Day 6 – Golegã to Tomar – 33km/20.50 miles
This was the third of four straight 30km+ days and it offered some new surprises as well as some of the usual things this route has offered so far. The new was some legit climbing and descents through a eucalyptus forest that actually had shade. Today we started walking at 7 and the sun came out with a vengeance around 9:30 and was with us the rest of the day. Every bit of shade helps and I enjoyed the forest walking. After descending down into town for a nice lunch, the hellish inferno of the Portuguese rotisserie oven beat on us for the next 10km. The highlight of this section a kind lady tending to her garden who gave us each a fresh fig and orange. It was a bright spot in an otherwise difficult day. I’d probably not recommend doing this route this time of year.
We finally arrived around 3pm to the very nice town of Tomar who is having a week long festival. The old city is bustling with a mix of tourists and locals. The city has strong ties to the Templar Order and the castle above the city belonged to them. For dinner we did another cooked meal of a hearty spaghetti and then chocolate cake. It’s really hard to eat too much! After that we relaxed in the common room and got ready for another early wake up the best day. Aside from the heat and pavement walking in really enjoying my time in this route so far.
