Today was definitely a case of “the good the bad, and the ugly.

The Good… Most of the walk was along the shoreline on nice pathways and boardwalks. Temps were perfect (64 when I started and 78 when I finished). It was sunny with a nice breeze all day. The finishing town of Vila Franca de Xira is lovely, like many of the small Spanish towns I’ve seen on the Camino.

The Bad… There were a couple of miles along a busy roadway with narrow shoulders and lots of fast moving traffic, including big trucks. It was unsafe. It is definitely the worst section of the Camino that I’ve ever seen. (Portugal is working to improve the Camino route, hopefully they’ll address this part soon.)

The Ugly… While beautiful views of the Tagus river and its estuaries were on my righthand side all day, industrial areas were always on my left. Portugal has a done a wonderful job reclaiming the shoreline for its people with these nice walkways, but it’s hard to totally ignore all the factories and buildings.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the day, even though I ended up walking 17.8 miles, which was 2 miles longer than I expected.

For you step counters… today I went over 41,000 steps. I trained for this, but my feet are still tired. Time to rest.

Had to include this…