Day 5 29.3 km from Viana do Costelo to Caminha

Ola - we had a long day planned ahead but started the day with detour - our eyes were fixated on looking for the Camino signs and not for stairs signs that could take us under a busy roadway, so instead we walked an extra km to find a way across the 4 lanes of never ending traffic. We travelled the day in varied terrain again - in the woodlands, giving our feet a rest by walking on trails laden with pine needles. It was a hot day, the hottest so far! We found a elevated scenic beautiful spot to have a picnic lunch. Just as we were commenting on the peaceful oasis - the hired hands showed up to do the mowing and tree trimming, and completed their work just as we decided to leave, as much as we tried to ignore the noise, it did take away from the zen we were trying to create. Lunch consisted of buns, meat and cheese "borrowed" from breakfast - instigated by the one who frowns of those who take one or two grapes off the vine. Needless to say - he scoffed that down without hesitation - his ethic line is a tad skewed. However, the rest of us followed suit by "borrowing" from the breakfast bar and enjoyed our meal as well - I guess our ethics line is skewed too! This is a day that seemed to never end - we walked and walked and walked!!! Then when we finally thought we had reached our destination, a tried to find our hotel, we found we had not reached Caminha yet - it was still another 3-4 kms to go. You cannot imagine the disappointment on everyone's face, another 3-4 kms to go!!!!! Finally, we made it and were able to take the packs off our back, shower and ice our feet. We enjoyed the scenery, the forest and the coast, meeting others along the way - some in worse shape than we were (very sun burnt legs). The day ended with Casal Garcia white wine from Portugal and Portugese Port - a nice way to unwind and end our last day in Portugal. Tomorrow, we take a ferry and cross into Spain - it promises to be a shorter day, but we will see! P.S. According my Garmin - we did 44,556 steps today from the start to just getting into bed - not worrying about our caloric intake :)) Boa Noite!