Walking the Camino in Portugal » greg http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal Judy and Greg walking through Portugal on the Camino Portugués Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:07:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1 Day 32 Padron to Santiago de Compostela! http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-32-padron-to-santiago-de-compostela/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-32-padron-to-santiago-de-compostela/#comments Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:33:50 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=664

Walking out of Padron

Less than 10km left!

Touching the South door of the Santiago Cathedral

Santiago Cathedral (click for larger version)

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Day 30 Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-30-pontevedra-to-caldas-de-reis/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-30-pontevedra-to-caldas-de-reis/#comments Thu, 31 May 2012 20:29:48 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=641 Continue reading ]]> 22km. It was a hot day 32C.  Judy woke up feeling unwell, maybe eating too much of some of that dodgy Tapas, however she soldiered on. We loaded up with extra water because it was going to be hot, and there was not much in the way of facilities between.

We crossed the bridge decorated with scallop shells and headed north. We spent the next few kilometres following the train line which is being upgraded to a high speed train line.  We spent some kilometres also walking through forest. We made it to San Amaro where we sat for an hour in the cool of the cafe to give Judy a chance to rest and recover.

The sun was hot when we left the cafe in the afternoon, and we went on to Barro, skipping the cafe this time. We did another 4 kilometres mostly in full sun, as there was no shade until be reached the N-550 where we stopped at a little cafe with nice shade, and a few other pilgrims resting as well. We had another cold drink, and then hit the road again walking through grape-vines, and passing the turn-off to another alberque a few kilometres out of Caldas de Reis.

2 km out of Caldas de Reis we found a feute (water fountain) topped up our water, and rested in the shade of a tree. We quickly covered the last 2km, spending 30 minutes wandering around looking for a hotel. We eventually got settled at the Davila (with  a hot spring out the front) at 7pm.

Bridge leaving Ponteverda with scallop shells

House wall covered in scallop shells

Special pilgrim shade (also called rail line)

walking under grape vines

Fence made of peices of granite. Posts supporting grape vines also made of granite

 

 

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Day 28 Porrino to Redondela http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-28-porrino-to-redondela/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-28-porrino-to-redondela/#comments Tue, 29 May 2012 19:44:37 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=610 Continue reading ]]> 15km We are still working on Poruguese time. We went to bed at 10pm, closed the blinds because it was still sunny outside. We managed to get up in time for the 9am breakfast.

We hit the road at 10am, knowing it was a short day. There are no hotels at Redondela, only an alberque, so we would have to stop 2km short at a pension.

It didn’t take long to get out of Porrino, and we were soon climbing up to Concello de Mos. A car pulled up and waved us over. The driver handed Judy a shell inscribed with the Camino and Mos the town. It was a kind gift. We stopped at the bar at Mos, to get morning tea an ice cream and coffee. There were 6 pilgrims just in the bar. We are on the last 100km to Santiago, so we think lots more spanish pilgrims have joined the Camino. In the first 2 weeks of the Camino from Lisbon we would have been lucky to see 6 pilgrims altogether.

It was then a steep climb out of Mos up the hill to Monte de Santiago de Antas. We passed a Roman road military marker, and then decended down again. We reached Vila da Infesta,and then descended down a very steep road, until we reached the valley floor. We met a pilgrim who we have bumped into several times over the last few days. She complained about how little sleep she got last night at the alberque at Porrino, because there were lots of people, and it was noisy.

It was then a detour through some raodworks until we found Pension Brasil 2, which was on the N-550 highway. Later we walked into Redondela, accidently found the Yoigo shop, and using google translate we managed to get a new sim card in out Yoigo dongle that we used on the Camino Frances in 2010

the lunch carrier

 

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Day 27 Valenca to Porrino http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-27-valenca-to-porrino/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-27-valenca-to-porrino/#comments Mon, 28 May 2012 17:37:56 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=585 Continue reading ]]> 21km. We slept late, and did not get on the road until 10:00am. Unfortunately that was 11:00am Spanish time, which we would soon be on.

