Camino Portuguese Central 2018
Further Adventures on the Iberian Peninsula
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I am just setting up this page in preparation for a short Camino trek from Porto in Portugal, accross the border into Spain and up to Santiago, about 240kms. I am planning to do this trip in just 8 days. Doing this walk in 8 days will not be easy, there are many mountains to cross and we will need to average 30kms per day. It looks like quite a challenge and I have been busy getting myself back in shape by walking the country lanes of the Frome Valley and occasionally in the Malvern Hills.
For this trip I will be joined by three of my sons (who I only asked as a joke!) and my Dutch friend Bauke who I met on the Camino last year. Bauke is walking the Camino del Norte (the Northern Route) to Santiago, 826kms before catching the bus down to Porto in time to join us. He should be fit enough to complete the Camino Portuguese. The boys are relying on their natural athletic abilities to carry them through (which means that they really haven't done much preparation!).
I am sure this will prove to be a very different Camino.
We fly out to Porto on 2nd September 2018 and start walking the following day.
2nd September
I'm sure that flying Ryanair is a more painful experience than walking the camino. After an uneventful trip to the airport in Austyn's car which clearly needs an air conditioning upgrade we got to the airport in plenty of time, got food, drunk beer (not Lloyds first, second or even third one of the day). The flight was called long before the plane even arrived and we stood in the queue for ages before being allowed on the aircraft. I can't wait to get out on the road.
Lloyd bought a book at the airport despite my advice to download one on his phone. A brief history of Germany, no points for guessing the nationality of his latest lady friend. He adds the unnecessary book to the huge camera he packed (he does have a camera phone as well, no wait make that 2 camera phones) and a block of wood that holds one of his phones for him to watch movies on???
Bauke took the bus down from Santiago to Porto this afternoon and is walking from the Cathedral to the airport hostel later on today. He already finished his 826km camino del Norte (Northern route) so the next 8 days should be easy for him.
240kms to go
3rd September
The airport hostel was nice, we had the challenge of making our beds in the dark. It was a 6 bed room, Bauke was already there and sound asleep along with a Polish man who left at 4am to catch his flight. I bagged the remaining bottom bunk whilst the boys were outside having a smoke. I didn't get much sleep.
We set off into a warm but misty morning. We walked mainly on main roads, often with no pavements. It was quite dangerous at times and we had at least one very near miss with a van which made no attempt to avoid us. I later found out that many people in our hostel who started from Porto took a train most of the way to avoid the roads. We only passed a few other pilgrims on the way and ended up in Rates in a Municipal hostel after about 26.5kms. We were planning to go further but phoned ahead and discovered that the hostel was already fully booked.
The boys did well today, not as bad as I thought. They are now seeing how many bottles of beer they can consume between them.
I was trying to explain that I live in a rural area to a German lady and she asked me if I had sheep I think she meant generally in Herefordshire rather than me personally as when I told her that yes i have 5 sheep she was a bit surprised and an international group subsequently convened to discuss sheep. Nathan was later asked if he was the son of the sheep man. It's not the best nickname I've ever had but Nathan seemed amused by it.
213.5kms to go
4th September
Lloyd made an amazing recovery from his hangover today going on ahead and leading the way for most of the day. Nathan and Austyn have blisters, so do I. I showed them how to sort them out with a needle and thread but they both declined to try it themselves.
The trail today was a mixture of dusty dirt tracks, cobble stone roads which are very popular here and hard to walk on and tarmac main roads. We walked through eucalyptus forests and past fields of maize eventually reaching the town of Barcelos where we stopped at a cafe.
The remaining 9kms to the hostel in Tamel concluded with about a 5kms ascent up to 120metres. The hostel is right at the top and tomorrow we head all the way back down again to Ponte de Lima.
The hostels here are few compared to last year so we have had to stay in Municipal hostels. So far they have been ok with rooms of 10 and 12 beds but no washing machines. But for €5 a night they are good value and tonight's hostel even has toilet seats so better than last night.
There are so many Germans here walking the camino even the Germans are fed up meeting each other. One German who joined us for dinner last night had taken the skin off his heels, I don't think we will see him again.
