Tui to Porrino (10 miles)

Well, it’s pretty hard to drag myself out of bed when it’s pitch dark, but my “boots are made for walkin’”…so we both jumped out of bed, down to breakfast where a group of four, then a single man, then another couple were already downing hunks of cheese, bread and tiny little cups of coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Soon my new Spanish friend, the innkeeper, kissed me on both cheeks and sent us on our way, wishing us both, “Buen Camino!” which I soon learned is the official greeting of most everyone we would meet, while carrying our backpacks and trudging along with boots and map in hand clearly indicating we were “doing the camino.”

Time to head out…

…excited to go…here we are leaving our massive stone abode:

It couldn’t have been a more perfect day…prepared for rain with backpacks filled with rain ponchos, rain coats, gaiters, umbrellas, phone plastic protectors, baggies for maps…turns out it was overcast the whole day and not a drop of rain. We were worried about finding our way, as we often did in the Cotswolds, there was no need, as the camino is shockingly and consistently well marked. Photos from our day:

church built in the ELEVENTH Century!!!

Yep, we were able to see this marker!

We passed through woods…

highways and byways…

with thankfully, several water fountains along the way

We look for shell markers or yellow arrows to show us the way…

Roger crossing on a bridge that was built in Medieval times! The stones were ginormous!

…and finally winding our way into the tiny village of Porrino, I glanced up and saw these two kittens playing on a tiny upper floor terrace of a home we were passing by. It was a great, great day!