We walked around the fortress of Valencia and then crossed the bridge out of Portugal and into Spain. We had been in Portugal for more than a month, and we enjoyed our time there. It was a warm day, and once we reached Tui on the Spanish side, it was a nice walk along the riverside pathway. Tui ia another fortress town like Valenca. Leaving town we walked along paths by the Rio Louro, passing (but not crossing) another roman bridge. We then crossed and recrossed a couple of freeways, with for a period a special pilgram walking lane at the side of the road.  It was then back to forest, with long stretches of mud, that because of the recent warm weather was easy to avoid, but could be much more difficult in wetter weather.

After a diversion of the camino we finally reached Orbenlie, where there was a cafe. We had our first Spanish bocadillo, a baquette sandwich, which we had with ham and cheese. We sat down with a German girl who was doing her first camino. She had spent the first 3 nights in Alberques and thought they were terrible. She couldn’t sleep, people got up so early and woke everyone else up. So she had stayed in a hostel and got her own room, and had finally had a decent nights sleep. Her German guide had no accomodation at Porrino other than the Albeque, and she wanted a room. She copied details from our Camino Portuguese guide which had three hotels in Parrino, including the one we stayed at Hotel Azul (which is on the camino route).

It then a hard slog through the industrial areas of Porrino. Several kilometres of straight road past factories dealing in the granite mined out of the surrounding hills. We followed the camino track in the grass that ran parrallel to the footpath. We crossed the railway line, and eventually made our hotel at 6pm.

on the bridge leaving portugal

the Minho River at the Portugues border (click for larger version)

special pilgram walkway next to the road

the long slog through the industrial area

walking the soft pilgrim path next to the hard footpath

 

 

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Day 25 Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-25-ponte-de-lima-to-rubiaes/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-25-ponte-de-lima-to-rubiaes/#comments Sat, 26 May 2012 14:30:21 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=559 Continue reading ]]> 16km Not a long day,but it involved climbing a 450 metre high hill. When we woke up it had rained, and was cloudy. The Pensao we stayed at did not provide breakfast, so it was of to the Pastalaria across the square for some pastries from breakfast. When we emerged it had stopped raining. We crossed the medieval bridge across the Rio Lima, and then past the albergue, and along muddy tracks until past Quinta Arquino. While we were wlking there was music playing from a hilltop above Ponta de Lima. The music must have been pretty loud because we could still hear it for 4 or 5 km as we climbed the hill.

We climbed slowly, past some of what seemed to be abandoned farms. We crossed the bridge  over the Rio Labruja, which had previously had a “falling down” bridge and which had been replaced with a new concrete bridge. Under the A-3 freeway, again with not many cars on it.Portugal must be one of the few places on the planet that built freeways before it had enough cars to fill them. We wnt through Revolta, but the cafe was closed. We passed Arcozelo and the hill got really steep. We certainly needed our walking poles to help us get up the hill. We got passed by a couple of camino cyclists pushing their mountain bikes up the hill.

We reached the cross near the summit, where there was a brass plaque commerating the death of a pilgrim who had died in a plane crash in Moree Australia. We reached the summit, which we recorded as 458 metres.

Then it was down, down, down towards Cabanas on dirt tracks, until we reach quiet roads, where we were passed by a Canadian pilgram who had also left from Lisbon (9 days after us). We reached the Residential at Sao Roque, where there were already pilgrims in residence. There was an Alberque up the road, but there were at least 8 pilgrims staying at the Residential. There was no Restaurant so at 7pm they ferried us up the road in several loads to a restaurant about 2km away, where we had a meal of …pork.

