After watching an amazing sunset I fired up the tablet to watch a movie, and was half way into it before I realized it was yet ANOTHER movie about someone dying from cancer, and after crying a bit I wondered, what about the stories of people who live with cancer? What about people like me and Pam and others who are doing better? Where are the radical remission examples? What has been so powerful about having Pam in my life and listening to the Radical Remission podcast is knowing that not all of us die right away. There can be life after diagnosis. There can be a long life after diagnosis. We need these stories of people who succeed. Is that my story to tell? I guess I’m already telling it here!

The time change is odd. Spain is only an hour ahead of Portugal, but it’s dark when the clock tells me it’s time to walk; I waited for the light before setting out this morning.

There was a mixture of surfaces – dirt, yellow brick road, gravel, and a bit of tile in the town of Oia. I would definitely come back to Oia, it had such a charming feel, but I kept walking, not quite ready to stop for a break yet.

There were horses and cows, farmed plots, and terraced gardens along the way this morning. Finally, at the two hour mark, I was feeling a strong urge to sit down and saw a sign for a restaurant. I stumbled in and ordered a cappuccino and croissant. I’m tired today. The legs are tired; the back is tired. I’ve been walking a week now, and I don’t have a rest day scheduled, but it should only take me another week to finish, so I’ll keep going.

Then more walking. I listened a few episodes of the Sarah Silverman Podcast to help me get through the hot afternoon, especially as the path climbed up and up through a burn area! I had heard that Portugal had fires this year, and I walked through the aftermath of one. The ground still had that acidic torched smell.

Then, on the other side of the climb, we went down and up and down through back roads. I could see that many pilgrims stayed on the bike path, but joke is on them because the way will be longer to walk around the peninsula that I just avoided by climbing up to a saddle, but then again, I had to climb and they didn’t.

I was knackered when I got into Biaonia and found the first bar I could where I could sit down and have a cold drink. The bartender gave me a few oysters on the house with my order, how lovely!

I made my way through town to my hostel, checked in, and changed for a stroll along the oceanfront. There was an old castle and lots of touristy things about. I had dinner at one of the few open places (in Spain, many restaurants close between 4pm and 8pm. People don’t eat dinner until 8 or after!!! That is bedtime for me…) I sat next to a girl from Belgium and her Argentinian boyfriend who work in Norway as guides and were down here on holiday.

Then back to the hostel. It’s still light out, but I’m ready for bed 😶