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…
May 13th was my first official Monday as a retired person, so I kicked it off by joining a hiking group that runs organized hikes around Austin every Monday and Friday mornings. My friend Mary Coppinger had told me about this group back in 2021 so I got her to hook me up with the…
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…
Celebrating 55 years of life and 30 years of marriage…
We arrived in Santiago de Compostela yesterday and successfully received our Compostela certificate from the pilgrim office. We’re done with hostels now (woo-hoo!) and have very nice rooms a few steps from the cathedral. We’ve crossed paths with pilgrim friends and already had a few goodbyes as everyone goes on their way…
We’ve arrived in O Pedrouzo. Tomorrow we’ll walk the final 19 km into Santiago. Today we self-medicated along the trail with ibuprofen and chocolate, making frequent stops to rest achy feet…
Welcome to Galicia! Saw this on a store front. So true!! Very fragrant and lots of brown squishy stuff…
Monday morning Mary and I set off in the dark for the descent from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. Tristan needed to opt for a taxi again. Even Mary was wearing her sandals since her big toe was too swollen for her hiking shoes. We did have a good day though. Here’s a few photos…
I haven’t had good enough internet to upload photos for a few days. We’re still here; still walking. On Sunday we made it to O Cebreiro, albeit by taxi. Tristan and Mary have been having some foot issues and the extreme uphill and unfavorable weather forecast led us to take a taxi. It…
We had just a beautiful atmosphere at the Cruz de Ferro yesterday morning. The sunrise was brilliant and the pilgrims respectful. A few km from the cross we encountered a very unique hostel and hospitaleiro Tomás. We stopped to play with his kitten Carbonita. Tristan offered to have Carbonita join our pilgrimage but it…
Our visit to Astorga was lovely. Mary and I took the bus to cut short what would have been a 31km day, but Tristan walked the whole way. Our hostess Patrícia and her son Gabriel at the hostel Só por Hoje (“Just for today”) were lovely and welcoming. We had a lively pilgrim dinner…
On our way from Villar de Mazarife to Astorga, Wednesday. We’re headed for those mountains…
We left later than we should have after a sleepless night. It turns out that having a hostel window that overlooks the main thoroughfare in old León makes for a noisy night. I also accidentally gave the baggage transport company that is handling Mary’s suitcase transfer the wrong pick up address. Whoops! That…