Day 5 – Santarem to Golega – 34km/21.10 miles
We actually left early today which was supposed to help avoid the heat, but the afternoon still ended walking in 86 degrees. The temperature gradient here is definitely bigger than Spain. It starts in the mid 50s and gradually gets to mid 80s by 4pm. With sun and some asphalt, it’s pretty oppressive. The towns on this route so far have been pretty far apart, about 12km. This means the day gets split into three sections that are two hours long with rests in between. The average 30km day takes about 7.5 hours to arrive in total. Today started cool and ended with a very hot 8km stretch into the final stop. It’s in those kind of stretches where you question why you’re doing it, but you somehow keep going and eventually arrive. It’s always very satisfying reaching town and relaxing.
We walked through miles and miles of corn fields so I was able to get overly familiar with the life cycle of it. I now know where the stringy part of the cob comes from. Overall nothing too scenic on this day. The albergue was a converted house and was really cozy. It was just six of us here and it was the first chance to cook a meal! Dylan from the the US made delicious chicken fajitas which we shared with some wine. It was a great way to end the day. I’m less tired than yesterday so I’m hoping that continues.
