Wasn't particularly pilgrim-y today. Left Coimbra at a reasonable hour, having had breakfast at the bottom of the hill. Ran into the nice German pilgrim from Lisbon who was having a rest day in the city. I recommended the Fado place to her and then skipped the first part of the journey as the suburbs of Coimbra are famously boring and rubbish.
The day rapidly improved. Trouxemill has an amazing long welcome to the camino mural.
Then a really pleasant walk through the woods
And into Mealhada, just as it started to rain. So a lot of taking off of rucksack, putting on poncho etc just in time for the rain to stop. Mealhada is Portugal's suckling pig centre - call me a wimp but I didn't fancy that. Headed to the hotel and it was one of those where you know you've made a mistake as you walk in. Bathroom was rather grimy, the only new fresh bits being the black mould, and the bedroom smelled as if it was last cleaned last year. Walked up the road to a new, nice, albergue which was full. Nowhere else to stay in town. Thought about grinning and bearing it and then decided this was a rubbish option. Two minutes later Booking.com had come to the rescue and I had a room in a golf hotel a few km away. Did a spin at the laundrette first which had really tricky instructions but a nice couple in there came to the rescue. Took a taxi to the golf hotel as it was now getting dark and I was getting hungry for a non-suckling pig meal.
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