Porto To Vila Praia de Ancora

How's my pilgrimage you ask. Well I'm sitting on my hotel bed naked because I'm too knackered to get dressed. I've just downed some cold and flu tablets and now the painkillers with some hydralite.

Right before we started walking!

I feel like absolute dog shit! And my feet hate me. Yesterday I took my boots off and my feet said "fuck you". Today I took my boots off and half expected my feet to come off too!

There goes my plans to make extra cash with Only Fans for my feet. Nobody will want to wank to them, poor mangled bastards!

FUBAR

I have never felt so much fucking pain in my feet before in my life and I don't even think I can walk to dinner. Because of fucking course it's not in the hotel. It's down the street. My grand plan to buy half board for all my hotels on this pilgrimage (to save my poor body from more walking) has been for sweet fuck all!

Got my second stamp at this pirate pub

Last night was a joke. I am going vego for this walk (more for allergy reasons than anything) but the Portugese are very meat loving people and although I was told I was getting spaghetti last night, I got a shit arse salad instead, which I only ate a portion of because the veggies were over cooked and the corn fresh out of the can!

Fuck that place!

Roman aqueducts and a monastary

I like this current place though. The bed is huge. There is a bath where I soaked my aching muscles and fucked up feet. Plus a sauna where I spent a few minutes before my sinuses couldn't handle it anymore.

As for the actual walk.

I did 19kms the first day.

25kms the second.

24kms the third.

And today I did only 18kms. Thank God for small mercies!

I've visited many churches and took time to pray. Who I'm praying to I'm not sure as I left my religion behind over 10 years ago now. But I figure if you don't ask you don't get, and there's got to be someone out there listening.

Amazingly I haven't prayed for my feet. Think I'll start...

The countryside is absolutely beautiful. Today and yesterday I got to enjoy the forest all on my own. I've bumped into many other pilgrims on the way but luckily they seem to disappear when I reach a gorgeous babbling brook or mountainside.

I'm glad.

I prefer to have that all to myself.

So, a couple things. Can't remember if I said. I need at least 2 stamps everyday to be able to get my pilgrimage diploma or whatever the hell it's called. That is all well and good but today was a struggle because I didn't want to stop at multiple places I just wanted to get to my hotel and off my feet. Luckily most cafes on the way have stamps (today's one did) and all hotels have stamps (so I can get it when I check in).

Todays job done.

Can you see the pain in those eyes

Today was the first day I listened to something. Today I enjoyed a few hours of Sam Neill's autobiography before my headphones carked it. I guess they only last a few hours before the battery dies.

Otherwise I've just been enjoying the sounds of nature or the sounds of urban life. Guess which I prefer... sure as shit not my own thoughts!

Quiet breather alone

Speaking of. My brain hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I am able to switch off for moments at a time, usually when I stop at a river to admire the view. Or like today when I spent a good portion of my time thinking about the shooting pain in my feet or the agonising stiffness in my neck!

Great way to shut the bullshit up!

The fact that I am struggling with a cold (or maybe this is just my body purging my emotional baggage) makes things all the more hard. But as a good friend pointed out, it wouldn't be a pilgrimage if it was easy.

Too true.

*just got back from dinner and it was worth it! The proper meal should help kick this cold and pep me up.