Distance: 33.5km (192.8km), time spent: 10:25.
Weather: The sun always shines on this Camino.
There is a free breakfast at Hostel 2300 Thomar, but when we wake up in the morning we find out that all the bread has already been eaten. We make do with what is left, only to discover that the bread had not been delivered at all, as I get a large bag of bread dumped in my lap when we are about to leave. I just grab a few pieces in my hand and then brings the bag up to the kitchen for the rest of the guests to enjoy. The streets are quiet outside, underneath the blue sky before the dawn. The dilemma is right there in the air, should we actually be leaving? It does feel right to spend another day here in Tomar, but it also feels right to continue walking.
A house in Tomar adorned with tiles.
From Tomar the Camino enters a wonderful woodland path. It is possible to avoid this path by following another route alongside roads out of Tomar, but I would only recommend taking that route if the weather is really really severe. This is something that I miss on almost every Camino that I have walked, walking on footpaths instead of roads or gravel tracks (of course it does happens sometimes). We pay a last visible farewell to Tomar and its Knights Templar Castle before heading into the lush scenery.
Leaving Tomar in the morning.
The Camino going on a great footpath after Tomar.
The path through the woods is clear, but narrow, passing underneath broken trees and branches, with vines crawling up and down the logs of them and the surrounding trees. Mingled in between the woods there is a small dam, whose little lake or river we will follow next to. The sun has not yet risen, but the light on the sky bears omens of its awakening. The old Ponte de Peniche marks the end of the narrow footpath, but thankfully it is not a paved road that the Camino continues on after.
Riverside walk on a narrow footpath.
Ciaran is however getting in front of me as I gets into my usual routine of stopping up and looking around at the scenery. I find myself looking out over the valley with the Rio Nabão running below and trying to figure out what places it is that I can see from here. While walking on this gravel track through the now more open landscape, the sun finally makes its entrance. Seeing large pine cones lying on the gravel track, I cannot help making another pine cone animal, letting it watch over the Camino from the top of one of the waymarker-stones. Ciaran is now long ahead of me.
Ciaran crossing the Ponte de Peniche.
Ciaran admiring the view, where we actually are walking underneath a huge bridge, a large quinta (farm) or monastery (?) on the other side of the valley.
At this stage the Camino has now become more hilly and undulating, and has left the flat cultivated fields of the first days. In Soianda I catch up with Ciaran again and Sylvi from Canada that also stayed at the Hostel 2300 Thomar, both having stopped for a coffee break at the bar. Continuing, the Camino is all on a road, which feels remote and constantly going up and down. The road is fortunately very quiet and we barely meed any cars while walking. What has been on my mind for a long time is the absence of other pilgrims. We have met the occasional few, but mostly only at the towns or villages we have stayed in, barely meeting or seeing others while walking. Maybe that is the why the Swiss roll cake we buy at a café is Calvinos is stale and hard, so few passing by?
My pine cone animal watching over the pilgrims.
There are also very few, if none, cafés where we go after Calvinos, and the warm days has been relentlessly pursuing us. Lured away by a signpost advertising a café, we instead end up at the Heart Way Pilgrim House. Which to many may appear as a hippie community, a kind of collective household. Here we get treated to cold water, a beer ad some food, all donativo style. It is a nice place with friendly people. They also has a room for pilgrims and Sylvi has decided that she will stay there for the night.
Ciaran and Sylvia at the Balrôa Café in Soianda.
A house with a set of tiles making a picture.
Not soon after we got refreshments, we also get shade as the Camino heads into the cooler embrace of a forest. Here the waymarking is a little confusing, but we find the way, ending in a cork oak forest. This walk is beautiful, with the trees standing like statues and sculptures next to and over the path. On the trunks of the trees are various numbers, indicating the next year of harvest, as this forest is used by the large cork industry in Portugal. Harvest occurs every 9-10 years. The way they do this also makes the forest a little surreal, as the peeled off bark leaves a red undercoat. We arrive at Tojal, both eager to harvest a café for its refreshments.
Tiny figures next to a fountain on the way.
I have a feeling that we now has moved into a more remote area, which of course is all to my liking. Still on a road, straight, but empty countryside on both sides. A small path joins the road from one side, with a signpost pointing towards Fátima, making me wonder if Jerry would be coming down from the path or is in front of us. Quinta de Cortiça is where I originally planned to go to today, to give me more time in Tomar. Ciaran though, wanted to go longer, so I altered my plan. Maybe for the good. The place is nice, but now it is full of local tourists, teeming around the place and taking up a little bit too much space for my taste. They have a map of the world where visitors can mark where they are from. The company I work for is owned by an IT company named after the Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, which is also to the most remote island in the world, so I put my marker on the island.
A ruined church in Escoral.
Walking through a cork oak tree forest. Portugal is actually the largest cork producer in the world.
Some nice walking later, the heat has taken its toll. We both feel tired and consider getting a bed at a new albergue nearby that is advertized for on numerous posters. The place has a swimming pool. However, it is quite off the route and even though it promises to pick up pilgrims, we decide to continue. Before reaching the centre of Alvaiázere, the Camino takes some strange turns. We are happy to arrive at our destination for the day.
The road to Quinta de Cortiça.
At first glance Alvaiázere looks fairly uninteresting, with nothing that catches my eye. It is then good that the albergue, Albergaria Pinheiros, appear to be a great place. And they (or rather he) has the most lavishly stamps I have ever soon on a camino. Here, you are not only getting one stamp, you get three. One is a patch made of cloth, one is like a silvery metallic medallion adn the third one is a melted wax seal that he makes in front of our eyes. You only get these if you spend the night there, otherwise you will get a normal stamp. A little bit for show probably, but still cool. No dormitories here either, just private rooms, Ciaran and I share a room. There is an Italian couple here too, Alex and Chiara, who also were at the same hostel as us in Tomar.
The host at Albergaria Pinheiros applying the seal wax stamp in my pilgrims passport.
At a second glance Alvaiázere still looks uninteresting, but it does its job. Only that Ciaran disappears trying to find a place to buy cigarettes. And I wander aimlessly arounding trying to find him, giving up and getting a beer instead at an empty place nearby the albergue. Where we, after Ciaran turns up again, ends up having dinner. For 7€, the meal we get at the Churrasqueira "Loja dos Frangos" is actually good. At the end of the day we sit down at a local bar, where we enjoy a late drink while listen to the local chatter from inside.
Albergaria Pinheiros special stamps.
Alvaiázere is no Tomar, but there is still something that makes me appreciate the small and uninteresting places I come to too. I believe this is the hottest Camino I have walked so far.
Alvaiázere with the Igreja Matriz.
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