A castle in the Fog

 We were a bit worried about today's walk to Barcelo. Scheduled for 18 miles with a forecast of steady all day rain, we got off to a late start in a steady drizzle.

Much of the walking so far has been on busy cobblestone roads bounded on either side by old stone walls.  Our pattern has been to zigzag across the road, sticking to the outside of the curves lest we get trapped between a wall and an inattentive driver.

Right off the bat I noticed "Camino detour A", taking us off the busy road onto a country lane, so country lane we went, it's only a bit longer.   We stopped in the village of Rates to admire the 12th century church, where I found another detour that saved us a kilometer or two.

Back on the main road after our brief detour, it seemed as if all the driver's were interpreting the speed limit signs in mph instead of kph, whizzing by us in the Fog.  So we  again left the main road, and headed up toward Monte da Franqueira instead to get away from the traffic.  I'm told there are sweeping views of the Atlantic ocean from the top. For us the drizzle intensified into a steady rain as the wind picked up. It felt great to be walking through the forest on an empty road not bounded by walls  

Because of the rain and we could only make out the church at the top, Capela de Sta. da Franqueira  

The snackbar at the top provided a dry spot to rest our feet and eat lunch out of the weather.

Then it was off to explore the ancient fortress built by Roman’s and before that the fortress built by the celts  

Mary at the >2000yo fort

Well worth the detour. And we crossed over the river to Barcelos having shortened the distance to only 14 miles.