Day 8 - Vila Pouca to Mezio

The sharp-eyed will notice that there is a two year gap between Day 7 and Day 8, for the reasons I explained in Day 7. Hopefully this will be the only camino where I have to skip a section and then return later to complete it out of order. Nonetheless, I wanted to get my Compostela and my Certificate of Distance so, after a gap of two years, it was back to Porto on a late night flight.

The next morning was all planned to a fine degree. Staying an an airport hotel, I would need to get a taxi to the Campana station from where I could catch the little train that winds up the Douro valley to Pesa Da Regua. From there it would be short taxi ride down to the same cafe where the first leg of this camino had been abruptly terminated by Angela Merkel.

I set off in plenty of time but the traffic was awful (never normally like this as the taxi driver said). However I got to the station with 4 minutes to spare (I had already bought my ticket on-line) and rushed into the ticket hall to see which platform I need to run too. However my train, whilst up on the board, had no platform. Just a word meaning "cancelled". There was a strike so no trains up the valley.

Fortunately I do have Uber. So first call was breakfast at a cafe near the station and then a long but reasonably priced ride to my starting point. The journey was extended by 20 minutes as the car was electric so we had to stop for extra juice en-route. However, by mid-day I was back on the trail.

It was a short (9km) walk to Mezio and the weather was beautiful. The recent rain had however left some distinctly wet paths.

The churches here, while usually locked, do have some interesting architectural features. I am also interested in the sheer number of little chapels that are found in even small villages. For example in the tiny village of Moura Morta, there was a little chapel on the entrance into the village.

And a church in the middle of the village.

There also seems to be a tendency here to make crosses with very shortened uprights. I haven't seen this elsewhere.

On arrival in Mezio, I got to the accommodation which was excellent. It was board only so I was sent to a restaurant (Restaurant Tipico de Mezio) about a thirty-minute walk away as the nearest place, Forno da Rua, was closed due to vacation. The walk wasn't a burden and the restaurant was very good. It wasn't a late night - despite the short walk, the lack of sleep was kicking in.