Planny

I have always been a planner. I like reservations, goals, and structure and it is a skill that I’m proud to be good at. While I’ve been walking I’ve been imagining this part of me as a tiny, smartly dressed version of myself called ‘Planny’. She sits on my shoulder with her checklists and clipboard, keeping me on track. She’s efficient and organized and I like her.
That being said, I can appreciate the value of the other end of the continuum: the spontaneous, fun, go-with-the-flow energy that I’ve never had. I’ve seen how remarkable things can happen when my schedule blew up because of my blisters last week.
So I decided to challenge myself to loosen my grip on the reins. What better place to do this than on a Camino, where there is an extensive safety net of support. Though I could book my accommodations in advance, I’m trying to override this instinct. Planny whispers into my ear all of my fears and anxieties around this: What if I arrive somewhere and there are no beds left? What if I’m too tired to continue on? What if…? What if…?

One day I had the option of 3 potential towns in which I could stay: a short walk (16km), medium (23.5) or long (30.7). I decided to judge my stop based on how I was feeling. I was walking with a Kiwi girl named Coco. Motivated by good conversation and weather, we pushed on to the furthest place, arriving in good time (about noon). The hospitalero informed us that he had no beds left due to some kind of motocross competition going on in the town. I’m sure you can imagine the ‘I told you so’s’ from Planny. We had a decision to either walk back about 4kms to an alburgue or further 9.4kms to the next town. Not wanting to backtrack, we decided to have a good lunch and walk on. The friendly hospitalero called ahead to the Bombeiros (fire station) for us to make sure we could stay there.
It was a tiring but manageable walk and when we arrived we had to figure out a way to call the Bombeiros to get let into the building. I asked this Portuguese couple beside us at a cafe if they could call for us. They not only did that, but they then walked us the few blocks to the building and waited until we got in!
It turned out that this town (Oliveira de Azeméis) was having it’s annual 2 day ‘ancient market’ festival. The main streets were filled with locals dressed in old fashioned costumes eating roasted pork, chorizo, and drinking local wine and liqueurs. I think they may have set the world record for number of accordions in a square block.

As we walked around tasting and interacting with locals Coco expressed how it felt so perfect that we had walked the extra distance for this festival. Even Planny agreed.

I am really enjoying walking through the Portuguese countryside and small towns. The route always runs past the local church. I’ve also gotten a lot of artistic inspiration from the variety of tiles.

I’m now in Porto, the perfect town to have a rest day. I did another round of port tasting to further narrow my favorites and had the famous Francesinha sandwich. It contains 4 different types of meat, 2 layers of cheese, a beer gravy, and a fried egg on top. I’m glad I went for lunch as I didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day!

Tomorrow I’m back on the trail, feeling refreshed. Buen Camino!