Testing this blog

 Day 1:  The itinerary said 15 miles BUT it was actually 18!  Makes me slightly nervous about an upcoming "18" mile day!  Needless to say, I'm sore (about a 15 on a 1-10 scale).   We'll see if my legs work when I try to get up from this very nice bed at Hotel Casta Verde.  Only 11 more days to go!!

Enough complaining, it was an excellent day.  Not a cloud in the sky, temp in the 60's, the beautiful Atlantic Ocean to my left.  I spent a lot of time on boardwalks by the ocean but also walked on some narrow cobblestone road through one tiny fishing villages.  It felt like I was walking through people's front yards as there were stacks of crab or lobster traps on my left and people sweeping off the entryways to their tiny abodes on my right.  

The Portuguese people I have met have been very friendly.  Everyone says "Buen Camino!" as they pass you on the trail.  I have not encountered one American thus far but had a great conversation with a couple from Australia at dinner last night and another conversation with a solo traveler from Hungary today.  I'm never alone really and can almost always see the backpacks of fellow pilgrims ahead of me when I'm walking.  Today I kept crossing paths with a young asian woman (not sure where she is from but she didn't speak English) who was walking alone.  She was using an app on her phone to find the way and at one point I took a wrong turn and she "coo(d)" at me to turn me around.  The next time I saw her I thanked her.  Later in the day I followed at a distance behind her as we took several turns through a town.  It's nice to have a beacon.  The Hungarian I met was a dietician.  She talked about recent challenges and why she is doing the Camino.  So many great people!  I'm not at all lonely.

Today I thought about Mum, my maternal Grandmother, who passed away when I was 12 or so.  Her name was Helen Aliene Cohick (I think Seip was her maiden name) and I was given the first name of Helen in her honor.  Yes, my first name was Helen but I was always called "Beth" (from my middle name Elizabeth).  Very confusing on the first day of school I can assure you.  In any case, there were several great things about Mum.  Number 1, she made excellent potato salad, which we always ate warm.  Number 2, she had a drawer in her desk full of costume jewelry and strings of beads which I would play with for hours.  Number 3, she kept Reeces Peanut Butter Cups in the pantry.  Four, she called me "seedy seedy" (maybe it was sweety, sweety but that's not what it sounded like to my young ears) which always made me feel loved.  Rumor has it she may have been more warm and fuzzy as a grandmother than as a mother.  That's probably not unusual.  Being a mom can make you a little bit crazy.

On my way

The mark of the camino - I saw 2 in 18 miles

Now I call that a bench

Fish picture for Leighton. I took this on a bridge.

I'm not sure garbage was part of the artist's vision.

Nice to have this on my left for 6 hours of walking.