It has been a rather dull number of days though I’m in an interesting city. Just haven’t been able to see much of it. I knew I needed to stay off my feet to let them heal, which is what I’ve done.

As I approached the apartment on Saturday I was happy to glimpse a medical clinic just a half km away. I checked online and they were open late so I hobbled over to investigate. They couldn’t have been nicer. However, late in the day they had no openings. They did, however, make me an appointment for Monday morning.

I settled in to my basically “do nothing “ days. Sunday hunger won out so I wandered the short distance down the hill to the closest restaurant. Found the area bustling with so many people! Turns out it was the end of some sort of race with participants walking by with their numbers on and medals around their necks. I timed it well getting an outside seat at the cafe so I could watch the crowd and enjoy a very filling lunch.

Afterwords I found a popular bakery not far away, which has turned out to be my favorite place. Great bread, desserts of all kinds and even delicious cod cakes. I’m now a regular customer. Not that they need me as it’s always packed with customers. And yes, they have those wonderful pasteis de natas. Yum!

Monday morning I got to the clinic early as I wasn’t sure how fast I could get myself there. I no sooner checked in than a wonderful nurse called me in. She looked at both of my feet and with the help of google translate, declared the left foot on its way to healing, stating I just needed to put moisturizer on it. The right foot was a different story. The blister had made a large open wound. She cleansed it, put a healing patch on it, covered it with tape and then a mesh cover. Told me to keep it on my foot for 3 days and keep it dry. She scheduled me for a follow up check for Thursday morning. The visit cost me only 18 euros. Amazing.

So that’s what I’ve done. I did manage to walk another half km to a local grocery store, Pingo Doce, for some supplies to keep me going. Since then I’ve just read a lot, watched Netflix and amused myself finding a few shows on Portuguese TV. I have a small patio to sit out on, and a clothes line for my wash.

However, the past two days have seen the area covered in smoke. There are wildfires burning south of Porto in a number of areas due to the hot, dry, windy conditions. Portugal has been aided by other EU countries with additional firefighters and equipment. It may hamper Mandy and Karma’s hike up this way. They are taking it town by town.

Now I have just returned from my follow up visit to the clinic. A different nurse treated me, equally nice, and a fellow hiker! He cleaned and treated the right foot, which is healing but still with a ways to go. I have to leave the new patch on for 2 days. He wrote out what I needed to get at a pharmacy, which was most helpful. Turns out to be some sort of large treatment bandage. We’ll see how it goes.

On the good news side, the smoke is finally beginning to clear off, with some blue skies and the other side of the river visible. Rain is in the forecast, which is really good. Mandy and Karma are taking a zero day in Coimbra, waiting to see if they can get past the fire areas.

So I continue to wait and rest and hopefully heal. Not exactly how I expected this walk to go, but we’re making the best of it we can.