Day 6 Ancora, Portugal to A Guarda, Spain

September 28, 2026

I was awake by 5 - anxious to get on the road - not! although I always feel pretty good in the morning but after a few hours the pain begins!  Today my right leg felt numb and I worried that it might just give out.  I massaged it and put pressure points around the thigh and buttock but nothing really changed.  I adjusted the placement of my IPad bag- nothing, then removed the change purse I was carrying in my right front shorts pocket.  10 minutes later the pain was gone!  Hmmmm….. I thought about all the men who carry their wallet in their back pocket for years.  

I’ve been setting an intention everyday but for the past 5 days it has been the same - help me make it to the albergue today!  I’ve been lucky for 5 days so it was time to change it up.  Today it was “ I am so grateful for….I have a lot of things to be grateful for so the list went on all day!

We had an early start- on the road by 7:36.  It was a shorter walking day as we only had 15 km to walk-

We walked through urban areas, by beaches-

and through forests-

We saw churches, of course we saw churches-

flora-

Camino signs-

an interesting sign💕💕-

We stopped at a bakery that used a machine to handle payment-

We were making our way to the border, towards the mountain in the background which is in Spain-

Finally at the shore looking to Spain-

We walked along a boardwalk to reach Caminha-

There are a lot of old buildings there-

We paid 6€ each to cross the Minho River which took about 5 minutes-

After another 4 km we found our albergue - O Peirao-

We are in a room of 8 beds so it should be pretty quiet.

It’s a proper albergue because you have to remove your shoes at the door-

We went walking along the beach-

then found a restaurant serving a pilgrim meal.  For €17 we got an appetizer, main course - I had hake, wine, coffee and dessert-

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain so we hope to get to the next village, then hide from the rain for a couple of hours, then carry on.  We will see!  I’m just hoping for a pain free day!

Day 5 Vila Nova de Anha to Ancora, Portugal

OMG!  It was a 23 km walk today and I thought I was going to die. We’ve been doing anywhere from 18 to 20 K per day but today required a bit longer trek. It would’ve been OK but my right hip started to hurt so I adjusted my gait, then my right thigh started to hurt and I got the odd pain in my groin. I was afraid I was going to fall because my leg would give out once in a while. Then my right buttock started to hurt and then my left hip. Nothing happened at the same time thank goodness, but I was worried that I was falling apart.  Mirjanne gave me some special cream and in less than a minute my right hip was no longer sore!  Too bad she doesn’t have enough so I can spread it all over my body!

We were on the road by 7:36 because the hostel has a motion light that is set to come on at 6 AM so once we were awake, we thought we may as well get going.  Our first stop was Viana do Castelo-

We had to cross a bridge designed by Gustav Eiffel, but unfortunately, there were trees in the way and I couldn’t get a picture of the actual bridge-

Of course, there were many churches along the way-

but the best one was the Capela de Nossa Senhora da Agonia which is an 18th century late Baroque Church. It was beautiful, and there were women reciting what sounded like the Lord‘s prayer over and over and over-

There were lots of old buildings in the historic part of Viana do Costelo –

We were walking towards the Coastal route which for the most part runs along the coast- 

We came upon Vinha Fort which was built at the end of the Portuguese Restoration War (1640-1668) to stop the frequent Algerian and Salentino pirate raids on the Portuguese coast –

We walked on boardwalks and gravel roads for about 10 km–

Windmills-

A young boy was selling starfish for one Euro each-

We left the coast and headed across a village –

then started our ascent.  Murals depicting the area-

Along the way there are lots of beautiful plants-

An entrance to a private home –

A picture on a private home depicting people burning in hell –

We climbed on stone paths-

and through the forest always going up and up-

We came to a beautiful garden restaurant-

The man is from Germany and he had a couple weeks holiday so he decided to try walking the Camino. His feet are killing him, but he has a good sense of humor. The woman is also from Germany.

These buildings appear to have straw or grass roofs -

Vineyards-

This guy thinks we’re crazy –

Finally, we could see Ancora-

We are staying at Vivenda Atlantico-

All the restaurants are closed on Sundays so we went to the grocery store and bought food for supper and breakfast tomorrow-

Tomorrow we will walk to Caminha which is about 11 km away, then cross the Minho River, which takes about 15 minutes and then head to A Guarda, Spain where we will spend the night. It will be a much shorter walking day and I am very much looking forward to that!