Day 8: 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 7: Ponteseco to Barizo Planning a 36km stage is always a risk – bad legs, bad weather, tougher terrain than expectedโฆ. 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 6: 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. Todayโs official stage to Laxe is only 15km, which is too short a stage…
Day 5: Camarinas to Camelle Itโs 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 4: 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 didnโt know I would get an armed escort for part of todayโs stage. The hostel didn’t serve breakfast, so I was on the road…
Day 3: 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 2: Fisterra to Lires Today I officially started the highly anticipated Camino dos Faros (Lighthouse Way), following yesterdayโs 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 1: 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 โOh Ceeโ, but her C sounded like a combination of C, S and X! There was…
Day 27: 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 26: 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 didnโt 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 25: 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 24: 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 โonlyโ 14…
Day 23: Pontevedra Thanks to yesterdayโs 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! Iโve spent hundreds of nights in hotels and…
Day 22: O’Porrino to Pontevedra Today was a very enjoyable and beautiful stage, clearly the best since I started the Camino Portugues back in February outside Lisbon. 39km from OโPorrino to Pontevedra, partly on backroads and partly on paths through forests (giving some shade) and following streams. And with three bigger climbs (and numerous smaller), many of them steep and…
Day 21: Valenca to OโPorrino After being woken by a group of 20 or so Americans ready to walk at 6.45, I showered, breakfasted, packed and was walking through a fairly desertedย Valenca by 9am, on my way to O’Pirrino, 21kms away. 30 mins later, after crossing the International bridge, it was 10.30, and now in Spain. The first time…