Medieval bridge at Ponte de Lima

Muddy paths out of Ponte de Lima

replacement bridge for the falling down bridge (right)

climbing the hill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 24 Casa do Rio to Ponte de Lima http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-24-casa-do-rio-to-ponte-de-lima/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-24-casa-do-rio-to-ponte-de-lima/#comments Fri, 25 May 2012 20:59:15 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=545 Continue reading ]]> 20km. Stage 2 of splitting the Barcelos to Ponte de Lima 33.6km stage into two parts. After a fabulous breakfast (see Judys post here), we left at a late 11am. The morning had started cool and misty, but no rain. We headed the 1km back to the Camino route from Casa do Rio (large map with directions here, detailed map here),

We met  a Swiss pilgrim who like us had started from Lisbon, except that he had started about ten days after us!

We walked on a lot of farm tracks, we passed the church at Vitorino do Plaes, but missed the turnoff to the cafe. We climbed up over a saddle and then dropped down into the Lima valley, getting a view of the 400m high hills we will be climbing tomorrow. We stopped at a cafe, then continued along a string of villages towards Ponte de Lima. We noted how many women drove tractors. South of Porto we had never seen a woman drive a tractor.

We followed the banks of the Lima River to arrive at Hotel Imperio de Minho to find it ws closed for renovations, the second hotel on this camino that we have found closed.

We looked for Pensao Beira Rio, but could find no sign or indication that anyone wanted guests. So on further to Pensao Sao Joao where we found a room and settled in. We went out later to a Pizzeria near the river, and walked back to the Pensoa in light rain, more of which is expected tomorrow.

Dry stone walls

Grape vines over the road

 

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Day 23 Barcelos to Casa do Rio http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-23-barcelos-to-casa-do-rio/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-23-barcelos-to-casa-do-rio/#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 21:38:42 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=519 Continue reading ]]> 17kms. After the traumas and exhaustion of 30km yesterday, we had an easy day today. The section from Barcelos to Ponte de Lima is 33.6km, much more than we want to walk in a day. So we split it into two, detouring 1km (see map) to Casas do Rio at Cossourado, near Sao Bento close to the half-way mark of the stage.

It was market day (every Thursday) in Barcelos so we spent time wandering around an enormous market, that had been set up in the town square. Everything from fruit and vegetables, to furniture, to clothes to handicrafts. We left at 11:00am, walking out in warm weather about 26C. We were passed by another pilgrim from Spain. We are meeting pilgrims everyday, when in the camino before Porto, we were lucky to see a pilgrim once a week. It was all quiet roads and farms tracks until we reached Portela, where we saw the new Alberque that has been built, and bought 3 litres of cold bottled water from a cafe (they gave us two glasses to drink it).  We crossed Ponte das Tauas, where we met a pilgrim from Amsterdam who (with his dog) has been on the road since last August (walking all the way from Amsterdam to the Camino Frances, and then backwards along the Camino Portuguese).

We then left the camino at San Bento to walk to Casas do Rio, which without doubt is the best place we have stayed at on the whole camino.

Directions from the Camino Portuguse (red) to Casas do Rio (green). It is 1 km (click for larger image)

Detailed map with directions to Casas do Rio (click for larger version)

Walking along farm tracks (click for larger version)

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Day 22 Vilarinho to Barcelos http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-22-vilarinho-to-barcelos/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-22-vilarinho-to-barcelos/#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 21:17:55 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=501 Continue reading ]]> 30 km. It was a long day that we could not avoid because we are behind schedule and cannot have too many short days. We were up early at the unprecendented time of 6:30am. The pilgrams in the other room had to eat breakfast in our room (we had the kitchen) and they wanted to eat at 7:00am. We were on the road by 7:45am. It was a short walk to the centre of Viarinho, where we found a pastalaria open, so we had a chance to have a bit of extra breakfast. Breakfast at the hostel was only coffee and biscuits.

We walked a kilometre up the road, which thankfully had a footpath, then left the main road for quiet country lanes. However we were soon back to the main road, with stone walls at the sides facing oncoming traffic. Greg donned the safety vest and his flashing headlight torch. It lasted about 1km and then we had a footpath, and left the main road again. We had forest paths most of the way to Sao Pedro de Rates, where we stopped at the local bar/cafe and had an icecream and drink. It was warm, and sunny, about 26C, and we enjoyed the shade under the umbrella. We left Sao Pedro de Rates and went through quiet dirt tracks through farming country.

