Camino Portuguese Day 7 Oia to Biaona

It's Saturday, and we're leaving Oia headed for Biaona. It's about 11 miles on foot to get there. By now I've walked around 93 miles, with approximately 70 miles to go. I'm not going to lie, my brain and body are basically just running on autopilot now. I've gone on plenty of 8 to 11 mile hikes, but at the end of the day I slept in my own bed and could get up when I wanted too, drink coffee at a leisurely pace and basically take the time to recuperate. Don't get me started on the clean clothes situation. If you knew just how many times I've worn the same set of clothes before washing them, you might think I was a bit "odd". Yeah yeah yeah I know you already think that. OH and speaking of "Yeah Yeah Yeah" There is a word that it seems everyone in Spain uses. It's like "ok, or yeah" in English, but it seems a bit more versatile. It's "Vale" And no it's not pounced "Vale" like the City in Colorado. The "A" sounds more like the "A" in "HA" Anyways, it's totally cool, to hear and we've been, or rather I've been trying to use it as often as possible when talking with the locals when I go through each town/city. I certainly don't blend in the cities I'm in, but at least I can try to sound like I belong there. Even just a little bit.

Okay, so the trip out of town was mostly along the coast, more awesome views and OMG fucking hills too. The hills are just killer. I was told by a local that the pilgrims, as part of their pilgrimage took these difficult routes on purpose.  Pretty sure I would not have made it way back in the way back machine. At least not made this particular trip in the way that they did. I'm way too much of a delicate flower. (I can just imagine the face you made after reading that)

Along the route as we started to head just a bit more inland, and before we headed into the mountains, we saw the remnants of the the Oia wildfires we had been reading and hearing about. I'm not aware of what caused them, and the pictures I have don't really do justice to how much damage to the forest area there is. 

After the wildfire section we hoofed up the mountains on the way to Baiona, Spain. Walked through yet more eucalyptus forests,  but not nearly as much as before. The best part about Baiona is that it marks the halfway point from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela. At this point I have roughly 80 miles left to go. And as its been a theme for this journey, it's all up hill from here.

Until next time, stay outta trouble and if you can't do that. Don't get caught.

Tim

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