Challenges

Feet

By the time we reached Santiago, after 12 days and 170 miles of walking, both of us have struggled with sore feet. I'm not sure why. In 2017 we walked over 500 miles in France: it was hillier and we went farther each walking day, yet our feet were fine. The weather's been similar (e. g. we've had lots), and our foot care routine has, overall, been pretty good. 
Perhaps our feet are just 6 years older, or maybe it's because of the differences in walking surface. France: dirt, Spain/Portugal: cobblestone.

France                          Spain

Cigarette smoke

The locals smoke everywhere in Spain and Portugal, especially in restaurants, typically at the table next to where we are sitting. It's been tough to get away from.  We've endeavored to sit outside where practical, but it only helps a little.

Car Exhaust

It's easy, living in California, to forget how much pollution our cars used to spew out of their tailpipes. Here, they still do - its like the '60s again. Walking through old medieval cities, where the streets are narrow and walls high, the acrid smoke lingers for a long time as the cars go by. I'm particularly sensitive to it and at the end of a day with significant city walking, my lungs ache. 

Technology

I'm glad i'm no longer in the software business. It must be soul sucking as a developer to spend weeks or months writing complex vital applications that uncategorically fail at their intended purpose.

The biggest turd is blogger. [rant about Blogger removed at Mary's request].

A typical example: To receive your credential at Santiago, you have to fill out a simple web form of multiple choice questions: where did you start, where are you from, etc.  There is no possibility for free form answers, each answer is chosen from a fixed list. Inexplicably, as soon as you touch the selection box for a question, Android pops up the onscreen keyboard, moving the selection box (and the ability to choose anything) off the screen. No wonder there was a line of frustrated unruly pilgrims, standing in the rain cursing at their phones.