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…
We’re off to Portugal on Wednesday for our next pilgrimage adventure. Rich and I are walking the Lisbon to Porto section of the Portuguese Central route to Santiago as a “30th anniversary Camino” or caminho, as it is spelled in Portuguese. My left foot snuck into my photo (in the uncropped version) as if…