#4 Reaching Santarém early & visiting the horse capital of Portugal — Golegã
By: Sarah Williams
Tags: Women, Walking, Challenge, Travel, Adventure

💤 After a very restful nights sleep. I was ready for day 6 of the Camino!

The morning started with an awesome breakfast with the other pilgrims, soft boiled eggs, fresh bread and OJ, we were also encouraged to make lunch for the day.

Paula was so sweet and walked me to the door and wished me well on my Camino hike. She was such an amazing host and I can’t say enough good things about her.

🥾The next 7k was out in the open, with views of the fields. I also passed the 70k marker to Fatima. The goal for today was to reach Santarém, and catch up with some other pilgrims I met along the way. I’ve met some cool people, but not everyone is that into social media — which I totally respect. So although it may seem I’m always by myself I’m not!

🍷 There was a big old climb up into Santarém- it’s a nice city, a larger city with everything that you could need. I met up with some other pilgrims and had a cheeky glass of wine Blanco (€1)

We tried to get into the albergue, which opens at 2pm. We got there at 2.10 pm (which is the cheapest accommodation option) but they were full!

🛏 So we found a hostel just down the road. It was brand new, a nice balcony and they were very friendly- it also includes breakfast which was great!

17th September — Day 7 on the Camino Portugués

Santarém to Golegã

34.2 km

☀️ This was a long stage but there was only one climb. So it was manageable- it was tough going especially later on towards the end of the day when it was super hot out in the dry dusty fields!!

⏰ The day started around 7am as everyone in the dorm was getting up and dressed. I didn’t have the best night sleep. Lots of noise and snoring! Oh well — I do wear a buff and have ear plugs.

Breakfast at the hostel was at 8 am — very standard, bread rolls, cheese, ham, fruit and yogurt. I had a cheese sandwich and fruit for breakfast and also made myself 2 cheese sandwiches for lunch as well!

🌳It was a beautiful walk out of the city passing through an old ancient gate, there was then quite a steep descent down to the farmlands.

A few pilgrims had stopped at a cute little cafe in Azinhaga, so I decided to join them. Having an icecream and filling up my water bottle from the water fountain. I also got to have my photo taken with the Statue of José Saramago, Largo da Praça.

Golegã was a great little town, but I was so tired. We tried to get food in town but they didn’t start serving food until 7pm. It was 5.40 pm when we got there. So we headed to a hostel to dump our bags and have a shower. After having my shower, I was so done in — I wasn’t moving for anything.

🛌 I just wanted to relax and lay on the bed. I also got really really cold and had to put my thermals on and get in my sleeping bag — I wasn’t feeling great so I drank some water (with electrolytes) and slept till 7 the next morning!

🎥I am vlogging the trip and will be sharing the vlogs on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to the tough girl YouTube channel so you don’t miss out! The link is in the bio!

📚 My hike is being sponsored by @ciceronepress.

Cicerone has also got an awesome guide book about hiking the Camino Portugués which was written by Kat Davies @followingthearrows who has been on the tough girl podcast to share more about her walking adventures — she has done the Camino Portugués 3 times and has done the PCT and a bunch of other hikes! Most recently Kat has been over in Japan 🇯🇵 cycling! Well worth following 😀

#challengewithcicerone

Watch the vlog now!!!