May 11, 2018

The hostel in Santarem was exceptional for its amenities, so it was with a heavy heart that we were leaving so soon. The staff were so kind and thoughtful that they even packed a picnic breakfast for us, as they knew we were leaving early – before their scheduled breakfast.

We left the albergue at around 6:00 am and soon encountered some challenges in getting out of the city. Fortunately the city has a really interesting historic area near the ‘port’area on the Tagus river, so we spent some time looking around the various points of interest around the historic old city area. The sun was just starting to come up, so we had some fantastic views on the city, the river and the surrounding farmlands, all bathed in this wonderful dawn light – a real treat for a photographer.

We eventually found our way out of Santarem and started the journey towards the city of Golegã, some 31kms away. The weather conditions could not have been much better for walking – quiet country lanes, passing fields of wheat, vines, numerous vegetables and farm animals. Some of the fields were just being ploughed, and we could readily see the rich brown, fertile soil of the Tagus plains, which seem to be a real blessing for the people of this area.

We had our picnic breakfast at around 9:00 am at the base of a vineyard, which was certainly a first for all of us. It turned out to be even more enjoyable as some of our previous camino friends came along and checked out what we were up to.

Being a 31km walk, we spent a very long time walking through these areas, which was a real pleasure considering our walking circumstances from yesterday. Nonetheless it was a long way, and we started to tire as midday approached and the temperature started to climb. One good thing about tadays’ walk was also that we came across very few Fatima pilgrims, as they had started to split off into a different direction from the outskirts of Santarem.

We eventually reached a small town called Azinhaga where we had a good  hearty lunch and rested up for the last 7 or 8 kms.

The last stage into Golega was not so pleasant as it entailed walking along a reasonably busy country road. We met another pilgrim- Elisa, from Sao Paolo, Brazil- who joined us for dinner tonight and acted as our interpreter. We finally got into Golega at around 4:30 and located our albergue, where we settled in, cleaned up and got ready to got out for a few drinks and dinner with the camino gang.

Tomorrow we head towards Tomar, another 32 kms stage.