Mette and I left Santarem early and took some cool photos of the mist and sunrise. As long as the mist lasted, the temperature was fine. Once it lifted, the heat hit us hard. We walked through shadeless farm fields with no fences, and vineyards as far as the eye could see. I gave Mette my umbrella to shade her from the sun.
We met up with Emma again that evening in Golega, a horse-centric town. Mette and I called ahead and ended up with a room with two single beds. I was fine with the open dormitory beds, but didn’t know what to think of this arrangement. I checked with Mette and she said I better get used to it. Sometimes beds are hard to come by, and we take what we can get. Emma shared a similar room with a stranger.
Forming a wall around the town of Golega were elaborate villas with impressive horse barns. We were invited to a horse jumping show happening in town the next day by one of the riders staying at our hostel, but we had distance to cover. That night we were tired, but walked to a grocery store anyway to get food for the next day.
This public sculpture speaks to the interconnectedness of horse and human in this town. Unfortunately, I can’t find any more information about it online.
42.7 km was too long for me. I had had a cough that I couldn’t shake for the last two weeks, and it was getting worse. I planned on finding a pharmacy the next day to get something for my cough. Mette was drained too, by the heat. She had a slightly slower pace than me but she was stubborn. She had a tight timeline to reach Santiago and was sticking to it.
I took no portraits this day.