Day 20 Ponte de Lima to Tui

I woke at 0410 and we were on the road as usual by 0430, it is fair to say we were all very tired and not looking forward to the 24 mile walk that awaited us, especially as we had to climb a mountain today.

We walked for about 45 minutes, Matts legs was playing up and I wanted to get to the summit before the sun started to bite, so I pressed on without them. That was the last time I saw the team until they finished the walk.

Sorry Yotty fans, todays blog is just me!!!

I had six miles to cover until the base of the mountain

Two hours later I started to climb, I had beaten the sun, it would get its revenge later!!!

It really was beautiful, the boulders made the walking treacherous, I was very vigilant, I did not need to twist my ankle with the finishing post in sight.

Sorry about that, no one else to photo.

It really was very steep indeed.

I got to the top in regulation time, I have to say I was very pleased with myself, yet again I would like to thank everyone that trained with me on the downs, it all paid off.

I had a break and checked in with the lads who were still at the base, so I decided to press on.

Whilst descending, a Spanish lady called Carmen joined me and stayed with me for the rest of the walk, she was certainly prettier than Matt, Yotty the Great Dane, not hard to be I hear you say.

Carmen and I chatted away for hours what we discussed God only knows. Our grasp of each others lingo was somewhat limited.

Can you see this lizard? It was very well camouflaged indeed, he was about a foot long.

Guy, this is the finest cow I have seen on the Camino .

We had been walking together for 4 hours and it was getting extremely hot, in fact it was too hot.

The woods opened up and we could see Valença in the distance.

We still had 5 miles to go on Tarmac and cobbles, it was not the best for walking, the heat was taking its toll, Carmen was asking homeowners for water; we were going through it at such a rate.

Time for DOB 

And GOB

We finally arrived at the outskirts of Tui and we stopped for some lunch. It was so hot and I was exhausted.

We met an amazing Dutch lady called Hanker who is pushing her son in a pushchair from Porto to Santiago, what character.

We had three miles to go to our hotel, by now it was sweltering.

I came to the bridge that separates Portugal from Spain. I was sad to leave Portugal, we had been welcomed with open arms by the poeple of this lovely country, but entering Spain meant I was nearing Santiago.

Before I knew it I was in Spain.

I was so tired, it was 5 o'clock. I had been walking since 0430 and I was finished. I had run out of water and sweat was running into my eyes, I checked in and then found a bar and had a litre of water.

Heather was due to arrive so I had a quick bath then washed my clothes.

I was getting worried as the boys were still walking and it was still baking, I was relieved when they turned up at 1845 they too were exhausted .

We met up with lovely people we had met 10 days ago (it feels like 10 years ago) we had dinner and were in bed by 2200.

Sorry for the late blog, was too tired to do it last night.

We walked two stages of the Camino in one day, which in hindsight was too much. Thankfully it is behind us and we only have got one long walk to do, which we take on tomorrow.

We extend a warm welcome to Heather who is from the RAF Benevolent Fund which is the charity I am walking for. She is going to walk the last 70 miles with us .

Stats for walk 24 miles.

Distance to Santiago 72 miles

Distance covered 309 miles

Tarts have dried up since we have been in Spain.

 

Y