Day 3

 Day 3:

Walked from Fão to Anha, Portugal which was a little over 15 miles. I know I definitely should be stretching daily but I’m not doing much. After going to bed each night with sore legs and feet making it hard to walk, everything almost feels back to normal when I get up. So far no more blisters and fingers crossed it stays that way. I’m not exactly sure what to say about the journey so far. I went into this with the impression that I’d find my “people” and walk with them the whole time. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case here. Verena is nice and makes good company but we spend most of the time walking in silence which is a bit of a nightmare for me because I’m constantly overthinking it on when I should break the silence. I’ve learned a little bit more about her but we aren’t really having in-depth conversations and neither of us has explained what made us decide to go on this long journey. I worry that maybe I’m slowing her down and holding her back, after all my initial plan was just to walk until I got tired and then find a place to stay for the night. She’s much more thought out and planned and refers to her book with her stops, days and milage frequently. I’ll talk to her later tonight to see what she wants.  She has definitely pushed me a lot. The man and woman who have been waking yearly for 5 years said that the first day is the hardest. If that’s true than it’s probably good that the first day was so gosh darn long so my legs and feet can prepare themselves for the journey ahead. Todays hostel is nice. We have a larger room with a curtain in between a set of bunk beds and another bed and our two beds side by side. Astrid, the woman from Austrian and Jerret (sp?) are here as well again. Astrid’s knee is bothering her so she’s taking it easy and they aren’t going far tomorrow. I think tomorrow is a 16 mile day so we may or may not see them after this. Finally went out to eat and it wasn’t as good as i hoped. Though I am eating my fair share of Pastel de natas at almost every stop. Each day we are stopping for breakfast and then maybe a water or snack mid day. We don’t eat dinner until we’re done for the night. While the breaks are nice sometimes it’s even harder to get moving again because the muscles tighten quickly in your legs. I’m definitely already a bit over carrying this heavy backpack. Most of our shorter breaks are just to give our shoulders a quick chance to rest. If I thought there was anything I could get rid of to lighten the load I’d do it in a heartbeat. Tomorrows hostel is a dormitory right across the street from the beach. We’re both looking forward to laying and resting with our feet in the sand. Looking forward to having the chance to catch my breath and do something fun. Everything has been beautiful out here but resting actually makes things harder and I’m not really feeling up to doing much more walking then I already have to. Over 48 miles done!