Day 4 Azambuja to Santarem

 Woke up at 0415 showered and we were on the road by 0445, we were determined to beat the sun and achieve 18 miles by 1200 hrs allowing for 3 x 20 minutes breaks.

After crossing the railway line it was head torch on and into the darkness.

We were walking along a river bank sadly we could not enjoy the view, it was so cool and we were beginning to appreciate the wiseness of getting up early.

All too soon we were back on the road and we walked for the next 6 hours past field after field of tomatoes growing; I would have killed for some toast and marmite, just delicious with a tomato.

On we walked as the sun slowly rose.

It was not long before our first break after 5 miles; we were really pleased with ourselves as it was only 0620, a really great start to the day.

We came across this crashed helicopter at the local airport, looked like one I had flown.

Even though we were walking on the road we hardly saw a car it was becoming a really beautiful walk.

Well you have had a dog cow and a sheep on the blog, brace yourself for this fine specimen.

And this one!!

We soon arrived at Requengo but did not stop.

There is a huge dyke which will be on our right hand side for the next 10 miles, it was very noticeable as we entered Valada where we stopped for a drink and I have to say the finest Portuguese Tart yet.

You can just see tart on the table. Sadly that was to be Barneys last tart. We all felt it was such a lovely village that we could have stayed there all day but sadly our 20 minutes was soon up.

We climbed up onto the dyke and moved on.

I am glad it is not only the Spanish that grow bottles.

The Rio Teja was a welcome sight again we will continue to follow it for the next two days.

The next village we came to was Porto de Muge where we met today's dog on a blog, he was a game little fellow.

After we left Muge we had 9 miles to go to Santarem of which mostly was on a dusty track.

By now the sun was well and truly up and we were beginning to notice it, sadly three was soon to become two.

We had to make an unscheduled stop as it was getting so hot and we were getting very tired, this heat is so draining. Please note socks drying on pole.

More tomatoes, goodness knows how these ladies manage to pick them in this heat.

We could see Santarem in the distance, it never seemed to get any closer !!!

We could see it was on a hill and were dreading the climb, anyway on the tomatoes went and the track got dustier and dustier.

At last the track ended and we took refuge under a motorway bridge again,we had only been there for 5 minutes when Oscar turned up, he had been walking since 0545 and had taken no breaks at all.

We only had just under a mile and a half to go but we were dreading it as it was to be uphill and the suns rays were cutting.

At last we arrived at our hotel I do not think we could have gone on much further.

It was up to our rooms to wash our sweat drenched clothing, I hope you like the mk 5 clothes line. I think it looks rather classy from both inside my room and outside, I think it adds something to the hotel.

Pure class!! It was then time to go to the pool and have a drink .

We had time for a quick club sandwich and a beer before Barney had to go. We were very sorry to see him go as we had become a very close knit team. Thanks for joining us, we will miss you Buen Camino and safe trip home Barney.

I have to be honest, as I always have been on my blog, I am exhausted, we are up again tomorrow at 0415 and we have the prospect of 4 more long walks in succession, I would kill for some rain, why is it when you go on holiday it always rains, yet when you walk it doesn't !!

You will notice from the photos Yotty is wearing sandals he is slowly turning into a Pilgrim the flaying will follow shortly.

We have just walked into the town to check the route out in the morning as it will be dark again when we leave the hotel.

Dinner tonight is healthy one salad and water,now there is a first!!!

Stats for today

Walked 20.50 miles

Walking time 6hrs 35 minutes

Covered 58 miles

323 miles to go

Sorry got it wrong yesterday we have had a count back it should have been 18 Portuguese tarts.

Portuguese Tarts had 21