https://www.mapmyfitness.com/workout/8189641021

Saying goodbye to Portugal, we got up early and walked a few blocks to the pier to catch a water taxi. It was overbooked—double the capacity—with only room for 8 people in the little boat, probably the same one I took across the river seven years ago. The other eight had to stay behind, waiting for the taxista to come back for them.

Though the water was calm, it was pretty chilly, cold enough for me to pull on my gloves for the ride over.

With our goodbyes to Portugal behind us, we landed in Spain and made our way up the hill to A Guarda. We had two options: climb up and over the hill, or take a longer, 4km detour along the coast. We chose the climb. About a third of the way up, a local stopped us and insisted that we take the back route, saying it was shorter, wiser, and conveniently led past his brother’s bar. But that path would have put us on the highway, and while the climb was marked with the familiar yellow Camino arrows, the alternative wasn’t. We stuck to the established path, but the others trusted the local over the guidebooks and went around.

We avoided the highway and instead walked through a beautiful eucalyptus forest.

As we entered A Guarda, my phone buzzed with a welcome message from my mobile carrier, reminding me to switch my eSIM from Portugal to Spain. That’s when I noticed the time change—despite being on the same longitude as Galicia, Spain is an hour ahead of Portugal. Looks like we’ll be losing an hour of sleep tonight!