End of day 2. I have felt the weight of my backpack during a large part of this day. A day in which I transitioned from the coastal route to the central one.

The day starts at around 7. It’s still a bit dark outside. The blinds of the hostel dorm room where I am staying with 5 other pilgrims don’t do their job all that well and every couple of minutes or so the traffic lights from across the street partially light up the room. Luckily my mummy sleeping bag is performing well in creating my own small cave and blocking out any unwanted lights and my first night on the Camino was sufficiently regenerating to start my second day. Some people are already getting up and prepared to leave. I stay in my cave just a little bit longer.

After having some breakfast, trying to take some cat pictures of Santiago, the hostel kitten, and some repeated packing stress – it seems that my stuff is only increasing in volume – I hit the road together with Josephine, a German girl living in Denmark who is spending a holiday in Portugal and decided to do a part of the Camino to see what it is like. When we are almost at the seaside she spots a rainbow and not much later the accompanying rain arrives as well. We seek shelter under the roof of a beach bar, not being to eager to change into rain gear again and it looks like it will blow over quickly, which it does.

So some 15 minutes later we are on our way again. The first 10 kilometers are an extension of yesterday’s walk across wooden walkways during which we spot even more rainbows and also quite a bit of cats in one of the fishing villages along the coast. They are not scared of humans, probably used to receiving a lot of fish, and are easily petted.

The walkways end at Villa do Conde, a small city which we walk into by crossing a bridge. My plan is to go inland from here but before I do so we walk up to some viewing point to get a good view of the city and have a look at the route that I need to walk from here. Josephine is thinking about walking back to Porto from here but still undecided about doing so. From the viewing point we see an ongoing market which we decide to walk to and which offers us shelter from another one of the rain showers which will keep passing over today.

When we arrive at the church to collect a stamp for our pilgrim passport the church door is just closed in front of us and we have to seek shelter again. This time we end up in the municipality building across the street where we discover that we can also be stamped. After doing so we walk out of town. We have to walk about 8 kilometers to get onto the route of the Camino Central. Josephine has decided to tag along anyway since she is here now and might as well enjoy the experience.

We mostly walk across some regional road which does not always feel very safe because of the sidecurbs which are sometimes missing and the blind curves which make it hard to see around the bend. It’s a bit of a contrast compared to the relaxed seaside walking of the first part of the way. Luckily we find some nice spot next to church in one of the many villages we walk through to soak up some sun and have some lunch. I am happy to have the load of off my shoulders for a moment. I am really feeling the weight of my backpack again, this time I feel it in my hips.

When it begins to rain again we continue on our way. Walking on this road is a bit tiring because you have to be quite aware off the traffic passing by. Luckily the road is not very busy and we are entertained with even more rainbows appearing in the sky. Also some roadworks offer a welcoming change ass we can walk through these whereas all other traffic is being rerouted.

Finally we arrive at a medieval bridge which is also the place where we get onto the central route. We shoot some pictures and are joined by another German girl who flew in today and already walked her first 35 kilometres. Together we set off for what will be the final leg of today’s walk. My shoulders are aching a little bit and I am happy to take off my backpack at a bench where the girls are still considering continuing and adding another 8 kilometres to today’s stage. My decision is already taken. My journey will end here and considering the pain that I feel in my shoulders that seems like a wise thing to do. Luckily we happen to have sat down in front of the pilgrim hostel so I don’t have to carry my backpack that far anymore.

In the hostel we are received by the concierge, a former French policeman who is temporarily working there and who speaks a mix of mostly French, some German and a pinch of English. He convinces the girls to not continue anymore and get some rest here and invites us for coffee and tea. The conversation we have is confusing and amusing at the same time. I was prepared for speaking some Portuguese but now my mind has to switch to yet another language. I try to translate as best as can with the remainders of the French knowledge which is still present in my brain but not too hard. I’ve done enough for the day.

As I lay in bed and it’s starting to rain again outside I think about whether I found my pot of gold today after seeing so many rainbows? That’s something we could always be chasing. For today I am just satisfied to already see a number of over 50k in the tracking app on my phone accomplished by just setting one foot in front of the other. So simple and so elegant. That’s golden enough for me today.