Done! We arrived this morning at 10 am, among the first 200 pilgrims. Looking forward to going home tomorrow! 310 km (192 miles) from Oviedo. (Tristan says he is glad he did not look at the km markings at the beginning!) Tonight we sleep in a private room, alone, after 13 days of hostels. No…
We’re 10km from Santiago Yesterday our path joined with the French Way. The separate Camino Primitivo way is over. It was a somewhat tedious 20km to Melide where we joined the hordes of other pilgrims. I really disliked the place we stayed the night before- one of the worst hostels, not because the owners…
A Party in Lugo We arrived to the beautiful UNESCO heritage site of the walled city of Lugo to find the old city teaming with cultural celebrations for the National Day of Spain. What luck to hit another festival! We don’t really have great photos. I didn’t want to be rude about photographing…
A Brutal Goodbye to the Mountains I couldn’t get any image to upload yesterday, so here is the belated report. Actually, the day just needs to be forgotten. Two near-vertical extended ascents left me completely drained. We had hoped to walk 28 km but had to stop at 20 and spent the evening…
Woah, we’re halfway there, Woah-oh, livin’ on a prayer Unbelievable skies awaited us this morning. This Camino is so beautiful. It’s also so, so tough. The morning started with a 7km climb to El Acebo peak, the dividing boundary with Galicia. We have officially left Asturias behind! We have very…
A Pyrenean Descent We left a lovely family-run hostel in the village of La Mesa at about 7:30 a.m. into dense fog. It was super cool. We could hear the whomp-whomp of wind turbines as we passed underneath but couldn’t see them at all. Fellow pilgrim Aija from Latvia took…
Los Hospitales route exceeds expectations! Yesterday we did the iconic Camino Primitivo stage “Los Hospitales”, named for the ruins of 3 pilgrim hospitals located atop the mountain ridge tops. The threatening rain had disappeared from our forecast and we lucked out with another gorgeous sunny day. The climb up to the top of the mountains…
Gorgeous day Early departure this Tuesday morning to make up for yesterday. Tristan was pack-less so he was leaving me in the dust. Again, we started the day with a big climb but this time it was more gradual and with stunning views of the mountains. A very odoriferous day. These Asturian cattle are…
Day 3, the day your body says ‘Hey!’ Day 3 is always one of the worst Camino days, when your body questions what was wrong with having a vacation at the beach. We had a hard time getting going. Tristan’s entire body was sore and we made very slow progress until about 1:30…
Early Bedtime It’s not even 7:30 pm and Tristan is in bed asleep and I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open too. We had a good day. We started before dawn with a big climb out of Grado. We passed through country that was lushly green, with sheep, horses and cows, cute…
On our way from Oviedo We walked 25km today (15.5 miles). Met a nice group of German, Spanish and New Zealand pilgrims. The day started beautifully but turned to misty rain. No matter, we are supposed to have beautiful weather from here. We’re in a very nice pilgrim hostel in Grado. Our hosts…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I got a bit lazy… I got a bit tired to post all the days, especially towards the end of the trip. Honestly, a number of days I went to bed not knowing if my feet would take the walking the next day. But the kilometers got shorter and I reaffirmed my determination to walk…
We made it! Just a quick post now and then I’ll write about our last few days. Time for some R&R. Especially for my feet…
To Paradise Yesterday was another long day because I booked at a hostel in “Paradise”, at a former watermill. The water was freezing which is great for pilgrim feet. Rich and I admired the great rock schist around too, although that proved a bit complicated to explain to our German host. Yep. Lots of pilgrims…
Onward from Coimbra We headed out very early from Coimbra due to expected afternoon temperatures of 87. It was reminiscent of our early morning departures on the Camino Frances, but no headlamps needed. We have been left behind by our old crowd of pilgrims due to the extra day in Coimbra. No worries! We have…
Conímbriga and Coimbra It’s been a bit tough but we made it to Coimbra and our rest day. We spent the previous night in a beautiful modern hostel in the backyard of a suburban home near the Roman ruins of Conímbriga. Coming out of the town of Alvorge that morning a little…
Miserable distances Well, if I had a chance to go back in time I would advise myself to start in Tomar and skip all the stages out from Lisbon. The previous 3 stages were absurdly long, repeatedly over 30km (20 miles). We made it into Tomar (really cool hostel) but we were so exhausted we…
Golegã – 34km, too many Today we passed some pilgrim graffiti that really struck a chord – “My feet hurt, my shoulders are wasted…” It was written on a wall in the middle of a corn field. Lots of vineyards and corn fields and mud. We got caught in rain so the ponchos made an appearance…
Valada and Santarém Yesterday we got off to an early start at about 6:45. It’s a good thing too because we ended up with a 33km walk and a bit too much sun. There were some nice sections of the walk with amazing birds (storks) and some really ugly sections. In Azambuja…
Vila Franca de Xira The home of Portuguese bull fighting, V.F. de Xira is a very nice town on left bank of the Tejo River. Below we are hanging out at a cafe in the town park. We had an inauspicious start to the day. We went to the train station and realized we…
Out of Lisbon Ai, ai, ai! My feet! ~17 miles today has gotten us up the Tejo estuary a way. An interesting day, but rather too long. We walked out of the historic district through the Alfama district with its twisted little streets. Eventually finding the river again after much tromping and traffic avoidance. There…