Downshift Musings

We made it, again

Another pilgrimage is complete. We arrived before noon after an early start (mostly due to being woken at 4 am by some Portuguese hostel companions who thought they were departing quietly.

I have a lot to write about the previous 3 days that we spent on the spiritual variant, but last night and today were special because we walked with an Israeli pilgrim named David. I will never forget the experience of my life intersecting with his, even if it was for less than 24 hours. What amazing sharing of life we experienced. This is the “why” of the Camino. I spoke with him for hours yesterday while we rested our feet in a pool and then all morning today.

Last night we had a communal meal and had some really interesting conversations with some Portuguese pilgrims too, a lot of conversation about real estate and the impact of foreigners buying up Portuguese homes. We also met an Asian-American actress named Christine from California.

Now, we just finished up laundry chores, a street musician is playing outside our window, and we’re going to head to Pilgrim mass in the cathedral. Tomorrow we start the 5 day Camino Finisterre out to the cape.

Green Galicia

The last 3 days we’ve been continuing on the Roman road towards Pontevedra. The route has been gorgeous, with green woodland tracks, bubbly mountain-fed streams full of trout. We’ve also been up and down some hills, with a super steep descent yesterday into Redondela.

Since Tuí on the Spanish border we have been within 100km of Santiago. This means we’ve been joined by the short-distance pilgrims and the path is getting particularly crowded. 100 km is the minimum distance a pilgrim can walk to earn the certification of having fulfilled the pilgrimage. We’ve also seen some of our acquaintances hurry on ahead in order to make flights home. Rich and I are doing the opposite. We’ll take the spiritual variant route and add an extra day to Santiago.

Twice we’ve encountered bagpipers busking in the woods.

Redondela was a nice town last night. We walked down to the river estuary. It was also the first night staying in a parochial hostel this Camino. We had a Pope watching over us and a massive Santiago rosary on the wall.

Photos from today (memorial day):

Marching with the Romans

We’ve been tracking more and more with the Roman road and bridges as we head to Tuí and the Spanish border. Gorgeous wooded paths and rural villages on our way.

We had a pretty disappointing lunch by the cathedral so we went to the local supermarket and bought some simple foods to make a dinner.

Big climb

Up through the Portela (pass) today. This is the most significant climb of the entire Caminho Portuguese. Of course it’s nothing compare to climbing over the Pyrenees on the first day of the Camino Frances.

Quiet day in Ponte de Lima

We didn’t do too much once we got to town. We wandered in circles quite a few times looking for reasonable food and to see what there was to see, which really wasn’t much. We were in more of a pension (rented rooms) which was on a nice street in the town. We shared the place with a father and son from the Netherlands.

To Fernanda’s house

The destination this day was the Casa da Fernanda, where every pilgrim covets the chance to experience Fernanda’s famous hospitality. I reserved our spots in February and arranged all the distances around this opportunity.
We had a rainy morning, but a short 14 kms or so.

Dinner was fabulous, multiple courses, more wine, port, some of the strongest grappa I’ve ever tried. There were more than a few tipsy pilgrims.

Beautiful day, beautiful way

Well I guess I’ve got time to double post today since we are at a laundromat washing clothes. Today we entered really beautiful country, getting well beyond the city environs of Porto. We only had about 16km to walk today, which was good because my legs are stiffening up. No blisters so far!

A word about our fellow pilgrims. There’s a great bunch of people traveling along with us. We haven’t met any Americans since we left the coastal route, but I’m not complaining. I think the biggest group is German and then we have some Brits, Irish, Danish, Dutch, Slovenia, Canadian, Brazilian, and Korean. We certainly had quite the party last night with the singing. I know that will remain one of my fondest memories.

Our lodging today is a hotel. I am looking forward to a peaceful night… the hostels have their downsides such as climbing into your bunk in the dark because the majority of your dormitory went to bed at 8! Or the pilgrims departing at 5 am that aren’t so very quiet. So we took advantage to have a nice nap in our private room after a fabulous lunch. Sleep, so blessed.

Tomorrow we have 20 km to Casa Da Fernanda hostel. Fernanda is famous for her hospitality (and wine from what I gather). Looking forward to it.

Leaving the coast for the Central Route

Yesterday, Sunday we continued up the coast for about 9 km before heading inland to join the Central caminho route. It was a day full of archaeological side notes. The route back inland was a bit tedious and often dangerous with busy roads and no shoulder. After about 24km we arrived at the first pilgrim hostel in Portugal (of the modern era that is).

Our hostel host José made soup for dinner along with contributions. We crowded into the kitchen to eat and share fellowship. There was a strong German contingent today. Editing on my phone is proving very challenging and we’ve been exhausted so I’ll be a bit behind on posting.

Nerds on the march

We’re on our way! With a 6:30 a.m. start we easily reached our destination of the São Tiago pilgrim hostel in Labruge (a distance of 24 km). We took the obligatory starting photos outside the Lost Inn hostel in Porto, complete with the “new shoe” photo at the first way marker. Porto was at its most beautiful with all of the tourists still in bed as we followed the Douro river west to its mouth.

We’re walking an alternative route out of Porto for the first 2 days, out to the coast and along the “senda litoral” beach boardwalks. So far it’s been very pleasant. The beaches are predominantly deserted except for one surfing beach near the port in Matosinhos. Rich is enjoying the sound of the crashing surf and I am enjoying the breeze. It’s been mixed weather today. Mostly cloudy with occasional sprinkles.

As to the actual pilgrimage…Already this route is so much better than last year. There are many, many pilgrims from all over and there is much more community and infrastructure to support the pilgrims. Tonight we are in a public hostel with folks from all over, enjoying (?) the communal showers and praying that our hand washed laundry will dry. I brought little Texas trinkets to give away and already gave 3 to some children from Germany (13 years and under) walking with their parents. They walked 20km themselves today! This is the fun part of sharing the journey with others.

Of course I forgot a few things about these public hostels too. I went to shower and there was very little place to put everything in the shower stall and after I had gotten completely wet and clean I realized I hadn’t brought my travel towel to the shower room. I had to use a shirt as a towel and then I realized I had used my only clean shirt as my towel. Oh well, I ended up dressed but very damp.

Adding in a few photos from yesterday after we landed. We climbed the Clérigos tower which is NOT for the claustrophobic at all!