Our bodies are weak!

We bears of little brain do not like it when it’s tough or wet or cold. We prefer cuddles to rough stuff. When Alan said it would rain all day we tried to persuade him to take the train to Azambuja, telling him it was far preferable to getting wet and cold and dicing with death amongst the rush hour traffic! Well he thought about it for all of five seconds and said, NO!

We were up early and before setting off donned our wet suits before going out. We don’t like it when we get covered up, but at least we stay dry and our human is good to us for he chats all the time telling us how it is.

The initial drizzle soon settle down to pouring cats and dogs! The Way took us along major highways with rush hour traffic. The worst were the busses thundering by, for they threw up spray which generally soaked our poor BBF from the knee down and so his shoes were quickly sodden! He didn’t complain too much, saying skin is waterproof so we just have to grin and bear it. Adding Pilgrims are meant to suffer in any case!



After about six kilometres we finally joined the Camino proper.

 

The Way took us along the banks of the Tejo and had these gondolas been working we could have taken one!

The building at the end is just like an Hotel in Dubai and is a Hotel too. 

The trees now gave us a little respite from the rain which never stopped.

It wasgrey from sea to sky as you can see.

Occasionally we came across signs which showed we were were on the right path.

This statue interestingly enough is of Catherine of Braganza who became a Queen of England in 1666 which was when Alan‘s old Regiment was formed!

 

Though it had stopped raining and the path indicated we should follow the river, Alan did not as the map indicated the path went through swamp country!

The Weather App had said that flooding was possible in low lying areas and though he already had wet feet, didn’t fancy wading! Can you get wetter than wet we asked, but he did not bother to reply! He made the decision to walk along the N10 a major highway instead. There were often no footpaths only a white line as hard shoulder which on occasion was right at the verge! Not a nice path with all the traffic but once committed we had to just grin and bear it again! Was it better than wading through swamps?

We stopped for lunch around 13:30hrs, and had an isotonic drink and a fish pie.

We had already walked some 24kms as you can see and various Camino Apps and maps were saying we still had 12 kilometres to go to Alhandra, which Alan did not fancy at all.

He found a hostel in a Fire Brigade Station, which apparently had 50 bunks and was in Povoa de Santa Iris which was only some three and a half kilometres away.

Back on the road and we met two other pilgrims. One a French Canadian whose name we have forgotten and a Dutch lady from Tilburg called Rianne. The Canadian was looking for his hotel while Rianna wanted to go onto Alpriate! 

Alan and Rianne decided to go on together and soon the fire station was reached!

50 Bunks indeed what it was, was pull up a bit of floor and lay down!

The two humans improvised with mats found in the hall, showered and changed. The water at least was hot!

Alan hung his washing on the net of the goal posts. Goodness knows if it will be dry by morning?

The humans got their pilgrims passport stamped and made a 5€ donation for their bed spaces!

They then went in search of sustenance which they found quite quickly and with isotonic drinks, chicken and chips with salad were soon feeling better!

 

Back in the hostel a rainbow was sighted always a good sign, but the flying fish gives us cause for concern! 

Nor do our humans have the hall to themselves! They might be the only pilgrims in residence, but the fire brigade are now using the hall for karate training!!

Such is life on the Camino!

We are in it together.

It will be 20 years in October since we were here last, then on our circumnavigation. However, for Hanna Bear it is her first visit! Alan and I came again, not to Lisbon, but to a couple of other ports when we were delivering a yacht from the Mediterranean to the Baltic  in 2007 or was it 2008? 

We were the first out of the room and hostel this morning and set off for the Cathedral.

Alan did not like all the cobblestones as they looked slippery when wet, so he walked very carefully not wanting to fall before we had begun.

Lisbon is built on a number of hills and they have a tram system to get up and down them. We even found one that looked to us like a funicular tram!

Alan said Mönchengladbach could do with a tram or two to take people up and down the Hindenburg Straße!



