The forecast was for rain but the day started out dry. About 100 feet from my hotel I managed to find myself hopelessly lost. I showed my map to several people and not a single one could even point me in the right direction. Finally I found a woman who was walking her kids to school who asked me to follow her. As we were walking suddenly I saw a familiar sign with the blue arrow for Fatima beside the yellow one for Santiago. She had no idea what that meant but she was very happy for me!
Now back on the Camino I walked through the narrow streets of Santarem to the gorgeous viewpoint of Porta do Sol. From there I had a splendid view of the Rio Tejo far below. From there I followed a delightful but steep narrow little winding path down to the road.
The ground was still very wet from yesterday's storm so I was considering remaining on the small paved road rather than turning up a dirt pathway through some fields past a farmhouse. While looking at my guidebook a man on a bike stopped to offer help, thinking I was lost. I was actually not lost and for once knew exactly where I was.
I turned onto the muddy trail and found a yellow arrow pointing out the next turn. Suddenly I heard someone calling after me. It was the same man I had met on the bike. He insisted I was going the wrong way. I showed him the yellow arrow but he insisted I was wrong. Then he decided to become quite amorous and, shall we say "grabby!" At that point I yelled "stop it" and smacked him in the chest with my guidebook!
I ran back to that paved road and decided it was the preferable route after all. I wonder if that was the first time Brierley's 'Guide to the Camino Portuguese' has ever been used as a weapon for anything larger than a spider.
Soon it started to rain a little. I was now a bit leery of the dirt pathways and vowed to stick to paved roads. But when I reached Vale de Figueira I just couldn't resist the lure of the yellow arrow. So off I went onto the true Camino and its muddy paths.
It was actually quite lovely and peaceful with only a few muddy places. The rain had completely stopped too. I only saw one man working in his cornfield for the next several hours. I looked behind me occasionally to be sure some other crazy character was not behind me.
At around the halfway point of today's walk I started getting too warm and was hoping it might start raining a little to cool me down. I got my wish. First a few drops followed by a howling wind, then rain that progressed into something akin to the monsoons! I was now well cooled off. On with the raincoat followed by the rain poncho. Everything in my pack was secure in plastic Ziplock bags. But I was quickly soaked to the skin. It poured and poured, thunder roared and even the paved roads turned to mud. I spent 4 hours sloshing through that mess hoping that one day soon I might actually arrive at Golega. About two miles out of town a man offered me a ride. He seemed quite surprised when I turned him down, since by then I was in ankle deep water. It's not like I was going to get any wetter! My sore feet were loving the cool water.
I finally did get there and registered at my hotel while leaving a pool of water on the floor of the lobby. Two men from Canada arrived a few minutes later, just as wet. I was happy to know there actually are other pilgrims on this route.
The forecast for tomorrow is rain!
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