Steven – Page 9 – Following your feet

Day 45: Alassio to Andora/Finale Ligure to Spotorno

The Italian wall of fame, miniature cakes and new baked biscuits in the middle of nowhere. A sunny day, walking 28kms and an ascent of 890m. On day 6 I finished walking in Andora, but started day 7 in Alassio (where we are were staying). Today I walked the 12kms from Alassio to Andora, whereafter…

Day 44: Alassio to Finale Ligure

Today I could really feel the breath of history underfoot during the 30km with 794m ascent walk to Finale Ligure. Yesterday I finished in Andora and spent the night ca. 10km further along the trail outside Alassio. So today I started just 50m from where we were staying, and will walk the missing kilometers between…

Day 43: Torrazza to Andora

A long day with long climbs, closed churches, wet feet and a black pizza. After a good nights sleep and fine breakfast, I left Lene in Torrazza and set off down the hill from the village, passing the villages other church (even the smallest village seems to have two churches) and crossing the Prino River…

Day 42: San Remo to Torrazza

Today I suffered for my breakfast choice, found a packed church at 11am on a Monday, got wet feet despite no rain, walked through 5 hill top villages and missed Lene by 200m. All in all, a pleasant days walking in primarily cloudy conditions, no rain, 32km and 1080m ascent. I had taken a croissant for…

Day 41: Menton to San Remo

My first day walking in Italy, and a missed opportunity which could have made a not particularly inspiring walk more interesting! In France I was walking the GR653A, also known as Via Aurelia, whilst in Italy, the path continues as the Via della Costa. It will be interesting to see the difference – if any.…

Day 39: Laghet to Menton

Nostalgic in Menton, great views over the rich and famous in Monaco and Cap-Martin and rain. Today we said goodbye to Maggie and Göran and their fantastic hospitality over the past six days. Lene drove me to Laghet and the Sanctuaire Notre Dame de Laghet. Today’s destination was Menton, on the border between France and…

Day 38: Gattiers, La Manda Bridge to Laghet

Another beautiful day for walking. Yet another day over 1.000m in ascent (1040m) and an achievable distance of 25kms despite the ups and downs. As with day 1, I had decided to take this leg in reverse, so Lene drove me to the Sanctuarie Notre-Dame de Laghet, in the mountains between Nice and Monaco. There…

Day 37: Roquefort to Gattiers, La Manda

We were staying with our Swedish friends, Maggie and Göran, from our time in France – our first return to the Cote d’Azur since 2014. After a good breakfast, Maggie, Göran, Lene and I drove to the La Manda bridge in Gattiers, walking this stage in reverse. It was a glorious day for walking. We…

Day 36: Barizo to Malpica (and home)

My last walking day. The reason for the marathon 38km stage yesterday was that I need to be in Malpica by 13.00 to catch a bus. The owner of the pension that I stayed at yesterday told me it would only take 2 hours and it was flat all the way. With 350m elevation over…

Day 35: Ponteseco to Barizo

Planning a 36km stage is always a risk – bad legs, bad weather, tougher terrain than expected…. Doing 36 km should really be a decision one makes on the day. But given I book hotels ahead, I am stuck with the decisions I made back when I planned the walk. And behind a desk, I’m…

Day 34: Camelle to Ponteceso

Another early rise in advance of another long day. I left Camelle as the church bells rang for 8.00, 15 minutes before sunrise. It was still a bit dark. The early start was due to an administrative error on my side. Today’s official stage to Laxe is only 15km, which is too short a stage…

Day 33: Camarinas to Camelle

It’s days like today, that are the reason I walk. All the hours one spends walking through industrial areas, big cities, small town suburbs or along busy roads. Or the fact that I thought olive oil was honey and poured it on my only slice of bread today, or that I again had to scramble…

Day 32: Muxia to Camarinas

I wonder if Jonas Vingegaard wakes up thinking that he has bad legs today, or it happens whilst cycling. I woke up this morning and knew I had bad legs, but didn’t know I would get an armed escort for part of today’s stage. The hostel didn’t serve breakfast, so I was on the road…

Day 31: Lires to Muxia

Today was a day of 3 parts, split into morning, afternoon and evening – two were enjoyable, the third certainly wasn’t. The weather forecast said 100% chance of heavy rain today, so I had to decide whether to take the 15km “easy route” to Muxia, mostly inland, that is followed by most pilgrims when walking…

Day 30: Fisterra to Lires

Today I officially started the highly anticipated Camino dos Faros (Lighthouse Way), following yesterday’s warm-up from Cee. I was up to see the sun rise, before an excellent breakfast (first served at 9am), so I wasn’t on my way until 9.45. It was only going to be 24km, so I would have plenty of time…

Day 29: Cee to Fisterra

I was up early. After breakfast, I walked a couple of kilometers to the bus station and asked for a ticket to Cee on the 9.00 bus. The lady behind the counter looked at me blankly and then said “Oh Cee”, but her C sounded like a combination of C, S and X! There was…

Rest Day: Santiago de Compostela

It’s taken me 26 days to get from outside Lisbon to Santiago, taking deviations to Fatima, then the Camino Carmelita north of Fatima and the Spiritual Variant from Pontevedra. I took 3 days off in Tomar, Fatima and Pontevedra, which together with Coimbra are all towns I would highly recommend. Whilst it’s been very enjoyable,…

Day 28: Vilanova de Arousa to Santiago de Compostela

Today I would reach the goal for the first part of my walk, Santiago de Compostela. Of course things didn’t go exactly as planned. As I wrote yesterday, the boat I was due to take at 7.30am from Vilanova de Arousa was cancelled. The next boat. at 10am, was then further delayed by 30 mins,…

Day 27: Armenteira to Vilanova de Arousa

This is a stunning stage following the Ruta de la Piedra y del Agua (The stone and water route) passing 51 ancient mills and cascades, before turning west at Pontearnelas towards Vilanova de Arousa, my destination for today. Apart from the downhill from an altitude of 300m in Armenteira, it was a relatively flat day.…

Day 26: Pontevedra to Armenteira

Another beautiful days walking, this time with a couple of climbs, the second of which was 430m over ca. 4km. In addition I visited two beautiful monasteries. A short stage, 20kms plus 3 more to get to the place I am sleeping tonight. I left Pontevedra at 9am, wearing a jumper. It was ‘only’ 14…

Rest Day: Pontevedra

Thanks to yesterday’s double stage, I had a day off today. It was just as well, the inhabitants of a neighboring room decided to have an hour long argument at 2.30 am (it may have lasted longer, but at least I fell asleep). They started again 7.00! I’ve spent hundreds of nights in hotels and…