# Pasteis de Nata: 0 (what is going on?!), Distance Walked: 16.3km, # Floors Climbed: 88
My hotel/lodging this morning didn't provide breakfast but did leave me with a voucher for breakfast at a nearby cafe. You get exactly one guess as to which day of the week that cafe is closed. There were several cafes on that square and I saw Tammy&Bob sitting on the outdoor patio of one of them. I joined them for breakfast - at my expense.
I went inside to order by the nonno working the coffee machine just ignored me. He leisurely made coffee after coffee while I waited patiently at the bar to be acknowledged. After a couple of minutes his daugher came out from the back with some food from the kitchen. I heard her say "Dad" followed by a stream of Portuguese. I'm guessing she was telling him off for ignoring a customer. She was very pleasant and happily took my order. Bob&Tammy later told me he'd been just as friendly and welcoming to them.
After breakfast B&T headed back to their hotel to pack while I started the hike. Today was a short day. I had predicted it would only take about 4 1/2 hours and I couldn't check in until 4pm so I was in no rush. I had planned to amble along for an hour or so and then take a morning tea break. Then amble for another hour or so until lunchtime and take a long break then. Finally, another gentle amble would take me 3/4 of the way along the path to a cafe for an afternoon tea of cofffee & pastries before a final amble into Porto Covo in time to check in.
Excluding the cafe at the 3/4 point there was nowhere to get food so I had stocked up before leaving Cercal. I had bread, cheese and salami plus some biscuits that seemed to be made mostly of nuts held together with chocolate. I was not going to go hungry again.
I managed the first amble section. The map is coloured coded by my pace. You can see the first 1/4 is a gentle blue. Again, the path was through farm lands which I find rather dull. Today the path lead basically directly to the coast. The first three days have been on the Historical Trail which is all inland. From tomorrow it follows the coast south on the Fisherman's Trail. This should be more interesting. At one point I passed a farm with orange groves which have free oranges and lemons left at their gate for passing hikers which was very kind of them.
The morning amble went well but, unfortunately, while I was eating one of my Absolutely Delicious biscuits T&B came along. They joined me for a rest and then invited me to walk with them the rest of the way. I couldn't think of a polite way to refuse. Sadly, they don't amble. You can see the rest of the day is coloured coded a much faster pace.
We motored along, getting to my planned afternoon tea stop/cafe just after 1pm. To Tammy&Bob's disappoointment they didn't serve food - just coffee and supermarket pastries. After caffeine, we motored along to our destination for the day. The coast here looks fabulous. I'm looking forward to the rest of this hike.
We arrived in Porto Covo shortly after 2pm and parked outselves the only restaurant in the main square that had tables in the shade for some lunch. It turned out to be more upmarket and more fish-focused than we had planned. I ended up having scrambled eggs with smoked sausage. The scrambled eggs were very well cooked and it would have been Absolutely Delicious if you were a fan of smoked sausage.
We sat in the square drinking beer and chatting until we could check in to our hotels. It would have been a pleasant way to spend the afternoon if I hadn't been acutely aware of my unrefridgerated cheese and salami festering in my backpack. I'll eat it tomorrow as there is nowhere on the trail to buy anything.
Tomorrow is a longer distance than today - 20km rather than just 16km, but I still plan to take it slowly. I'm estimating it will take only 5 or so hours and I have 7 between checking out here and checking in there. I'm hoping to avoid B&T on the trail. They are pleasant company over a meal but I'd rather walk on my own. This could be awkward as they tend to leave later than I do, but walk faster. However, there are a lot of hikers in town as it seems the Fisherman's Trail is relatively popular. With luck B&T will have hooked up with others and I will have an excuse to wave them on.
My hotel here is a new, modern one on the outskirts of town. That means it is all of a 5 minute walk from the town centre. I believe I have a cute little balcony overlooking the pool. I'm not sure as there is a roller shutter between the french doors and the balcony and it is down. It appears that I should just be able to manually slide it up but it is locked with a key. The key is so rusty I can't easily turn it and I'm not game to use force in case it snaps. Oh well. The gap between the shutter and the french doors provides a nice warm spot for drying laundry.
For dinner I went to a local pizza place. I needed comfort food. I was tempted by the fettucine carbonara but the menu said it was made with bacon. I tried asking the waiter if it was actually pancetta or guanciale that had just been badly translated but he was Portuguese and didn't understand the relevance of the question. I had a pizza instead with proscuitto, sundried tomato, rocket and provolone. It was very Good. The right amount of topping and a well cooked crispy base. I had the tiramisu for dessert which was also Good but seemed to be entirely lacking in marsala.
Tomorrow I get to have breakfast at my hotel. What a treat!
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