Azambuja - Santarém

Azambuja - Santarém
This was the most eventful day with the GPS data putting me way off the Camino path. I must have spent over an hour going in circles to get across a river/marsh. I finally found a way to get up a steep concrete embankment so I could get on a walking bridge on the trestle next to the train tracks. It wouldn’t have been safe to climb the embankment without ropes. I finally found some rebar wire steps on one of the embankments. Fortunately there was a segment of the fence without barbed wire. The path was so close to the train track and probably 100 yards to cross. The high speed trains would close in so fast so if my timing was bad I might be there when a train crossed. I am sure I would have been safe especially laying down but it might cause some type of issue or report for the Engineer. You would hear a rumble then about 10 or 15 seconds later a high speed train would pass. I jogged across and no train. I was now trying to figure out how to get back down. No way I would try going down the concrete. I found a grass embankment so I slid down on my tail.

I was relieved to be done with that, but next I was in vineyards and crop fields. I could not figure out a way to get through the brush and up an embankment to get out of the fields. Must have been a few miles mostly parallel with the end row which was sandy and uneven. At the end a tall gate. I thought I would have to wait for somebody to show up but there was a shorter wall I was able to climb. Got a little cut but I was out of there had my first tetanus shot in years recently. I was starting to take 30 minute siestas like I should over here. Some photos of my feet show two stops today. The gps map showed me how to get back to Camino. whew!