Viana do Castelo to Caminha

This is my last night in Portugal and I am beginning to get a sense of the geopolitics between Portugal and Spain which is just a short ferry journey across the river. There is an island in the middle of the strait, uninhabited I presume, which changes nationality on an annual basis. There’s also an ongoing dispute about the infrastructure required by a permanent ferry and currently the only way to cross is by water taxi, other than a length detour requiring transport. I have sussed out the bar in Caminha where you buy the tickets and the barman assures me by 9 o’clock there will be plenty of spaces.

Today was a glorious long walk at just over 30k from Viana do Castelo to Caminha. For the first 22k or so I took the inland path making no errors, for the first time, exiting Viana. I think I am becoming better at noticing the faded yellow Camino directional arrows, and accepting that my intuition about the route is flawed.

At Ancona I switched to the Senda Litoral, the seaside route mainly to get some reprieve from the 29 degrees heat, and for several miles I followed the rocky shore via a cycle path meeting a few sheep and a pony and her foal. Then back onto to the main route at Moleda when I caught up with one of Wexford walkers who were finishing today in Caminha.

The main is blip is the church at Praia de Ancona awash with flowers.
The extra is my lunch break beside the river which runs through Ãncora. Heavenly.