We were out later than all the other pilgrims. We had a nice breakfast in the garden and I was so thankful for this little spot! Wished we had gotten in a little earlier as we could have enjoyed dinner with the group but our small family dinners are priceless.
We have fallen in love with the cat, who is not owned by the auberge, which surprised us. I woke during the night to look over in Bronwyns bunk and it was sleeping right at her feet totally sprawled out on its back with its paws in the air!!!
Mind you the signs say don’t let it in, but pilgrims either left the room to smoke, make a phone call, or let air into the room and I guess it snuck in. We of course loved this!
Unlike my other late night escapades with cats on my Caminos, atleast this one pretended to know us in the morning!!!!! Most have a “love em and leave em” attitude but this one at least hung around us till we left.
We went a little further than the typical stage in our book today. We arrived at a family run auberge. They greeted us with water and were sweet.
My heel/ankle is at close to 100% as possible. I think Tomar was the changing point for me! Maybe it was the praying in Fátima! The ankle brace, which is like a tight pantyhose sock might be the reason and all that combined with a total overdose of Ibuprofen! I still have typical Camino throbbing foot pain but at least I can walk normal now!
We had another cute animal story that we wanted to share. I popped into a pharmacy to get some bandage tape to find a little dog kind of pacing for us. We tried to give it some attention but then it took off down the road. Two hours later on a quieter road there it was in the middle of street practically laughing at us! We fed it our lunch, meats and cheese though it really wanted little to do with us...
What a nice day of hiking and a treasure of a stop tonight! Melissa and I would share a few texts today. She shared she found a coffee shop that made her a sandwich. Since she was about an hour ahead of us, this was good info to know! I had had no coffee yet and was pretty desperate. I admit I am addicted to coffee!
About fifteen minutes from where we were pretty certain the Holy Grail of coffee was a Bombeiros van pulled up in front of us. It was a transport one that appeared, if I had to guess, was used to transport people who could sit to the hospital. Just one driver, no medical equipment. In a backseat was an elderly lady. This sweet Bombeiros was determined to help us. I shared we were looking for coffee and was pretty certain I knew taking a left ahead (where a camino marker was in place) was where it was. He said he’d get us coffee, to hop in and he was taking the passenger to the hospital and we could get coffee there! I might be wrong but I really think he wanted to practice his English with us and seemed to want our company. The girls were pretty determined we were not going to the hospital for coffee, but I could see this young paramedics heart at work. I told him to go drop off the lady and join us in the town for coffee. I think this will fall as one of my regrets this camino. While getting in the van to go the hospital and drink coffee with him never really would been something we would do, I wish I made the invite more clear to him to come and join us. He spent a great amount of time trying to get us to join him. I wish I was able to make that work.
The auberge is connected to a wonderful place called Residencial Celeste/ Saint Antonio. The check in is one of the same! A dreamy little spot, a beautiful garden and the sweetest gal to check you in, Anna!!! Just a sweet soul!!!
Our French friends were here, Ricardo was here, Melissa got a hotel but admitted later wished she had stayed here. This was a luxury auberge. We arrived late to order some carry out food that looked real good. Everyone else was already sitting around sharing vino! We had stopped at the grocery near by and the girls whipped up a feast!!!!
The sweetest cat I have ever met stayed near us, the signs read ,”don’t let the cat in”, but it clearly loved these gardens and the auberge. It was very clean and pretty.
We left Coimbra way later than we should have, rather enjoying this Camino completely on foot with some layovers of enjoyment of food and local culture. By leaving late, we got to enjoy more of Coimbra, coffee, orange juice, eating under an umbrella. Things are going to change once we get to Porto, due the number of pilgrims will surge. Today’s stage was shorter than normal , about 13-14 miles but we started late which would put us in Mealhada late.
We had an interesting situation, we came upon embers in the woods, from an obvious controlled fire... but it worried us so we poured all of our water on it. About an hour or less from our destination we were left to walk around puddles in our way. Typical situation but tonight Aynsleighs foot got totally submerged in mud. She actually had to pull her foot out of the mud leaving her shoe (with gaiter) in there. Gaiter meaning sock like fabric to keep rocks and sand out of shoe. Bronwyn got on her hands and knees and dig around it from underneath. She got it!!!
We arrived with mud all over her hands and arms. There is a nice restaurant attached to this auberge. Sadly, we arrived so late. that we didn’t get to relax and enjoy any of it. But Melissa is here, and it appears the rest of the gang didn’t stay in Coimbra an extra night and are now ahead of us. We then got a private room located in a different building so we saw no one else except Ricardo, a nice Portuguese pilgrim while we were checking in.