At the first tourist shop we came to Alan bought two post cards to send to his grandsons and look what the shop keeper put them in! Clearly a bag to be kept and a good omen we thought.


We turned a corner and found a long long queue of humans waiting to be admitted to some event!

 

The queue was from both directions too!

We continued on our way through nice squares and ever more tourists.

When we got to the Tajo river we just had to have our picture taken.

In the background you can see the bridge over the river. All those many years ago we parked KARMA alongside a wall to the right of the picture!

Eventually we got to the Cathedral.

In this chapel to Mary Alan lit four candles. One each for two close friends about to undergo major surgery and one each for his grandsons and their mothers.

The pilgrim’s Hymn was sung quietly before saying the obligatory pilgrim’s prayers.

A tour of the Cathedral followed and then we got Alan’s pilgrim passport stamped.

Christ appearing to St Vincent!

We walked around the city some more, saw Roman ruins and more mass tourism!

The queue to get into the castle was too long for us so we sought out a cafe to sit and write our postcards!

Alan’s knees were now feeling the pressure of walking on eggshells as there were frequent little rain showers! 

Then it was back to the Hostel to sort ourselves out for tomorrow.

The view from our hostel window. 

A new adventure!

 

It is just over a year ago, it seems since I wrote a Blog! It’s not that nothing has been happening in my life, far from it. Life is treating me kindly. There have been some small adventures. The majority have involved me and my ebike. But by far the happiest and most satisfying for my soul has been my little patchwork family. I find myself the grandfather to two single mothers each with a son. Being around these boys and watching them grow and learn is wonderful, and I am establishing a good relationship with them. Their mother’s don’t know yet, but I shall be using my bad influence to have many small adventures with these boys.

Be that as it may once my knee recovered from the operation I felt a need and a desire to walk one more Camino. From Lisbon to Santiago and the End of the World was my desire.

I started my training by buying new hiking shoes and not boots. Initially this was a disaster because I had some prescription insoles made by a firm in Willich called IOS! They just crippled my feet. Three times I had them remade, but to no avail! The initial shoe too proved to be too wide at the heel and I had to tie them so tight it hurt! I took them back after four weeks and got a different pair. As a Gold customer with Sport Check, they took them back without a murmur. 

I also worked hard to reduce the weight I had to carry by weighing every item and choosing what to take on weight alone. I also invested in a new lighter (under one kilo) rucksack and so imagine how pleased I was when I got the weight done to just over nine kilos!

  

I think though I need a new set of baggage scales as the airport scales showed me even lighter!

One of my “daughters” took me to the airport where my adventure began! The boarding pass on my phone did not have the Gate number on it but said that the safety check in was to be in area C! Went through there. Interestingly my artificial knee did not show on the scan!

Once through the security check I went on through passport control which was on the left, but should have gone to the right before it! I now learned that my flight was leaving from Gate A39 and had no means of getting there but to return through passport control as if I was arriving from abroad and go out into the arrivals hall and start all over again! 

By the time I got to the gate there was no time to do any shopping which was probably a good thing!

Then they changed the gate to gate A49 where we were able to see our plane arrive.

And watch my Rucksack being loaded. It’s the yellow bundle on the conveyor belt!

My seat was 5D, but stupidly I sat in 6D. When the owner of my seat came I found a woman now sitting in my seat so went sit in her’s which should have been 4D! Apart from these musical chairs the flight was uneventful. We were served with a dry bread roll which contained plastic cheese and ham. 

The good part was the leg room on the flight, there was plenty of it. So well done TAP Portugal.

On arrival it was a long walk to collect the baggage and then a long wait to get a taxi!

Our hostel is on the eighth floor of a high rise building which we are sharing with some chaps from Brazil. Thanks to Google translator we are able to communicate with each other. 

Initially we were allocated a top bunk, but I played the artificial knee card and they changed the bunks! The Bears are now happy.

I took a quick walk round the block and ended up getting wet as it rained. It is windy and colder than when I left good old Germany, but otherwise I have no complaints!