From Mealhada to Agueda

Today I encountered the friendliness of the Portuguese people. When I am  walking on my own, sometimes I am not that confident, being in a foreign country and not speaking their language. Today was such a day and the language barrier didn't help. But I needn't have worried. The Portuguese bar servers are there to help and are eager to please and even other custumers of the bars help where misunderstandings occur. Today was a very hot day so I had a number of stops for coffee along the way. Lots of acts of kindness to me during the day. One lady, in a bar, treated me like royalty, all for 1.80 euro for a coffee and pastry, sitting me at a table and bringing me my coffee. She stamped my Pilgrim passport before I left, and put he arms around me and gave me a big hug. I felt very emotional as I left. Later on that day I was greeted by a number of women who wished me well on my travels.
Later on, my walk took me through a forest, which was very relaxing. That is until a pack of dogs cut across my path. One of them stopped and looked at me, and barked, either to say hello or a warning. But I never saw them again.