El Camino Portuguese Albergaria a Velha to Sao Joao de Madeira

El Camino Portuguese  

Albergaria a Velha to Sao Joao de Madeira

                                        

The sunset from the evening before that I forgot to post. Yesterday I had both breakfast and dinner in the hotel. It was a Friday and there were just three of us at breakfast and that evening, I was the only guest eating dinner. The lack of determination to travel due to COVID is hitting the tourism trade badly.

As I resi=umed my Camino in Albergria a Velha. I passed a couple of pillar boxes just up for the park inferno of the Town Hall. A red box for standard mail...

..and behind it a box for priory mail.

I had been looking for a photo of this flower since I first saw it but didn't take a photo at the time which I much regret. It was growing through gravel and had no leaves, it was just a stem and a pink flower and distinctive. And I didn't se another fewer like it for days until this one near a telegraph pole seen in the top left of the photo. It has other plants growing around it it itself still didn't have any leaves.

It was a pleasant walk through mixed forests of pine deciduous and eucalyptus trees. Although it was a mixed forest, I notices that the young saplings to replace trees that had been felled were almost universally eucalyptus and therefore it would seem that bioversity is taking a bit of a blow.

The route criss crossed the old railway line and the busy and noisy N1 as all paths moved up the valley.

A crossing and an old station on the right, locked and being reclaimed by nature but not yet derelict.

The line has only recently been closed as many new roads and this bypass bridge were built over the railway.

My hotel...avast ca venous space...

...seen from the other end.

A demonstration that I passed. On the news are political protests and marches against COVID restrictions but since the banner says 'marching for pride' and given the rainbow colours, I think this was a gay parade.

And it was only a handful of protestors and then it was all over.