Day 12 and 13 on the Portuguese Camino and STATS

We made it to Santiago on Saturday October 1 - Here's an update from Friday Sept 30: We walked from Caldas De Reis to Padron - this day was approximately a 20 km day. We met two retired couples from Norway (2 brothers and their wives) and this was the highlight of our journey. It was a bad food day (outside of the morning croissant - that was delicious). We ordered a burger and chips for lunch - and the burger came raw - sent it back to the kitchen and it came back a little less raw - hard for us Canadian girls to eat, however, the chips were tasty. The weather was perfect for walking again, but the evening was cool and overcast. We toured the old Padron (took 5 minutes) and then tried to find an indoor restaurant (because it was cool outside). The one we choose turned out to be a disaster. It was a very salty, expensive Paella seafood dish with only 2 oyster and one scallop for a whopping 30 euros!!! They saw us and all the other pilgrims coming. Needless to say, we craved water all night long. The hotel (Chef Rivera) was nice and clean and quiet. Day 13 - our final trek to Santiago - it was a cool, brisk and misty morning. Much of the terrain today was varied - between walking in the woods, along the highway (for short periods) and through many towns and villages. We had a bit of an incline to summit before Santiago, but surprisingly it was a great walk into the city - the journey today was approximately 32 kms. As we arrived, the sun shone - like it was welcoming the pilgrims to the cathedral. First things first, we had lunch before we found our hotel - and were very selective about where we went. The lunch was superb - risotto and a mixta salada - so good. After a quick shower - we headed to find the cathedral. We dropped off our stamp books and arranged to pick up our certificates tomorrow morning. We met some of our fellow Peregrinos from our journey (Mark and Janine from Brisbane, NaLinda from Holland and recognized several others). We entered the Cathedral just as a church service was beginning and then after this, toured part of the cathedral (the rest we will do tomorrow). Next on our list, was to find a good place to have a supper and whom do we spot - but Robert and Rita from Holland. We all went out together for a relaxing and very enjoyable meal. We promised to stay in touch - Robert and Rita are planning to do a North American tour from May to October in 2017 and coming to Calgary too! Just for interest sake - our pilgrim from hotel to hotel was 287 kms (starting Sept 19 and ending today, October 1, 2016). However, our total step tally was 555,828 during the same time period - this is well surpassing the 287 km!!!!!. We had a total of 3 blisters between all of us, one lost hair brush and one lost pole tip. Everyone walked every step of the way. The weather was perfect for walking - we experienced no rain during our walks. We met and mingled with 27 different people, representing Holland, Norway, Australia, New Zeland, Demark, Maine US, Oregon and Seattle - US; Czec Republic and Portugal. And the wine and tarts were delicious!

Day 11 on the Portuguese Camino - the crowds are growing

Day 11 - It was a cool brisk morning - (you could see our breaths), as we started off this morning - no breakfast (even white toast would have been something) as we started this journey. The Camino today was busy, we met several pilgrims we have met along the way- and we glad to see them and reconnect. We shared stories as we walked. We met Carolyn (the daughter) and John (the father) - he was almost 80, walking on the camino. He was in amazing shape and walked the same pace we did. We had very interesting conversations with the both of them. Our trek today was mainly in the countryside, crops of corn, grapes and so forth, was the backdrop for today. We left right after 8 am today - it seemed darker than previous days. We walked with only one brief stop before we arrived at our destination of Caldras de Reis - approx 24 km today. This brings the total to 236 km - with roughly 45-50 km to go. Our hotel "Baneario Acuna" was a surprise to us - it was a spa type resort. We arrived around 1:00 pm so had the afternoon and evening to enjoy the facilities and tour the town. The temperature was about 28-30 degrees this afternoon - we were happy we walked so briskly in the morning when it was cooler. The pool was cool and refreshing, we enjoyed the swim. As we headed off to find our supper, we met Robert and Rita again (from Holland). They joined us for supper - what a great visit we had. It was interesting to hear their stories. We envied their ability to travel so freely and easily in Europe. We topped off the evening stopping at Tabernacle O'Muino to have a glass of wine by the river - a very unique entrance into this establishment - go under the stairs, past the cooler of meat and out into the patio. But the smells were very enticing - they served seafood - and it smelled delicious! Had we not eaten, we would have certainly eaten again - it smelled so, so good. We have only 2 more days of walking unti we reach our destination. It is hard to believe! And equally great is that we are still all friends - talking to each other. We have enjoyed learning about each other and from each other - what a great experience. Till tomorrow.

