During the pandemic I spontaneously started walking North from Lisbon. It had been a dream to walk a longer camino route and I was excited to have the time to do it. I met 2 other pilgrims along the way and besides that it was quiet, solitary. But I loved every, no, most steps of it. Yet the pandemic had another “wave” of covid and I decided to leave the camino after Coimbra. One day I intended to pick it up again. Today was that day!
I was nervous for many reasons. Could I still do it? Did I give myself enough time? Was it dumb to start while my achilles heel injury was still recovering? But as soon as I reached Coimbra, it felt like it should be this way. And when I left this morning, I was excited. Many people walked the other way, towards Fatima, since the miracle there happened in October as well. I waved at them, exchanging “bom dia”, and it made me feel much better. There were many more other pilgrims out there.
Early on, a local guy on a bicycle stopped. He talked to me in Portuguese and I said I didn’t understand. But because I’m learning Spanish I understood he asked me at some point if I wasn’t scared. Later on, he pointed at his hands and asked me if I was married. Why does that question have to come up? He said I was charming or something. Now I was scared.
Jokes aside, when someone asks you if you’re scared, you suddenly start thinking about this. I was way more alert now. So when the wind rustled the tall grasses, the sound would make me look. But the only scary moment was a dog that started barking way ahead of me. I had to gather my courage and then soldiered on. The dog eventually walked back into his yard before I passed the building.
The other dodgy part was perhaps the traffic. There were some parts where I walked on the side of a busy road. They had marked the walkway and put some poles up, but most of them had been flattened. Ahead of me a tractor was working, right in a corner. The driver looked out for me and waved me through. People generally are so friendly. In one small town a man left on his bike and said hello. He was testing it and nodded again when he passed me the other way. The young baker where I had bought my lunch informed how I felt about Portugal and where I was from. The road workers asked if I was tired yet.
After my early lunch break I also saw more pilgrims headed for Santiago. It became very obvious as they all arrived in the albergue. Most are a bit older or travelling in pairs. I talked to a few but didn’t have the same connection as during the pandemic yet. Let’s see if these will be the people I’ll see for the next 3 weeks.
