This morning saw the start of another day where I got hopelessly bamboozled leaving the city. Clearly, this trip has not enhanced my hopeless sense of direction at all. First, I was heading the wrong way, next I took another wrong turn, and then I couldn’t find any arrows. Google maps was telling me to head north; if I knew which way was bloody north, I probably wouldn’t need Mr. Bloody google. It was not a good start. Fortunately, I had caved in and organised my bag transfer, so my load was light today.

I cursed Mr google for about 5 minutes, oh all right more like 10 minutes, I took a breath and found a bar that was open for coffee. You may have noticed google is of male persuasion today, and that’s because only a male would be silly enough to talk in terms of north or south when giving me directions. Me, the person who lost her car in a car park once, or maybe twice. 😳

I decided the sensible thing to do was to repeat yesterday and grab a taxi to drop me at the juncture where the route splits. I wanted to take the original route in the hope I would find the waterfalls I had read about at Briallos. As I sat pondering my decision, I spotted, right in front of me, the legendary yellow arrow. How did I not see it sooner? It’s the coffee, I have become quite addicted, it fixes everything.
As I was going to reduce my walking by a few klms, I decided to do a little shopping before I left. I found exactly what I was looking for in a little shop right by the cathedral. So I paid a visit there before heading off.

I asked the taxi driver to drop me at the juncture where to Camino route splits to make sure I headed in the right direction. I intended to take to original route as I hoped to see the waterfalls I had heard much about.
The route ran along the train line for a while before turning left onto a quiet lane way. I was so relieved to be away from highways and city traffic.

Almost before I was ready for a change, I saw the signs for the Natural Park of the Rio Barosa and the waterfalls. The park is only half a klm off the route and so worth the little diversion. The guidebook says there is a bar and amenities. Unfortunately, the bar was closed, but I was okay, I had water and snacks with me today. The place is a spectacular little oasis, and if you are on the Portuguese don’t miss it. I will let the photos tell the story except to say that many Pilgrims were enjoying themselves, cooling their feet in the refreshing waters.

I was tempted to stay longer but knew I still had about 10 klms to go and was afraid that if I dallied too long, I might not have the energy to get going again.

The next section was a bit uneventful except that there were more lush green paddocks and amazing wildflowers, which is what I have come to expect by now. Suddenly, off to the left in the distance, I spotted the stark white wind turbines that I experienced days of waking toward on the Camino Frances a little over a week ago.