Azambuja.We called it the Pilgrim Highway of Death. But the day ended in a small house with 5 pilgrim friends being served mounds of home cooked food and copious local wine. I’m writing that story separately, “The Angel of Misericordia.”
We are staying in a private room in N1 Hostel in Santarém- more expensive than we usually get but this is the jumping off point for a big weekend celebration at Fátima and we’re happy to get a room of any kind. It is ultra-modern and we discovered that most of our pilgrim family is here- Alejandro and the Sloth, Hans Peter and Alicia, but all are splitting off to see Fátima and we may not see them again. Iris and Jonathan fell behind today.
At dinner tonight in the hostel we made some new friends, Kelvin the soccer coach (Belgium) and Allison (California) Camino mom (back left). Hans-Peter and Alicia (Germany) are in the front.
The Sloth and Alejandro.
In a few hours we are back on the road. We bought chorizo,cheese, and bread for another grueling 20 km day with no cafes, but we already have a bed lined up so we can take long rests. Our Pilgrim family is breaking up, tomorrow we will make a new one.
Bohm Caminho.
Our bodies haven’t kept up with the plan. 
it took two of these for Kay to recover from the walk. 12 miles today, and we are still in training.
I was surprised to walk past a T-38 at a museum. I’ve got about a thousand hours in this type, some of it upside down or at 5 g.
Much of the Camino was on the coast, some on these boardwalks and some on a modern paved trail through a park. Lots of locals on bicycles or walking/running. 
You can’t tell how tired we were when we came across this. We got to the hostel at 1:00 and were told there were 4 beds left, come back at 3:00. We frittered away the time over 4 cervecas grandes and a meal,cost us €21. We are now in our room and our friends from last night are with us. 74 year old Camino buddies Rnulfo Sloth (Denmark) and his good Camino friend 73 year old Alejandro (Bilbao) are with us!
This is the first Arrow, on the Cathedral Se in Lisbon. Lisbon is beautiful but overrun with tourists. 
This is the way, only 3 hours today. Perfect weather for walking although Europeans think it is hot at 72 degrees.
This albergue is owned by Via Lusitana, the Portugués Camino association, and it is sweet. Only 12 beds, basic but perfect. Staffed by Colorado Tanya and Lisbon Christina. We were first to arrive when they opened at two and have beds in the lobby (near the bathroom!). 
Deliciooso lunch “carne Assada” around the corner. Trail clothes are drying on the clothes line. 
After nap a Saturday afternoon crowd (all locals) with lively conversation and dominos. 
Bohm Camino. We are keeping a book of Portugues phrases
A Pilgrimage starts at your front door. I wrapped up the details of my Texas life over the last few weeks, got my scallop shell and gear, and pointed myself toward Portugal.
One of the details was a sort of Pilgrimage, walking with my brothers in white on Kairos 30 at the Connally Unit last week. Some of the toughest men I will ever meet stepped into the light afterwards, accepting the terrible beating which marks their exit from the gang and entrance into the Christian life. I hope my pilgrimage in Portugal and Spain will be kindler and gentler.
I inadvertently met John Dodds in the HEB parking lot on my way out of town, where he inadvertently gave me a Pilgrim’s Blessing.
Kay and I leave Austin Day after tomorrow.
It may be kind of a long download but I wrote a short piece for this local magazine.
TX ARTS 12-17 Magazine Spreads
This morning I attended a presentation by a consultant for the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau about tourism – we are a ‘heavy lifter’ for such a small community – and I learned that personal, unique, authentic experiences are what millenials are looking for. The article is of just such a concept, and what I love, too.
robertcdeming 