Valença to Mos

It was a very hot and uncomfortable night with little sleep. There was no breeze, so I pretty much melted into the mattress.

After breakfast at the guesthouse, Jelonda said her goodbyes as she was going to take a short day, by 8.30 me and Daniel set off.

The route goes through the old fort that guards the border, then over a bridge into Spain. After taking photos and experiencing some weird time paradox, by traveling 1 hour into the future, where they all now speak Espanyol, we continued on the Spanish section of the way.

The route winds its way up to the Spanish fort that watches over the river, then makes its way towards O Porrino. We started to see the tourist pilgrims; they are easy to spot with their small backpacks and smelling of fresh laundry.

They didn’t bother me last year, but they are a bit of a menace on the Portuguese route. They book all the albergues!!! We aimed to stick to the villages between the official stages to avoid these turigrinos.

Today was also the hottest on the route, so it was tough going. We reached Porrino by 1pm, 20km in good time, despite the time travelling!We were so thirsty we had ordered Two lemonades and two 1l water bottles, and drank them like shots.

Once our thirst was quenched, we tackled the last 6km to Mos. It was again all road, but it wasn’t too bad and we crossed the last 100 km mark. We booked into the albergue taking the last beds.

After everyone had showered and done their chores, we went for tapas at a local bar. We had talked with the other peregrinos, and everything is busy from here on.

We have tomorrow booked, but the day after after, I want to take the Espiritual route. After numerous phone calls in my pigeon Spanish, I’ve got a booking for the 25th, but none for the 26th. All the albergues are full! The municipal one, you can’t book, and they put the over flow in the local sports hall. So when I get to Vilanova I’ll be either on a gym floor or under the stars that night!

¡Buen Camino!