The Sado, the boat to cross it and other stories

T2 E6 – Guizo Valley>>Alcácer do Sal

Today we started our walk… sitting at O ​​Baracinha, with a plate of fried cuttlefish in front of us.

In one of the previous episodes, I mentioned that we weren't doing the sections according to the official program. The section from Grândola to Alcácer is 33 kilometers long, but we are not (so) new and we decided to do the Camino in homeopathic sections, in small doses and according to the most traditional Alentejo values ​​– slowly, calmly and without haste.

That's why we've split some routes in two and that's what happened with this one. Yesterday we covered 22 kilometers, today there were only 11 to go, so laziness allowed us to have lunch and then walk.

Given this explanation, at O ​​Baracinha (which is the name of the owner) we had a very important aspect of the Caminhos – the human aspect. We had the restaurant to ourselves, Dona Mariana was waiting for us to start making lunch and her son, Carlos, was studying the tide to see when we could cross the river.

And the conversation we had with them was very interesting, about their life stories, from the great floods of the Sado to the days when the restaurant fills up with customers to enjoy the eel stew, going through the promise (not yet fulfilled) ) that the Parish Council made to improve the pier for the crossing.

Having had a good lunch, we crossed the river. Right there, the GPS and the signs didn't match and we chose to leave the modernities aside and follow the indications of the beacons (this is the official name given to the posts with the signs of the Way).

If we had done the whole section in one day, we would have arrived here tired and, of course, we would not have been able to enjoy what was coming our way. And what we were seeing is worthy of a photographic safari, so many images that deserved to be kept for posterity.

The river was curving, it went far away and came right next to us. But you could imagine the sea it would become on a day when there was a flood and covered the rice paddies. We saw a huge flock of storks taking off, coloring the sky with white and black dots and, as we walked, birds of various species appeared in front of us. On the ground, there were signs of wild boars, small and large, but this area must be the paradise for otters, so many tracks and shits we saw.

About halfway through, two barking dogs came straight to us. One of them went by the name of Lion, so calculate its size. Against two dogs that size, there's no stick that works, so we stopped and kept quiet. I already knew the “camel drool”, the sweet, the medicinal “snail drool”, but this time we were presented with dog drool. I don't know if it will have any side effects, but we were properly smeared (and sniffed) until the owner called them.

As there is no beauty without a problem, the last three kilometers to reach Alcácer do Sal were made on a tarmac road, which, by the way, was very busy with large trucks. But we understand that sometimes there is no alternative…

We arrived in Alcácer with the employee already closing the Tourist Office. He sympathetically opened the door again to stamp the Credential. And it was the first time that I received the traditional greeting to the pilgrim – “Good Way”.