Day 10 - on the Portuguese Camino

Hola - well - we made it through the night at the hostel - occasionally through the night, there was a whole symphony of snoring happening, however, we managed to make it through and get some sleep. We had a stellar breakfast of white toast, tea and fresh figs, if nothing else, the figs were delicious. Crossing the major N550 proved to be the real test of speed. We all made it across but it is truly a miracle that no one has been killed trying to cross this highway to get back on the Camino trail. We decided to take an alternative route - a detour, that winded through the forest and along the river, over bridges, streams, along groves of chestnut trees. It was magical! We walked 18 km today bringing our total to 212 - and only 3 more walking days to go. It has gone far to fast! We arrived at Pontevedra at around 2, found our hotel, showered and then headed off to the "old town". We enjoyed a very delicious, homemade menu Del dia - the fish. Risotto, salad and pasta were so good, the lady tending us, also was the waitress, Cook and also entertained us quite well - with her animated sounds and gestures - we figured out what everything was a made great selections. We will rate her place on Trip Advisor - and would highly recommend it - all of this plus a glass of wine for only 8 euros! It was really good and made our evening. It is hard to get used to the late suppers that the Spanish are accustomed to, so we look for some place that is serving meals earlier in the evening. And this was a great find.

Day 9 - on the Portuguese Camino

Hola - Day 9 on the Portuguese Camino - have done about 194 km. The weather was overcast until about noon - very pleasant walking temperature. We had nice lunch in a bakery (trying to avoid bread, apparently not working). The bakery was called Panderia Cafeteria la Junquera in Redondela. The quiche was delicious warmed up and we spotted some tarts. The challenge was on to see if these matched or surpassed the ones from Portugual - NOT, they are not quite the same flakey crust and filling, however, they were tasty. Our journey today was about 24 km - so took us until 2 pm or so to get to the Hostel. For some of us, this is our first experience in a hostel - we have 23 other roommates in the same space. I am on the top bunk, we will see how this goes. We met Nalinda from Northern Holland, a lovely lady with an incredible story - I am sure she will write a book about it one day. The meals were included in the price of the hostel stay (21 euros). We really enjoyed having a mixta salada, lentil soup and fruit salad, just the right combination to make us feel less guilty about the bread we have been consuming. We will see how we fair with our abundant roommates and perhaps have a story to share tomorrow. I have spent several hours trying to figure out how to add pictures to the blog - if only I can meet someone that is younger, speaks English and knows about blogging and Google. Searching the website for help when you have spotting Wifi not only makes it difficult to get answers, but also tests ones patience, and we all know how patient I am! Well, till tomorrow buenas noches mes amigos!

Day 8 on the Camino - have done approximately 170 km already. Another georgeous day weather wise. We started at the Pilgrim store (opens at 7 am for us early risers) for a coffee/tea and quick bite, then past the Tui Cathedral and on the road again. There certainly is a difference between Portugal and Spain - in the way that the buildings are constructed, narrower streets, no cobblestones and the NO TARTS! We entered the countryside, took detours to avoid travelling along busy roadways. The pathways wound alongside streams and rivers. It is very picturesque - archways of trees hanging over our pathways through the forest, it almost seemed like pictures in some fairytale book. The countryfolk are very friendly and cheerful as we pass by, even the goat herder allowed us to take his picture. We found an off-route cafe and as we were enjoying our meal, who should walk up but Robert and Rita from Holland. We seem to be destined to frequently bump into each other. There are certainly more pilgrims on our journey as we are getting closer to Santiago. Tonight, we are staying at Porrino - an industrial city. Many of the streets in the downtown core are blocked off for some kind of festival. We decided to check it out. It was amazing to see a stage transformed from a semi truck to a 4 story stage - it was like what you would do with a transformer! We watched the live band perform - they were so energetic, both the women and the men had some great moves! The singers were great and many people were dancing to their music. The streets were full of families, bright lights and vendors. It was cool to be part of this. Tomorrow promises to be a hotter day at 28 degrees, hopefully we can get most of our 22+ km in when it is cooler. It is worth mentioning that the bread in Portugal and Spain is delicious, all of us have eaten more bread in one week than we have in months at home. However, because this bread is more chewy than what we have back home, we are certain we are burning off more calories as we eat it.

