Blisters!

After almost 3 hours wedged between 2 other men on a Ryanair flight to Lisbon, we landed at about 12:30pm. I then jumped on the tube for the 45 minute ride to the Cathedral. You don’t see much from a tube train window but at least there was plenty of space on the tube and it was very cheap. 

I found the Cathedral and purchased my credential (pilgrim passport). I expected a special one for Fátima, after all it is their national shrine but they just gave me a Portuguese Camino de Santiago one. 

I set off down to the Tagus estuary at about 2.20pm and walked out of the old part of the city into a run down stretch of the bank with little communities of homeless people living in tents under underpasses and beside the railway tracks. One little group of tents outside a derelict shop had 2 Christmas trees set up, fully decorated with tinsel and baubles. 

Eventually I found myself in a more modern riverside development that stretched on for miles into much nicer suburbs with parks and restaurants. 

I stopped for a break on the riverbank and lay down on a wooden sun lounger as it was 21 degrees and I wasn’t in a hurry. Despite the good weather (much better outlook than the long range forecast) it still gets dark at 5.20pm. Just as the sun was going down I spotted my first route markers, a pair of arrows, one blue one for Fátima and one yellow one for Santiago. It was right at the point I needed to make a diversion off the path to find my accommodation. 

Despite wearing the same walking shoes I had on last year I had noticed hot spots on my feet after only a few kms and stopped to apply some anti friction cream. I think my shoes must have stretched over the past year as I now have 3 blisters on my feet. Can’t believe I’ve got blisters after only 12 kms. 

I’m now laid up in my AirBnB room having performed surgery on my feet. It’s nothing new but I could have done without this. I thought there was a noisy toddler out in the hallway but when I went to look it turned out to be a cat.