Day 4 - Arcos to Barcelos -14.5 miles

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day as we set out in the morning. The first  village we came to, called Rates, made Ian happy as it had an open church. We both enjoyed the short break in the cool and dark interior.

Then we had miles of beautiful country lanes through some lovely Portugal farmland. Every place seemed to have grape vines on trellises along their walls.

But then we had miles and miles of dreaded cobblestones. The Portuguese love to use cobblestones as a road surface. We blame the cobblestones for all our foot aches and blisters over the last few days. All our training equipped us to walk miles on end but it couldn't prepare us for rough and uneven cobblestones!

We came upon one lush green field and Pam just wanted to lie down in it. It looked so soft and inviting.  But we still had miles to go before we reached our hotel.

Finally we hobbled into Barcelos over their medieval stone bridge.

Just before our hotel we came upon a beautiful small church in the main town square.

Inside it had an amazing Baroque interior covered in gold leaf.

Just after the church there was also a spring student festival. A parade was almost set to begin but we didn’t stay to watch.

Finally we reached our hotel after a very long and tiring day. We have a rest day tomorrow and are looking forward to it!