186.5 kms to go
5th September
Last nights hilarity started with Baukes squeaky bed which he tried in vain to fix and ended with a large Australian lady warning us about her snoring. I thought an older German man would have heart failure he was laughing so much, especially when Bauke told his wife (who was in the bed under him) that she had to lie still. Laughter is infectious, before long everyone was laughing, young and old, it was just so funny. The Australian lady also told us that she would be up at 4:30am as it takes her all day to walk 20kms.
Today we are planning to walk about 25kms. After this we will be increasing the distance each day until we reach Santiago. Each one of us has a battle with ourselves to fight as our bodies protest against what we're putting them through. All we can do is tend to our blisters and try and find the inner strength to keep going. I hope the boys can do this, it's not going to be easy.
It rained heavily over night with more thunder and lightning. I don't seem to be getting much sleep. This morning Lloyd was snoring so loud everyone woke up early. Also at 5am we discovered that everyone around here keeps a cockerel.
Lloyd and Nathan had walked ahead early on today and when we caught them up we found they had a small scruffy looking dog walking along with them. Apparently Lloyd had encouraged it to follow them. Lloyd then walked on again with Bauke and the rest of us were stuck with the dog for the next 20kms.
We just couldn't get rid of it, we even tried shutting it in a field but it got out. Austyn was getting so wound up by the situation blaming Lloyd and moaning so much that Nathan couldn't stop laughing. Of course that started me off and the more we laughed the more Austyn moaned about Lloyd and the dog and this cycle continued. Eventually we reached a cafe where Nathan predicted that Lloyd would be sat with a grin on his face because we still had the dog with us. Sure enough there was Lloyd grinning like a Cheshire Cat and despite Nathan's advice to ignore him Austyn moaned even more.
All the other pilgrims at the cafe had seen us with the dog and knew we wanted to get away from it. We decided to leave the cafe one at a time to see if that would work.
Bauke left, then Lloyd but when Austyn went the dog just followed him up the road, everyone watching was in hysterics.
We finally managed to lose the dog when a group of ladies decided to give it some attention just as we were entering our destination at Ponte de Lima.
A much nicer walk today through woods between hills. Mostly good paths but the Portugese seem to like using square cobbles for most of their minor roads which are very hard on the feet.
Nathan has booked a hotel room for him and Austyn tonight. They just can't face another night in bunk beds. There is also a major festival going on here this evening and they are planning to go to a rave on the beach by the riverside. We decided to try 34kms tomorrow with a 6.30 start so not sure how that's going to work out.
I expect that dog will be sitting on the hostel doorstep in the morning waiting for us.
160.5 kms to go
6th September
I keep asking myself the question 'what makes this journey a pilgrimage?' After all I'm surrounded by people who appear non religious. Lots of young people who are just here to travel and have a good time and may go on to travel to other places. Yet there is still something deeply spiritual about traveling together, meeting new people from different cultures, different ages and having a shared experience that brings us all together.
The immense physical challenge and the experience of living very simply carrying all you need on your back cleanses the soul from the confusing chaos of modern life. It's a kind of healing experience, I think that even the young people here can feel that at a deeper level even if they couldn't explain it that way.
Well today we are going for 34kms which will hopefully take us to Valenca on the Rio Minho, the river that forms the border with Spain.
We just have a 405 metre mountain to get over first!
We set out at 6:30, the sun came up at 7 so it was still quite dark. Really nice walks through forest trails of pine and eucalyptus trees and completely off the roads for the majority of the day. The boys did really well today and we're all waiting for me at the top of the mountain ahead of me when I got there. It was nice and warm with a cool breeze for most of the day but as we walked on into the afternoon the sun started to beat down on us and the last 12kms were extremely difficult.
When we reached our hostel it was yet another Municipal one this time with 32 beds per room, bunk beds pushed together so you are sleeping next to someone else. Nathan really wanted to quit and was looking at flights to Madrid but after some minor surgery on his blisters with a needle and thread and a bit of encouragement from everyone else he has agreed to keep going.
I was having a lie down on my bunk and ended up talking to a group of German and Dutch girls. They asked me about the boys and how I knew Bauke. After a while they offered to play a bit of a joke on them for me and I of course agreed. The plan was they would come outside and the boys, being boys, would start chatting to them and they would come to dinner with us. So I went outside with the others and sure enough the girls turned up and the boys started chatting to them. Then after a while one of them said. "Well actually your dad invited us to go out for dinner with you all". The look on the boys faces was priceless. We all went off to a restaurant and had a great evening. Nathan now wants to take me with him when he goes out on Saturday nights.