As we approached Petra Furada we were forced back to N-306. This section of road had large signs warning drivers to be aware of pilgrams walking on the road. However it was narrow again with stone walls either side, and we were forced to walk on the road. On the first corner we faced a semi-trailer and several cars behind it (who could not see us), and we squeezed ourselves against the stone wall while the truck and cars went past. This section was probably 1km long, but half-way along, while a tractor was travelling the same way as us on the other side of the road, a hoon in an Audi overtook the tractor at high speed squeezing between us and the tractor missing us by centimetres.

When we reached the end of the road, Judy was all for us taking a taxi the rest of the way to Barcelos, she thought it was just too dangerous. We stopped at the Restaurnt at Petra Furada where the proprieter, who has been trying to improve safety for pilgrims, convinced us that the road ahead was much better, and that if we took a scenic detour (over a large hill) it would be a quiet walk into Barcelos.

We took up his suggestion and climbed up 290m to Capela de Sta da Franqueira along a quiet tree-lined shady road. We had great views of the Atalantic ocean from the summit.

We decended down from summit to walk though the suburbs of Barcelos, over the bridge, and along to our hotel. We were pretty exhausted for the day. However we managed to both limp about 800metres to a nice restaurant that did not have any other customers, but provided a nice meal of veal stroganoff (no pork involved).

 

Greg in his road walking safety gear

Walking up to the summit at Capela de Stada Franqueira (click for larger version)

 

 

 

 

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Day 21 Porto to Vilarinho http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-21-porto-to-vilarinho/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/day-21-porto-to-vilarinho/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 18:38:01 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=492 Continue reading ]]> 26km. A really horrible day’s walking, probably our worst of either Camino. The first half was spent walking through Porto’s northern suburbs on cobblestone paths and roads.It’s very well-marked, but on the N13, a busy major road. At the 10km mark at Araujot, the camino route used to  leave and go on a smaller road, but pilgrims used to have to cross  dual carriageway with a central barrier dividing the road! Yikes! The new alternate route goes along the busier N13, and requires no death-defying road-crossing feats. Those come later in the day for everyone regardless of which route they take at Araujo.

We did a total of 20kms on cobblestones, then the remainding 6km on sealed roads, through the villages of Mosteiro, Vilar, Giao and finally to our destination, Vilarinho. We had been somewhat unexcited about staying at Vilarinho as our guidebook listed a pilgrim alburgue as the only accommodation. The thought of sharing a room with up to 15 other people, at least one of whom snores, sleeping in bunk beds and being woken by the endless rattle of plastic bags at 5am just isn’t our idea of what a camino is all about, so we were delighted to meet a gentleman at Mosteiro who told us about his ‘hostel’ in Vilarinho. It’s actually a self-contained unit at the back of his house with space for up to 4 people. There is a double bedroom, kitchen-loungeroom with another double bed and a shared bathroom. 10 euros per person including breakfast, and there are also washing and drying facilities.

So we were pretty happy about finding some nice accommodation, and after the horrors of the last 4km of the day, we needed it! We had to walk on a road that was barely 2 lanes wide, with absolutely no margin at all. Stone walls on either side, fairly busy road that we had to keep on crossing to avoid meeting oncoming traffic on blind corners. I’m amazed that the camino route hasn’t been changed to quieter, safer roads – if today had been my first day of walking a camino, it might also have been my last – really scary walking conditions.

Scary road no room stuck between two stone walls. Trucks semis and cars speeding along this road

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Rest day Porto http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/rest-day-porto/ http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/rest-day-porto/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 21:33:27 +0000 http://www.gregspurgin.com/walking-the-camino-in-portugal/?p=485 Another cold cloudy day in Porto, but we got to see some more of the city.

Stairs at Lello bookshop

 

Narrow lanes down near the waterfront

Eiffel's bridge

 

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