Day 12, Povoa de Varzim - Fao

19,88km, 29 402 steps

Walking in flip-flops gives your tired legs another kilometer

Pretty uneventful day, but so many good conversations as we walked.

Last night I had my own room which was pretty welcome change to the ever changing dormitories with ever changing strangers. Of course those strangers turn into friends pretty fast here. ("Pretty fast" means like the moment you walk into the dorm room or when you ran into someone the second time and change a few words.)

I did do some shopping yesterday. I haven't been able to get my clothes washed in several days and my socks started to be more glue from the compeeds than the actual sock so I really wanted something else around my feet. So I bought a few new pairs of socks and threw the other ones away.

I walked with the Portuguese guy again today. We started a bit after seven and made good pace for the first few hours. After that my feet started their painful complaints and I had to slow down. The painkillers didn't help today as much as they did yesterday and I'm thinking of keeping tomorrow short or staying here for another night.

My feet forced us to keep more frequent breaks and sit down on the roadside for a few times as there was no cafeterias or any other place, where you could have a decent break. Yesterday we sat down several times for a coffee or something other. Today our only proper break was breakfast. I think it's pretty important to have the regular breaks.

We arrived to Fao around 2 and had a long dinner. After that we checked into a hostel. This time the hostel comes with a few luxuries, like breakfast (starting way too late) and pool. Taking a short swim in the coldish water and sitting on the pool side writing this feels kinda strange though. For so many days it's been raining and the albergues have been quite uninviting. The pool and cozy rooms are pretty nice change for a night.

#CaminoPortuguese #CaminoPortugueseCosta #CaminodeSantiago #Camino #pilgrimwithadragontattoo