Santo Andre → Apúlia (9 + 4km)

The night was completely quiet apart from the soft sound of the sea. Even so, I couldn’t sleep well; my legs were aching and my mind was racing.
The shower helped me wake up properly, and I was in the breakfast room shortly after eight (they don’t serve anything before eight) – on my own.

The breakfast was a bit meagre. After two coffees and some bread rolls with jam and honey, I’d had enough. Nothing else took my fancy, and there were no eggs.

As I was leaving the dining room, I actually did come across a man, a bit older than me, who greeted me warmly and seemed very relaxed.

After I stopped for a short break, I saw the man from the hotel again. I went over to him and struck up a pleasant conversation. He was from Australia, walks slowly in his own way, just like me, and had spent a couple of days at the hotel. And when I asked him how long he had, he replied with a smile, “I have all the time in the world.” He headed off to a café (strange, as we’d only just had breakfast) and we said our goodbyes.
These are the special moments I love so much – a brief chat with fellow pilgrims.

At my next stop, I suddenly realised that I’d already walked 6 km and that my next accommodation wasn’t far away. I was actually a bit disappointed that I’d reached my destination for the day so soon; on the other hand, my back was aching, I could check in from 12:00, and I desperately needed to do some laundry (I couldn’t stand the smell of my own socks any longer 😅).

You can’t be too careful when walking, especially in towns. There are often damaged pavements, with missing stones or rough bumps, as well as sudden slopes and edges. Today, just before I reached my accommodation, I nearly twisted my right ankle again, but I managed to catch myself just in time, and I’m sure the tape helped ensure nothing happened.

Later, I met the friendly man who runs the place, and we had a long chat about the Camino and the pilgrims. He himself walks the Camino once a year, preferably in winter, as that’s when he’s usually on his own. And he was very understanding about my decision to walk my own round route without going to Santiago de Compostela.

Update:

Then I walked to the beach and the old windmills.

I got hungry and went to a petiscaria that had good reviews, but there was a note on the door saying “I’ll be back in 1–1.5 hours”, unfortunately without mentioning what time it closed. So I ended up having a supermarket pizza cooked in the pilgrims’ kitchen.

Update 2:
Before the day was even over, I had another inspiring chat in the kitchen with a pilgrim from Colombia, which meant I ended up having to drink my hot tea cold.