10/1 – Happy October! Instead of fall weather, it got sunnier and warmer today, back up into the 80s. After our killer breakfast – quiche, assorted cheeses, fresh fruit, fig cake from the figs in the yard, ham, olive loaf, quince marmalade, omelettes, well, you get the idea, we rolled out of Casas do Rio thinking we’d never have to eat again.

We walked eleven miles north, seeing pilgrims throughout the day – a young girl from Luxembourg, a nurse from Slovakia, two women from Hungary, Marcus, Sophia and Brigett from Switzerland, and a man from Lisbon! There were more that we didn’t get a chance to talk to. This Caminho is certainly getting crowded!

This is one of many shrines of St. James on the Way, with many rocks placed around it, to represent bringing your troubles or prayers, and leaving them with God. Some pilgrims carry rocks from their home countries.

The corn fields have been harvested:

…but lots of flowers are still blooming in the woods and along the roads:

Ponte de Lima is a lovely town right on the bank of the Rio Lima. Although traffic uses a modern bridge, the medieval ponte is still used for pedestrians.

Here’s a friendly fellow, welcoming us to town!