A very trying day.

Well, we will cut right to the chase on this one, this was a very trying day.

we took the advice of many and went to the local Turismo office this morning before striking out on the trail.  They are sure does that there was a coastal trail that was new and flat and went all the way to Caminha. Sure enough when we got to the end of town there was a brand-new boardwalk and plenty of signage pointing us forward on the Camino.  We enjoyed over 6 km of boardwalk and sidewalk as we cruised along to have it abruptly end with a complete lack of signage.

Many of the people on the trail with us we're just kind of looking around like,  "okay now what do we do?".  Having paid attention to the overview map I had a recollection of at least two spots on the map with a trail came in land briefly before returning to the Sea.  We took a quick in land detour to the next road that came out to the Sea and we're pleased to find a brand new rest area complete with restrooms.  Little did we know that was the complete end of all of our luxuries.

We found a yellow blaze on a pole and took that for a Camino marker and struck down a very sandy Farm trail that paralleled the ocean. after walking for a bit it became obvious that this was not a true Camino Trail yet it was blazed as such.  We were getting ready to take the next Road in land and connect to the central route when we found a big billboard out in the middle of nowhere probably proclaiming a new Camino route....  It was complete bullshit.  this new Camino route that they were so probably touting was not built and was nothing more than a network of loosely tied together overly sandy farm trails.

Realize in the way forward would soon be met with a river and no meaningful way of crossing it, and dealing with a sprained ankle that was getting very inflamed, we took to looking for the quickest route out of there.  Spotting a campsite on the map we made a straight line for there only to find them closed for the season when we got there.  Luckily there was some people tending to the campsite postseason who not only graciously offered us fresh cold water but offered to call a taxi for us as they were likewise concerned about the ankle.  We took the taxi to the nearest town, Viana de Castelo, and secured lodging and a wonderful hotel for a paltry 45€. 

After showering and washing our clothes and make it an upscale hotel room look like Camino albergue with clothes hung everywhere, we took a quick walk to the local Square in search of food.  We found "Liz Tapas and Toast" and had one of the better meals we have had so far in Portugal with a wonderful host and his girlfriend. We sampled two kinds of chorizo, Iberian ham, two kinds of butter cheese, and paprika cheese.  We added in the regional specialty toast, which has cheese, ham, chorizo, sausage (hot dog), and Potato Sticks.  Add to that 1 liter Tinto sangria all for a paltry 23€... we estimated that would have cost between 50 and 60 US dollars.

walking back from the bar we found an interesting site as we passed the local Peugeot dealership, which in and of itself was interesting as it was entirely contained in a building.  Sitting proudly in the open showroom was a cat, sitting their grooming herself without a care in the world.

The next 2 days will be rest days off our feet as we switch from the coastal Camino to the central route. When we restart walking we will be doing shorter distances each day so we are moving our position up to the hundred km mark in order to still earn a Compostela and finish our Camino.

Despite all the trials and tribulations we are really enjoying ourselves out here.