Portuguese - Spanish Border

Summary of the past 4 days:

• An extra rest day in Porto was required
• Two short days and one fairly long mostly following the coast.
• This part of Portugal is pretty. Green and hilly.
• I am 2km from the border with Spain. I am trying to time break days in Santiago with the coming rain. That is why there are a couple of short days here.
• This town has an impressive hill town/fort/christian holy place. The walls are intact and not rebuilt. That is unusual.

Facts:

July 23th - (Actual) Viana da Castelo to Valenca, Portugal

Distance - 33.15 mi/53.35 km
Time - 3:16
Weather - Cool in the morning alone the coast. Then, super hot in Valenca.
Climbs - a couple hills.
Difficulty - 0
Scale: 0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the Marin headlands climb.
10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep

Comments:

A. Nice day. The mouth of the Rio Minho has some fantastic surf potential.
B. Pretty.
A. The GPS kept wanting to take me over the mountains. The road is new (nicely so) the system might not realize it´s open.

Facts:

July 22th - Povoa do Varzim to Vania da Castelo

Distance - 24.03 mi

Weather - 30c/12km wind (lucky to cool down after yesterday).

Climbs - A couple at the end.

Difficulty - 0

Scale: 0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the Marin headlands climb.

10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep.

Hotel -  . It resembles an ikea on the inside. Recommended.

Comments:

A. Nice. The first walkers seen. Too many cobble stones over some steep hills.
B. The town is well worth a return visit. This was the first I saw of what could be called desperate poverty.

Facts:

July 21th - Porto to Povoa do Varzim

Distance - 19.93 mile

Time -

Weather - Late head wind beat me back

Climbs - none.

Difficulty - 0 - wind and tired drove me off.

Scale: 0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the Marin Headlands climb.

10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep.

Hotel - ... I just turned saw it on the road and stopped. Fine.

Comments:

A.  Too tired to deal with the afternoon headwind. Flat.
B.  Sat through a packed mass. They come for the singing nuns.
C.  It a beach resort town with a pilgrimage history.

Facts:

July 20th -  Porto 2nd rest day

Distance - 0

Weather - Nice

Hotel - Grande Hotel do Porto - 94usd with breakfast. Not Recommended. Nice, but tourist hotel.

Comments:

A. Too tired to leave today. Mostly rode the train around porto.