Day 5: Puertas to Nueva A beautiful days walking in the sun, a dramatic nose bleed, inland beach and stone arch at the end of a gorge. I’m writing this sitting on a bench in the small town of Nueva. It’s late but warm, as it has been all day. I was on the road by 9.00 after a nice…
Day 4: San Vicente de la Barquera to Puertas Another great day walking. Beautiful sunny weather, but windy, so it didn’t feel too hot, but hot enough to walk in shorts and a t-shirt. After an early breakfast, I was leaving San Vicente by 8.30. When I arrived yesterday the town was packed, now Sunday morning, I only met a few young who had…
Day 3: Santillana del Mar to San Vicente de la Barquera It was a long day where I was off track to see Gaudi’s summer cottage and Santana helped me through the last 7 or so kms. A planned 33km with 800m elevation, ended up as 36kms and a couple of tired feet at the end of the day. To make it worse, the whole day…
Day 2: Boo de Pielagos to Santillana del Mar If it’s going to rain, it should rain on days like today, the next shortest stage, lots of industry and lots of road walking. That wasn’t the case – glorious sunshine all day. After breakfast I took the train to Mogro, as did 10 or so other pilgrims. I did not realise that Santander has…
Day 1: Santander to Boo de Pielagos The weather could have been better for a first day walking, a mix of pretty much everything – wind, rain, sun, cold and warm. But the walking was fantastic. It is difficult to understand that the majority of pilgrims walk through the outskirts of the city, all road and a mix of housing, commercial businesses…
Day 21: 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 20: 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 19: 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 18: 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 17: 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 16: 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 15: 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 13: 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 12: 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 11: 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 10: 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…
Day 9: 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…
Day 8: 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 O’Porrino 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 7: Valenca to O’Porrino 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 deserted 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…
Day 6: Seixas to Valenca After a good nights sleep and good breakfast overlooking the River Minho, I was walking again. The river is the border between Portugal and Spain, which I will be following, going east to the border town of Valenca, 24 kms. I left equally concerned about my foot and the heat. My foot felt better but…