We are planning to walk about 32kms tomorrow and it's likely to get to 30 degrees so the plan is to go early.
126kms to go
7th September
Portugal is in the same time zone as the UK so today we will leave the Hostel at 6am, cross over the bridge into Spain and lose an hour. The sun rises just after 8 in Spanish time. Luckily Bauke has a head torch so hopefully we won't get lost in the dark.
Portugal was very similar to Spain, (i.e. most things are a bit dirty and broken) but with the added bonus of a language that no one can make sense of and only one type of beer.
Last night was the worst yet. It was too hot, there were way too many people in the room and the street lights shone in through the windows. Nathan was the first to grab his gear, abandon his bed and go downstairs to sleep in the common room. Austyn wasn't long in following, then I did the same.
We left just after 6, crossed over the bridge into the Spanish town of Tui in the dark. We walked through the hills, mostly woods and sometimes ron the roads or fairly good tracks. At one point we spotted 3 wild boar running across a field next to us. It got very hot again today, we walked as far as we could before stopping for lunch in the village of Mos. I had booked ahead in a private hostel so decided to go on ahead and walk the 6.5kms and try and get some good beds. I arrived after 3pm and was the first person there. Apparently this hostel got missed out of the German guide book so most people don't even know about it. The hostel has air conditioning, proper mattresses and pillows, wide spaces between the beds, nice big showers, laundry service and an attached bar, what more could we want? I bagged all the bottom bunks and after 4 nights of trying to sleep in Municipal hostels am hoping for a good nights sleep tonight.
Tomorrow we are heading for Pontevedra and stopping to spend the day on the beach. The walk is only 20kms and the lady who works at the hostel has booked us accommodation in the town so there is no rush.
87 kms to go
8th September
Not quite the day we had planned. We somehow managed to walk past the beach and eventually ended up in Pontevedra. Nice scenic path with views of the coast spoilt by the usual crowds of 100km walkers who are dropped off by bus to walk the nicest parts of the route before being picked up again at the edge of the town suburbs and returning to their hotels. Their tour guides tell them where to get their credentials stamped and I assume they claim their compostela certificate in Santiago. They are easily identified by their small backpacks. Some of the groups even have matching group backpacks.
Most of us have our blisters under control and with some daily attention and 600mg ibuprofen seem to be managing ok.
Nathan and Austyn have managed to overcome the difficulties they have faced and Austyn even suggested we try 37kms tomorrow.
Lloyds policy of walking in his training shoes and ignoring his blisters is starting to slow him down. His ankles have swollen up and he is clearly struggling having fallen behind a long way at the start of the day. Once again strong Spanish painkillers have helped him through.
We bumped into Mauritz the German man who had bad blisters on his heels who I said we would never see again. Actually we have seen him twice since. The first time was in Ponte de Lima when he had taken the bus there but he has walked all the way since. This evening he is sitting with us watching England vs Spain on the TV outside a bar. England are losing.
68 kms to go
9th September
Staying in the city centre has it benefits and also it's down sides. Those easy to reach bars and restaurants are still producing loud drunken revellers at 6am and have been all night.
I don't know what time the boys all got in last night. I think I heard the door close about 2am. We stayed in an apartment so no 10am curfew for them to worry about.
The end is now in sight, no more talk of giving up. Everyone finally believes in their ability to complete the challenge of walking to Santiago. They all now contribute to planning out our last few days. They're still a bit disorganised but this is mostly due to them staying out late and drinking every night.
Today we all agreed to try and walk 37 kms, 1 more than my personal best of 36 last year leaving earlier than usual at 6:30. We were a bit late starting but the boys were finally ready by 6.50 and all hung over.
Nice walking today through shady woodlands. We saw a big lizard sunning itself on the path. Thankfully we somehow managed to avoid the crowds today and there were some long quiet stretches of trail. We walked sometimes as a group, at others in twos and threes and in a single file stretched out in a long line.
