Rates Sept. 9

The start of our camino in Maia

The narrow roads with little or no shoulder

This is the post for yesterday, September 9th. I was not able to find an internet connection last night, so here is the post that I wrote from my notes:

We were out of the pension in Porto by 8 am, had a cafe com leite at the cafe around the corner, then on to the Metro (light rail) for the 11 km ride to Maia in the northern suburbs. It is rarely fun to walk into or out of the larger cities, but the main reason for starting in Maia was beacuse it is over 17 miles from there to our destination, the albergue in San Pedro de Rates. That is plenty far to walk, especially on the first day out. We were walking by 9:15 and the first part was still through the industrial suburbs. Almost all of today´s walking was on a two lane highway with no shoulder. It was nerve wracking to have to worry all day about dodging a speeding car or truck. Only the last few miles were on a wooded trail away from traffic. So we finished up and arrived at the albergue about 3:30, pretty tired. After showering though, we felt better. The restaurant in town was not well recommended, so we got some pasta and sauce (and wine) at the local mercado and cooked our dinner. There were about twenty or so other pilgrims in the albergue, Germans, Dutch, Spanish, and a couple from Iowa. That woman from Iowasis on her 7th camino, the husband on his 4th.
Marge dumped her hair drier already. I wonder when the liquid sweetener and the third and fourth changes of clothing are going to go. But that is not my business!