Day 7 Camino - last day in Portugal before we enter Spain. We were really happy to hear the cessation of raindrops during the night. After a light breakfast, we headed off into a foggy misty morning. We were delighted that the walking trails were surprisingly dry. The aroma of freshly baked lemon tarts lured us into this cafe with fortunately had a Supermercado and a clean washroom for Lynn (again). The tarts were freshly baked and did not disappoint - we also got the recipe (well the main ingredients). Our trek today took us through the countryside. The mystical fog added a neat perspective. We PASSED many familiar pilgrims today - a speedy bunch we were. As we entered Valenca we toured the historical fortress. Lot of shops and restaurants in there. The we entered Tui - we are now in Spain and have travelled 148km - pretty impressive, no injuries, however Shelley lost a foot...on the bottom of her pole, nothing that a wine cork could not fix. We toured the ancient Tui Cathedral - some similarities to the cathedral in Santiago. It was impressive. It was kinda of neat to reflect what happened in ancient times - with Portugal on one side and Spain on the other side separated by a River (Rio Minho). We ended our day after a light supper and some delicious Spanish wine. We are enjoying the beautiful scenery, the travels along the river and the comraderie between us. It is great! How fortunate we are to experience this together.

Day 6 - up the steep hills

Day 6 Portugal Camino - our day started off with a cool brisk walk through Ponte de Lima over the medieval bridge (rebuilt in 1368) over Rio Lima. It was quite beautiful as headed into the countryside we went. We saw a grape harvest in progress and were offered handfuls of grape clusters from a local vineyard. They were delicious - I call them Concord grapes as that is what they look and taste like, but they may be something else, nevertheless - they were good. Our trek today was very, very steep and quite the challenge over rocky terrain. We stopped several times along our ascent to catch our breath. It was a 450 meter incline. Interesting - many of the pine trees had plastic bags stapled to them. Two bags on most of the trees, one with liquid pine resin and the other with white, hard, sticky residue. Not sure who goes around collecting all of the this - as there were 100's of trees with these bags stapled to them. What a job that would be on this kind of terrain to go around collecting all of these bags. We met with several of new pilgrim friends along today's journey and reminisced about the night before and shared our experiences. We arrived at Repouso de Peregrino, just before Rubaies, in the early afternoon. The owner advertised free laundry so we took up her offer. We were all craving these delicious custard tarts with the buttery yet flaky crust, and were told that there was a Supermercado just 2 minutes from our hotel. So off we went - just about missed the grocery store, and it was no "super" mercado and had no tarts! You were not allowed behind the till to see the products and had to pay for the groceries on one side and then go out the door into another door to get some cool refreshments on the other side. We had a great picnic with our cheese, crackers, nuts and chips - stellar carb food (maybe not), but it was good. We spent the afternoon hanging up our clothes and then trying to catch them before the wind blew them off the line. We found if we placed the clothing basket just right, sometimes the wind would blow them into the basket rather than on the ground. Not enough clothes pins to go around. Our evening ended with a ride to another village for our supper meal. The hotel provided the van to transport us, and were whipped around the corners in the van built for 6 but had 9 passengers. The food was good. We were thankful for the ride back as the it is pouring rain outside. We are hopeful for a sunny day and dry weather tomorrow, either way, we have clean fresh clothes!

