Rio Tejo - Day 4

Tagus River

Azambuja - Santarém (21.3 miles)

It was in fact an very early Saturday morning. The group of Italians staying in the albergue with us must still be operating on Italian time. They were up at 5 am getting their bags packed and ready to leave. I decided to get up and join them because I was already awake and knew it was going to be a long day. It would also be cooler if I started earlier and could try to get a good chunk of it done early. Off I went into the dark, with my headlight illuminating the way. After walking for 5 miles I stopped and ate a banana I had been carrying in my pack.

The roads I had been on were mostly empty country roads passing around recently harvested tomato fields. Any remaining tomatoes left behind were already rotten. I enjoyed walking along the country roads because it reminded more of back home. It was also definitely better to walk on than the uneven cobblestone sidewalks of the cities here.

After a while, the route rose onto a flood wall. This concrete structure was built along the Tagus River to protect many farmlands and adjacent communities from the occasional flooding. It made for a nice elevated walking path along the towns and river. I enjoyed seeing the many sailboats in the water and was surprised to see the occasional cars driving on the flood wall because it wasn't much wider than a car. I wanted to ask when the last major flood happened, but didn't get the chance to ask anyone. This might be the last time we are this close to the Tagus River.

Later, when I passed the first café along today's route, I stopped for a breakfast ham and cheese sandwich with peach juice. That little café and town was very quiet and peaceful until I arrived. While I was sitting down to eat my second breakfast of the day, the beer bottle exchange truck arrived. They dropped off new cases of beer and soda and hauled of the cases of empty bottles.

This was the first really long day of the trip and I was glad to have started early. The first 10 miles were easy, but the last 10 were difficult under the hot sun. We were also going along miles and miles of farm fields that had mostly been harvested already. I did spot some Red-legged Partridges (Alectoris rifa) working their way down the treeline of a field.

Then in the distance, I could see rising above the flat farm fields, a hill on which the city of Santarém sits. This fortified hill was used in Roman times and was fought over for centuries. It was reclaimed by Portugal in 1147 by their first King, Afonso Henriques, and later became the Gothic center with it's many churches. The hike in was not as challenging as I thought it would be be. Maybe that's because of all my training this summer hiking to field sites in Oregon.

I stopped by the church in the city center to look up where I wanted to stay for the night. I then saw the Swedish guy and tagged along with him. He called ahead and made a reservation, but there were extra beds available.

Isabel from Orange County, California was checking in at the same time. We started talking while we waited to check in. She has a Biology degree and it sounds like she is currently between jobs like me. Isabel has already walked the Camino de Santiago from France several years ago. Right now she is traveling through Europe by train and was stopped in Santarém before going to Lisbon, Germany, and Ireland. Sounds like a fun trip for her. Our conversation continued down at the laundromat while we washed our clothes. The hostel prohibited washing clothes in the sinks and charged a lot to use their machine. After our clothes were done, we headed over to a restaurant and had dinner. The menus here are sometimes so difficult to read. Especially, when there is a unique and fancy word for a dish containing goat stomach. While we were trying to interpret the menu, the Italians were eating nearby and offered to let us try some of their food. I had octopus and cuttlefish. We each ended up ordering something simple for dinner. My conversation with Isabel lasted until we were back at the hostel and heading to our separate rooms. Because we were talking the whole evening, I didn't get to see much of the city and probably will not have much time to check it out in the morning before I do another 20+ mile day of walking.

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