Tuesday July 4, 2017
It was a warm dry day with a temperature of 27C ( 80F ), but it seemed cooler due to a slight breeze.
We had decided to make this day a short day by only walking 13 km ( 8 mile) to A Guarda, since we would lose another hour due to a time change in Spain plus we didn’t know how much of a delay we would experience at the the ferry crossing.
It was an 8 km ( 5 mile ) hike along the coast to the ferry terminal in Caminha. Unfortunately for me I spotted the first trail marker and pointed it out before I realized what I was doing, so I was responsible for paying for supper tonight. We followed the path along the shore and as we got close to the mouth of the river we came upon a herd of sheep.
At the mouth of the river we could see Spain on the other side.
At one point we got onto the yellow brick road for several kilometers, but in this case it was an upgrade, so it was paved and painted yellow.
We reached the ferry terminal at 11:15 so we had some ice cream while we waited for the 12 pm ferry to arrive.
The ferry was punctual and it took about 15 minutes to cross the river.
After we dis-embarked, we had our Camino passports stamped at the Spanish ferry terminal and then headed to A Guarda for the last 5 km ( 3 mile ) hike. There were several different types of paths around the mountain on our way to A Guarda.
We walked through the town until we got to the seashore where we found our hotel, the ‘ Hostal Del Mar ‘ and checked in. The owners spoke very little English and I was happy that I had google translate on my phone. I hadn’t needed to translate much in Portugal but I needed it now. All I had to do was type my questions into the translator and show the people what I was trying to tell them. Between google translate and hand gestures, we were able to communicate quite well.
After we had settled into our rooms, we noticed that it was an hour later then it was in Portugal and our time was now 6 hours earlier than back home.
Before I took a shower, I went for a quick swim in the ocean – a very quick swim because the water was frigid!
After showering, we rested a bit, made some plans for the next few days and then went for supper at a nearby restaurant. A fairly dense fog had covered the area since we had arrived and there was a slight mist in the air. We went to the restaurant, where we found out that they didn’t serve their evening meal until 8:00 pm, just like in Portugal. We still can’t get used to the fact that the restaurants close up in the late afternoon and don’t start serving supper until late.
We returned at 8 pm, only to find out that I had misunderstood them and they would start serving their meal at 8:30 pm, so we waited there until we were able to order. There was a little confusion with our order, but everything turned out fine. We had a very nice seafood salad, seafood croquettes and lots of prawns.
Ralf Hamm 