We left Ponte de Lima after having the (totally unexpected) experience of drinking coffee at 7 in the morning. This was the on this trip that a coffee shop or bar was open that early in the morning. We promptly found ourselves walking on lovely forest area paths and passed a dam with pretty water flowing over the top.
After that we came to a Fishing Park, a place where people could borrow poles and catch fish (pay by the pound for the fish) in a pleasant location. There was a snack bar with a nice, clean bathroom. (Don't laugh! Someone, somewhere will be glad to know that, if they make it to the Fishing Park, there is food, drink, and a bathroom.)
We passed the famous Fonte de Tres Bicas (Fountain of Three Mouths) and shortly thereafter came to a road crossing. Our way along the trail continued on dirt--not only straight ahead but steeply up! We stood there looking at it and trying to get up nerve to go. While we, and some other pilgrims, were doing that a young man walking solo came up, said "huh," and trotted right up the hill! After seeing that, we had to quit waffling and go.
We saw sap-gatherers marks on the pine tree trunks.
After we got to the top, and rested a bit on the considerately placed bench, we got to go down. There were even more rocks on the downhill side.
 |
| Note the yellow arrow hidden in the electric pylon. This was a standard place to put them on the Portuguese way--apparently folks aren't so in love with having yellow spray paint on their walls and rocks as all that. |
 |
| DH went out onto the top of the dam to get this picture. |
 |
| It's amazing how much less steep this things look when you aren't walking them! This is the uphill side. |
 |
| The down hill side. |
 |
| We reached Valencia/Tui on this day. This is the fort on the Portuguese side of the border. |
No comments:
Post a Comment