Day 4: Alta da Portela to Ponte de Lima - Tuesday, September 27, 2011

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Odile, Pauline, Hari, Joy, Marjet and Herman

We we're on the road by 7:30am and arrived in Ponte de Lima almost nine hours later, after covering 24km. Walking conditions were good as the sun didn't really come out until well into the afternoon. It was, nevertheless, a very tiring day.

Brierley does well to urge caution over the first few hundred metres as the road is busy and twisted and without a footpath. After that we were on byroads or dirt tracks for a pleasant if uneventful walk. We were not looking forward to the climb half way through the day's walk. Although almost as high as the previous day it turned out to be quite easy by comparison.

Lunch by a secluded woodland path

We met Michaela from Germany for the first time and later Nora caught up with us. We chatted for a while before she went on her way. Having completed the climb, it was time for lunch which consisted of a ham roll and some fruit, eaten by the side of a secluded woodland path.

It was downhill almost all the way for number of kilometres and after that we were mostly on level ground. We were making very good progress but not as good as we thought. We stopped to photograph a small wayside church and then got out Brierley to check our progress. I wrongly convinced myself that I had located the church on the map, which meant that we were three or four kilometres further on than we expected. It took another three or four kilometres before I realised my mistake. That made for a long last few kilometres although it was in fact very scenic once the first bridge in Ponte de Lima came into view.

The many-arched bridge

The Camino crosses the many-arched medieval stone bridge and, once across, the peregrino has reached the albergue. We failed to read our guidebooks in sufficient detail and were surprised to learn that it didn't open until 5:00pm - we had 40 minutes to wait. By the time it opened about a dozen or so were ready to check in. I think we eventually had 18 people sleeping in what is a very fine albergue.

After showering and washing clothes we strolled back across the bridge for a bite to eat. We almost immediately met Odile and Joy, Herman and Marjet and, for the first time, Hari from Holland. The seven of us had a very enjoyable meal together.