Day 24 – still at Rio Arado

A superb mountain day with clear skies and an almost perfect temperature, warm enough for T-shirt and shorts even.

With the weather so fine, there were a few other people out today.

I met a Brazilian young couple, over in Europe for only three days so far to start a new life. They will head for Luxembourg in a few weeks, as one of them can get residency there. They were heading in the opposite direction to me, and had set out at 7 am. It’s slow going once above about 750 metres, with loose rock, and the heather of spring growing rapidly.

And at the refuge, which is situated in the most idyllic location at 1100 metres, a young English guy, in shorts, T-shirt, and deck shoes, and nothing else, no rucksack, water, food. He looked pretty fit, but had probably taken on more than he first thought. He was helping out at a relative’s bed and breakfast in Geres, and had been for the last six months, having packed in a desk job in a London office.

On the way down I met a group of expats, from England and Australia, who were living locally, not far from Braga, and were mainly in retirement, and walking the GR50 (the Grande Rota Peneda-Gerês) in day stages. I walked with them for a while, as they had a female yellow labrador, who Roja was of course very interested in, although for some reason, this lab did not like water.