Obidos, Portugal, May 31

My 35 day retreat and experience ended on Tuesday when I met up with Clive. I got up very early in the morning because I could not sleep and started out at 630am. like I have heard so many others do. I did not know that it was still dark then. I found the trail and it was then quite dark as it was in the trees. Daylight came soon and I marched along pretty quickly. The last 20km and I felt like the racehorse going to the finish line. I did manage to stop for a cafe con leche on the way.

When I got to Santiago, the 2 girls that I had spent quite a bit of time with were sitting in a cafe watching to see if I would pass. Little did they know that I had started so early. Anyway we walked the last few hundred metre together and had to go to the mass today as a German group had paid for the big incense burner to be swung. Quite a sight. And just as it was finishing Clive arrived - in that crowd. It was a wonderful moment. We all had lunch and I said good-bye to the girls. We saw several pilgrims around town in the drizzle.

It was time to start emerging from my 35 day retreat. I will make another entry another day about the thoughts that I had then. Needless to say, the experience was a once in a lifetime thing and it was wonderful. My body is happy to be walking less these days and I am sleeping well.

Now in Portugal, we have been trying to find the sun. I can walk in the rain and live with the rain but after a certain length of time enough is enough. I do prefer the sunshine ...surprise, surprise.

There is much more English in Portugal that I discovered in Spain... and it is not much good trying my level of Spanish here. I am surprised at the differences between Portugal and Spain. Here in Portugal there is no siesta and the dinner hour starts about 7pm. In Spain it is much later unless you are a pilgrim. Clive noticed that quite a few of the l have been replaced by r in Portuguese. We, being so interested in food mostly appreciate some idea of what we are ordering. We have been enjoying eating and drinking. The coffee con leche, always espresso is as good as Spain. Meals portions here can be huge - lots of fish, stewed meats, potatoes, white bread (tasty), cheese with breakfast, wine (more taste than the Spanish when you go for the house stuff. So we are eating our way around and dousing it down with great liquids. Also lots of walking (but no pack).

Porto is a beautiful city - loads of up and down - a bit like Bristol - always another angle on the hill. We walked kms that day. Catching the bus or train is easy here. We catch whichever has the closer station. Yesterday we investigated another hilly, medieval university town, Coimbra and of course walked tons more. Today we are in a picturesque town - all white old houses built around an old castle and fortress. Lots of daytrippers here. We expect to get to Lisbon in 2 or 3 days and then on to the south coast. It is rather nice that the journeys on the train or bus are only a couple of hours so it seems like another form of entertainment.