We completed our 37kms in the ever increasing heat of the afternoon by about 3:45. We had low expectations of the local government hostel at Pontevesures but it's actually quite nice, fairly modern, has a washing machine and dryer - and not much seems broken!
I am just about at full fitness now although I'm limping a little bit. My little toe on my right foot looks like it's been smacked with a hammer. It's just a mess of blisters and split skin.
I think Nathan had hoped we would bump into the group of girls from the other night, Muriel, Carmen, Jenny & Veronica. Perhaps they will catch us up before we leave Santiago on Wednesday morning.
No more crazy distances. We have almost reached our destination, only...
28.6 kms to go
10th September
This morning we make our final walk into Santiago. It's a 260 metre ascent up, down to about 100 and then back up to 260 and into the city. Most of this walk has been through hills of this size. None of the wide open spaces that I walked through last year. The region of Galicia is certainly very green and hilly.
A few days back Nathan had given Bauke the nick name 'The Camino King', it seems to have stuck. Anyway I'm glad the Camino King finished his Camino de Norte first because he managed to scrounge a pair of walking poles for me which he brought down to Porto. They saved me at least once from smashing my face in on the rocks going up a mountain a few days ago when I caught my foot on a tree route.
Without poles I'm not sure I would have managed today. My toe is very painful and despite nice cool conditions it's been very hard going today.
We are all in good spirits, just a few more kms left. Plenty of joking around, I'm reminded at least twice a day that I promised to buy them some octopus to eat if they made it. Lloyd seems to be expecting a huge octopus the size of a table.
The boys are making fun of me because when we arrived at our accommodation the other day I had to phone the owner to let her know we were there. I was so tired I had dialled the number into my calculator app instead of the phone keypad.
We reached the 6.5km marker then after a cafe break ended up at a 7.5km marker on an alternative route. Austyn nearly gave up then and there!! He hasn't been moaning too much today, during the first few days Bauke said Austyn and Nathan were like the two old men on the muppet show. We eventually limped into the Cathedral square, our camino over.
We went to the cathedral office to collect our compostela certificates and because we were a group of 5 starting and finishing together we didn't have to queue but filled in a form, left our credentials with them and have to go back and collect the certificates later. Last time I queued for an hour and a half to get my certificate.
Nice to hear from Jenny from Germany on the guest book. I now have some major credibility with Nathan for finding all those lovely ladies to take with us for dinner. Bauke invited another nice German girl for dinner a few nights later but Nathan said it only made him a quarter the man I am because I found four! He wants me to go out with him on Saturday nights now and be his 'wingman'. I think I'll decline!
It's been a crazy 8 days, I think I need a while to process all that has happened. I will post a few final thoughts on our camino Portugese tomorrow.
0 kms to go
11th September
Final reflections
The only things left to do today to complete the pilgrimage are; go to Mass, visit the tomb of St James and give his statue the traditional pilgrim hug.
What has this pilgrimage really done for us? For me it's been good to spend some time with my three older boys and great to walk with Bauke once again.
There were a few moments out on the trail when time seemed to spiral backwards and it was as if we were still walking the French route together. Not that I had ever thought we could relive the past. I came for new adventures and to make new memories and that has definitely happened. I will certainly miss Bauke's company again now this walk is over.
Hopefully the camino has worked a bit of its magic on us all. After all we all need some of its healing power that we find in overcoming the things we tell ourselves can't be done. Walking from Porto to Santiago in 8 days with three boys who hadn't even prepared themselves was always going to be difficult. But we have proved that with a bit of determination and with friends around us we can achieve anything. They have certainly been well out of their comfort zone.
On the map we have travelled 240kms. My guide book says that there are an additional 20kms of gradients on the hills so we have actually walked 260kms, that's 161.5 miles an average of 20 miles per day! That's just over 6 marathons in 8 days. The answer to the big question of 'why do we do this?', putting ourselves through days of over 30kms when everyone else is plodding along doing 20 remains the same. Because we can.
In the Cathedral in Santiago I will have much to give thanks to God for; my own health and fitness (despite a toe that seems to be falling apart), old friends I can rely on, all the people I met along the way, family, and the chance to see my boys overcome some extreme challenges and do something extraordinary.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog please do leave a message in the 'guest book'.
Buen Camino
Steven
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