To avoid a short day I combined two of the stages in the official guidebook (or one and two thirds to be precise) stopping at Salir for lunch (chicken stew and potatoes, probably a bit heavy for walking) and stopping for the night at Cortelha (Casa de Campo Cantinho da Serra opposite the petrol station). Some 27.6 km. The first part of the route was through scrub, then coming up to Salir there was more agricultural land with a lot of wells with interesting, but now disused devices to lift the water in particular chains of buckets. There was an information board giving the background. After Salir the limestone changed to an old sandstone and the land became more remote with scrub and cork trees. There were also some good climbs.
The weather was cloudy in the morning and raining intermittently in the afternoon, starting every time I took my waterproofs off.
I may have been a bit harsh on the Portuguese yesterday, today in one of the villages (Benafim) a man spontaneously pointed out the direction to take and another said "bom dia" before I did!
Wild boar stew for dinner, washed down by red wine. The people at the bar asked me where I was from, when I said Wales they recited more members of the Welsh Rugby team than I had ever heard off! Clearly more knowledgeable on international sport than I was.
Old well
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