Day 20 – Valenca to Mos

 Petra and I began early again while it was still cool.  We approached the bridge dividing Portugal from Spain with a little sadness  and anticipation about what these next stages would be like in a different country.  We saw a great sign inviting us in for one more cerveza, but at 7 a.m. it was still a little early.

 And so we entered Spain, just like that.  And not a coffee shop could we find as we wandered thru the ancient streets of Tui.

Finally as we walked along a quiet, wide tree lined road, Petra who speaks some fine Spanish spied an older gentleman and asked him about any nearby coffee shops. He was very happy to chat with her and shared that every day he walked on the Camino talking and helping pilgrims. He led us to the end of the street and pointed down the road 100 meters or so to a coffee shop that was open and had a good reputation for home cooked food.  Bonus!  And thank you very much kind Spanish gentleman. So instead of walking the next 2 hours hungry, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread and really good coffee. Even tea drinking Petra enjoyed the coffee.

We continued walking  and it was beautiful along the forest trails. Quiet and peaceful – just like Portugal.

  

 We passed by many workers and they would wish us a buenos dias or hola. There is new grammar to be learned in Spain.   As the temperature climbed we came across a cafe with lots of other pilgrims. We stopped for a cold drink and they brought us  some pinchos as well. This is free food in Spain and usually accompanies a drink.

We carried on and were told to watch out ahead where the roads would get confusing with a “battle of the arrows.” It seems like the Camino people had arrows bypassing an industrial area and thru a beautiful forest area. The business community did not like the diversion of their “customers” and so struck out the arrows to redirect pilgrims back towards the busier area, and on it went. We were told to stay to the left when we saw black arrows about a kilometre up the road. So that’s what we did and continued to enjoy a peaceful walk.

The day wore on and as usual for us we were walking during the hottest time. We passed thru the town of Porrino and stopped into a pasteliria and super market where we stocked up a bit and then continued on for the final stretch to Mos. Once we got there I was done – it had been a long. It was a lovely village and kind of reminded me of a small ski village. The albergue was ok and the restaurant later on was also good. We had a large and very good salad with vegetarian pasta, bread, wine and dessert for 8 euros. We certainly aren’t starving.