Porto Covo to Vila Nova de Milfontes

What a great start. The breakfast buffet was very good with eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, yogurt and all sorts of other things. It gave us good fuel for today's walk. The temperature was perfect, warm but not hot; no rain.

The views were spectacular all day. 

There are more hikers than I expected, says a lot for the trail. Many of the tourists are from Germany, probably over half of those who we talked with today.

At the end of the day, we went to talk to a fisherman who caught a second fish while we watched.

Our hotel was over a km from the start of the trail making the day's walk about 21km. The sand gives us a workout.

Lisbon to Porto Covo

Arrival in Lisbon was so smooth and on schedule. But our back packs were slow to arrive at the baggage carousel, and it was a very long way from the plane to the baggage pickup. That put us late at the bus that could have taken us to Porto Covo directly. As a result, we had to take a train to Sete Rios to catch a different bus to Porto Covo. When we walked into our hotel there, we didn't have a room. Mac's Adventures changed hotels but didn't inform the clients; three other parties also had the same problem.

Our new hotel had the most interesting wood sculpture in the lobby. Blair will like it.

Over dinner we met a Polish couple who had moved to Andalusia. It sounds like a great place to visit.

Kingston to Lisbon

We left Kingston by bus at 12:30 and were in Terminal 4 at 4:20. After checking in we went to Plaza lounge to hangout, eat and drink. The food was okay and the wine was very nice. We had a nice chat with a couple of young girls who turned out to be ENT docs; not as young as we first thought.

Sunrise before Lisbon was spectacular.

May 15. Carcaboso to Plasencia to Salamanca to Madrid

Culture shock day We awoke in small village had a very small breakfast and checked out of our small hotel. We walked 12 km in about 3 hours to Plasencia. This confirmed that we made the right decision to terminate the trek because my ankle started to weaken and bother me after the first hour. At the large town of Plasencia, we were able catch a bus to the city of Salamanca. There we walked to the train station and caught a train into Madrid, a very large city.

Outdoor escalators in Plasencia.

Walled city.

While we were in Salamanca, I booked our flight home to Montreal, and got a hotel in Madrid. It was in the city center so as soon as we started walking to the hotel, we encountered hordes of people.

After a good shower, we walked half a block to a great restaurant. Susie's salad and my ox tail were excellent.

Then I checked the train schedule from Dorval to Kingston. Bad luck, we arrive after the last train. Fortunately, I was able to get a one way car rental to Kingston. We will be home tomorrow night.

May 14. Galisteo to Carcaboso

Yesterday I had to admit that I'm not able to do the walking that I did in 2018. The ankle that I broke playing hockey in 1986 is giving me ongoing problems. With the added weight of my backpack, Susie tells me that I am listing to the left. This pronounced lean is worse when we walk on rougher paths and causes more stress on my legs and torso. By yesterday afternoon, I was hurting and tired, which was abnormal for just walking. That's when we decided to consider going home.

Easier said than done. We have to walk to a town with bus service so that we can ride to a town with train service so that we can travel to a city with air service to Canada.

This morning we walked on the wall around Galisteo. Very impressive and old.

Today's walk was mostly on roads, which was good for my situation. Only 11 km today so we were in our hotel early. Had time to be tourists here.