March 12 - 14: Bouncing back (Conimbriga, Coimbra, Mealhada)

Today was an even better Camino day! We didn’t get rained on. Our boots got only a bit wet, despite the flooded path.

I enjoyed the sight of Carey, leaping like a gazelle from “bank to bank” of the many not-so-small rivers that swept the trail today. For his part, Carey is threatening a special photo album/montage entitled “Karen clinging to things”, showcasing all the scary bridge/ scary staircase/ hedgerow-/stonewall- scrambling moments of the trip. There are a LOT already… I don’t think Carey is nearly as proud of me as he should be for my getting this far. I know he is slightly too amused by the clinging, inching, self-owning it has required.

Today was also only 20km and ended with coffee and a pastry, as well as being able to check in over 2 hours early. I am typing from a lavender-scented bath. Bliss is real. There were also blue-green rivers, Roman ruins, wild olive forests and goldfinches.

No posts yesterday. I went to bed immediately on getting into Coimbra, having spent the day feeling like I had a bowling ball strapped to my chest.

Carey got sick on Saturday/Sunday. He turned the corner on Monday, but spent the next 2 days coughing as if trying to expel a lung. It hit me on Tuesday, with a raw throat. My nadir was yesterday. To illustrate: my average heart rate for today’s hike (25km) was 104bpm; for yesterday’s (18km, blessedly short) it was 141bpm. The difference being entirely how hard my heart had to work to get enough oxygen to my body for the walking.

What a difference a day makes! We are both still a bit wheezy, easily winded, but able to walk easily.

One of the things a camino does is strip life back to its core blessings and make your appreciation of them immediate, even urgent: breathing, and the lungs to do it with; walking, and the combination of factors that make it possible, let alone enjoyable; sleep; warmth; food and drink… You are very conscious of, grateful for, all of these on pilgrimage.

And, this walk has finally started to feel like a camino. Coimbra is a large city. It’s a university town, awash with imperial buildings, monasteries and churches. It is also, apparently, a place people start their caminos. We passed more pilgrims today than we have seen en route so far. There were multiple cafés, rest stops, a well-marked trail. The old folks in their gardens, or out front of the local cafés, (as opposed to the pilgrim ones, there’s a clear difference), greeted us with “Bom Caminho” as we walked passed. It’s been our first day of clear skies. We are back on form and feeling that “swinging gait” that covers maximum ground with minimum energy.

We are even staying in an Albergue. We’ve just got back from coffee at “Pingo Dingo” (Bingo!). Our washing has dried on the communal line and we are settled in for podcasts and supermarket beer.