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• June 29th, 2014
• Mos: Albergue Casa Blanca, €8
• Weather: A lovely sunny and warm day, 20 degrees

We had a relatively easy day (28km) so there was no hurry to leave in the morning and we slept in until 6:30am. I found a cafe that was open in Valenca and had my last Portuguese custard tart and a glass of beirao, and only then felt ready to leave Portugal and cross the bridge into Spain.

It was a very short walk to the bridge and strange to think that with just a few hundred steps I would be in a new country. The view over to Tui in Spain and looking back to Valenca in Portugal was lovely.

One minute I’m in Portugal

Looking over to Tui in Spain

The International Bridge connecting Valenca in Portugal with Tui in Spain

The next I’m in Spain!

As soon as I had crossed the bridge I had to adjust my watch forward one hour… How crazy! It reminded me of when Joanna and I were at dinner last night and I checked my phone to see what time it was because our albergue had a curfew of 10pm. My phone said 9:57pm and we both started panicking as there was no way we could make it back to the albergue in 3 minutes, we were at least 15 minutes away!! The waiter came over and asked what the problem was and we explained that we were going to be locked out. When he saw the time on my phone he realised that my phone was picking up a Spanish signal and was showing the time in Spain, not in Portugal. It was actually only 8:57pm! So we ordered a beirao and relaxed a bit longer!

The cloister in Tui Cathedral

Main door of Tui Cathedral

Tui

I didn’t enjoy the walk today, it was along roads and through industrial areas with only a short stretch through lush green forest. Maybe I just really didn’t want to leave Portugal and really don’t want to get to the end…

2017 – there’s an alternative river path which is a million times nicer than the industrial route!

The albergue in Mos is in a lovely small town with only one restaurant and is quiet and peaceful, exactly what I was looking for. Joanna and I joined 5 other pilgrims (who started in Porto) for dinner, 2 Italian and 3 French people. We had a lovely dinner with wonderful company.

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