Tuesday 12th April

10 km (316 km)

Today was a short hop, mostly through small villages and some forest. Luckily it was a short day as the rain was relentless and the heavens opened just as we were approaching Barcelos. We arrived at 10 am and were pleasantly surprised that our apartment at Casa da Ana was available at such an early hour.

I have spent the day sight seeing and visiting towers and churches. There are many cockerel statues around the town, the cockerel now synonymous with Portugal. The story behind this is ‘The Legend of the Cockerel’

The Legend of the Cockerel

The story goes that passing through Barcelos on his way to Santiago (of course!) a pilgrim was wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to be hung. He requested to meet the judge, who was having lunch at the time and declared as proof of his innocence that the roast chicken on the judge’s table would come to life as he was hung. And so it did. The judge, realising his mistake, rushed to the pilgrim who had miraculously survived the hanging (!). The pilgrim was freed and later returned to Barcelos and carved the stone cross with an image of the cockerel and Santiago now in the outdoor archaeological museum (see photos below)