Day 1: Toulouse Airport to Muret A long first day, with a 7am flight from Copenhagen, leaving Toulouse airport by 10.30. The first five days follow the Garonne river from Toulouse towards its source in the Spanish Pyrenees. In total the river runs 529km with its mouth at the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux, I will be walking ca. 150km along…
Ribadeo to A Coruna – Conclusion/Hotel list My overall conclusion is that this is a fabulous walk. This is the ultimate alternative route on the Camino del Norte, staying on the coast after Ribadeo and joining the Camino Ingles in Ferrol for those wishing to walk to Santiago. The views are spectacular, the signage excellent, at least whilst still on the Ruta…
Day 23: Pontedeume to A Coruna My last day before flying home and the day I missed a turn and walked almost 2 kilometers before realising and having to walk back. Typical on my last day and typical on the hottest day so far. I slept well, and went to one of the four bars in the town square to eat…
Day 22: Valdovino to Pontedeume My legs were tired as I walked to the bar for breakfast, not a great sign with ca. 35km to walk, for the most part along roads passing through Ferrol, before joining the Camino Ingles and meeting other walkers. I left at around 9am, after the customary, coffee, toast and juice breakfast. It was pretty…
Day 21: San Andres de Teixdo to Valdovino For the very last time on this trip, I’m writing this waiting for my clothes to be washed and dried. It’s ca. 6pm, and I haven’t even reached this evenings hotel. Last night at the excellent Casa Rural in San Andres, I slept badly. No idea why, it was an excellent bed and it was…
Day 20: Ortigueira to San Andres de Teixdo Legend has it, that if you don’t visit the church at San Andres de Teixdo whilst alive, you will eventually do so after your death, as a tormented soul or as a reptile or insect. I didn’t want to take any chances so here I am, after passing the highest point of my walk to…
Day 19: O Vicedo to Ortigueira A day of two walking parts. A morning where I covered 20km in some of the most beautiful nature one can find (even more spectacular than the previous days if at all possible) and an afternoon where, after a very heavy lunch, I covered 12km of not so exciting road walking. I have read that…
Day 18: Celeiro to O Vicedo I’m running out of superlatives for this part of my walk along the coastline of the Cantabrian Sea. Anybody walking the Camino del Norte and wishing that they’d seen more of the coastline, should just continue straight on at Ribadeo instead of going inland. Another great day with view after view after view. Todays walk…
Day 17: San Cibrao to Celeiro Although the elements were against it being a great walk, today was fabulous. Today’s challenges started as soon as I was up – no breakfast, no bars along the way until 2km before my destination, 28km, 1.000m in ascent – it was constantly up and down – and finally at least 30 rain showers, non…
Day 16: Foz to San Cibrao Back at the laundry to wash my walking clothes. If you’ve read more than a couple of my posts, you know that it isn’t something I love doing, but it needs to be done. It helps that it is pouring down outside, so there would be little else to do anyway. I slept well, apart…
Day 15: Rinlo to Foz A song from my youth, “So Close Yet So Far Away” by the Strawbs came to mind today. I was less than 200m from today’s destination, Foz, but still had to walk 12kms to get there. After a very nice breakfast, served with a stunning 270 degree view of the coast and surrounding countryside, I…
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 14: 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…
Day 42: Løgstør to Aars Day 42, the last day of my Danish Pilgrimage that has taken me across much of Denmark since I started out walking from Helsingør to Hillerød nback in 2020. It’s been great to see Denmark on foot, visiting many places that I otherwise would never have come. My last day was a 28km walk following…
Day 41: Slettestrand to Løgstør After a terrible night following a potential food poisoning, I woke up feeling OK. I had a very light breakfast and set off first along the coast and then inland via Fjerritslev to Løgstør, 35 km. The first 6km were in the dunes along the coast, passing Svinkløv Hotel, renovated following a fire in 2016,…
Day 40: Hune to Slettestrand Today was going to be another long day – I recalled it was a 30km day, but actually it was 38km, and I didn’t get to the hotel until past 6pm. But it was a beautiful trip, as I hope the pictures below illustrate. It was also a day of a big surprise. As I…
Day 39: Bøglum to Hune I was the only person staying at the B&B, and replenished after a nice breakfast, I set off on what would be 30 km walk, initially through the countryside and later along fairly quiet roads on my way to Hune. It was a mostly sunny throughout the day and for the first many kilometers, the…
Day 38: Hirtshals to Børglum Seven months after the previous leg of my Danish pilgrimage, I start out on the final five legs that will take me along the west coast of Jutland from Hirtshals and back to Aars. I’d taken the Monday evening train from Copenhagen to Hirtshals, changing in Aalborg, arriving just before midnight. I managed to get…
Day 37: Byrsted to Aars Theoretically I would today complete my walk along the Ox road, Hærvejen, as with the 22km from Bysted to Aars, I will have walked from Frederikshavn in the north, to Padborg in the south. However, there is an arm of the Ox road to the west, from Hirtshals to Aars, which I need to walk…
Day 36: Aalborg to Byrsted Yet another 30km day, as I left Aalborg and walked south towards Aars. I left Aalborg passing the hospital and Zoo as well as the suburbs of Hasseris and Sofiendal, with great views towards Limfjorden. I passed Drastrup forest, which was fairly hilly, and also with nice views. I continued onwards to Svenstrup church and…
