Golega to Tomar

Today began with light rain so I prepared myself for a soaking wet repeat of yesterday. At the church in Golega I put on all of my rain gear. Naturally that caused an immediate stoppage of the rainfall. Before long I was back to just my short sleeve shirt and enjoying a cool cloudy, but not rainy walk.

It was a lovely peaceful stroll along quiet roads and pathways. I got my last look at Rio Tejo because the path soon left it behind and continued north as the river turned eastward.

After the town of Atalaia the trail left the roads and followed a combination of narrow dirt roads and forest trails. The guidebook warns of possible problems in this area because logging operations had disturbed some of the markers. After the route crossed over highway A-23 I saw my last marker. I continued straight but came to a fork in the road with no markers and no clues. I went back to the bridge searching for markers only to end up at the same place. Two men in a truck came along but they were no help at all.

So I gave up and decided to just walk along the highway. I picked my way through the brush only to find a barbed wire fence between me and the highway. But now I was totally disgusted and turned back towards Atalaia to take the road from there.

Then I had a big surprise! Another pilgrim heading towards me. Anna is from Hungary and spoke perfect English. I told her my plight. She figured we could find it together so we headed back towards the fork in the road. But we never got there because Anna noticed an enormous yellow arrow on the ground made out of painted rocks pointing straight up a tiny trail off to the right. That arrow was bigger than I am and I had passed it twice, missing it both times! I felt ridiculous and will never understand how I could possibly have missed it.

Then the two of us continued on together for the rest of the day. I treated her to ice cream for saving the day by seeing the arrow that even a blind man would have tripped over.

It was really nice to have company for a change. We were both quite happy to finally reach Tomar. It is a fascinating town founded in the 12th century as the headquarters of the Knights Templar order of Portugal. The former Templar Convent sits high on a hill overlooking the town. I'm spending the night in a tiny hotel right in the center of town.

The pictures here are of the little church in Golega, the trail where I felt hopelessly lost, the Tomar town square Praca da Republica, and the octagonal bell tower of the Sao Joao Baptista church in Tomar.