Picture perfect - day 5 in Portugal

Day 5 - We started off with a delicious breakfast with 20 fellow pilgrims - it was an entertaining breakfast minus the white and red port and the moonshine. We hooked up with Kamala from Faroe Island (originally from Sri Lanka) along our journey, a very wonderful person and so friendly - this is her 5th Camino - can you imagine that? We got to sample some delicious green grapes from a local farmer as they were exited the field with their harvest and also sampled more Concord grapes along the way. We are rather tentative about eating too much grapes (or perhaps it may have been the port or maybe bad bread - NOT). The day was a perfect temperature with some early morning mist - and then sunny all the day - perhaps around 23-25 degrees. There was a slight breeze that made it great for walking with our packs. It has been our shortest journey so far - only 15 kms. We arrived at the Ponte de Lima - a beautiful city along the Rio Lima river. We were entertained by watching a fashion/advertising photo shoot (georgeous models), live music (including accordion and drums) and dancers. Real great to watch. We enjoyed the leisurely afternoon just walking about and touring the city. The air is so fresh, the fruit always delicious and the bread is simply amazing. Our lunch had us sampling some new cheeses and pickled onion and sardines - it was actually quite good. We found a new favourite dessert, a custard tart with this flakey dedcandent shell - it will our daily morning snack. Our journey today had us meet a group of cyclists from Belgium - they are going from Porto to Santigo in 3 days!!!! It is going to take us about 12, maybe we should have brought our bikes, next time. We ended our day with meeting up again with some pilgrims from last night - it will be neat to keep crossing paths.

Casa de Fernanda

Today we started our day at a weekly market in Barcelos. Lots of vendors, from bras to bacon! Headed out on the trail and lots of variety in the trail today. More cobblestones, but enjoyed a mix of dirt roads and totalled 22km. Learned the symbolism of the Rooster to Portugal today, a story of justice served. Met several other travellers today, one from Germnay, Faroe Island, Czech Republic, Netherlands and Mexico. Walked through a beautiful valley and the countryside was very pretty. A lovely sunny day! Our accomodation today is at the Casa De Fernanda! This would be an experience to remember. A private home that is opened up to pilgrims of the Camino. They are wonderful hosts, lots of fun, complete with great food, wine, port and ? Dinner with twenty new friends. Each county had to contribute to the evenings entertainment with a song! A great day on the trail!

Portugal Camino - Day 3- it was a 30 km day - left after 8 am after a delicious and hearty breakfast. It was an overcast, damp and misty day - but a great temperature for the distance we had to travel. Once we left the major centre and walked through the countryside - it was very scenic. There were several varieties of ferns and trees many of which eucalyptus trees - the trunks are so smooth. We saw acres and acres of corn - it must have been at least 10 feet tall. We surmised that this must be mulched for the cattle and we did see farmers making silage from the corn - it was pretty impressive to see how it was done. We saw many vineyards with some delicious Concord grapes as well as several other tasty varieties. We saw kiwi, apples, figs, ripe tomatoes and several other fruits and vegetables, the vegetation and flowers are super sized and very lush. We enjoyed a tasty vegetable "Soupa"lunch and just as impressive supper for only 5 euros - which included wine!!!! We met several folks from Australia (a group at breakfast - at Vila de Conde), New Zeland, and other fellow Canadians along our journey today. The terrain was more hilly, with a gradual incline. We walked for many kms on cobblestone streets and roadways - our feet feel like tenderized chicken - you can imagine how delighted we were to remove our hiking shoes. The "way" was much better marked today in comparison to our previous two days journey. We have walked 70 km already - only about 230 more to go. We are thankful for one of our colleagues that brought a foam roller and ball to work out the sore spots and knots that we have acquired through the day. I am trying to attach pictures to this blog, so hopefully I will be successful before too long. Looking forward to a shorter day tomorrow - about 24 km.

The Misty Ocean Path - Day 2 Portugal Camino

Not that great a sleep when it is along the train tracks - did we know that when we booked? Nothing was indicated when we did book, but the rooms were very clean and the service was excellent. Breakfast was very good and a great way to start the day. Today our journey took us along the ocean on a well-maintained Boardwalk. The weather - misty and foggy but warm and no wind. There were some spectular views that we missed due to the fog, but some of the pictures are going to be beautiful because of the fog. Some participants tested the Atlantic, and got a bit wetter than perhaps had been planned. We met up with with a cute couple from Finland, they were just touring along and winging it - nothing booked in advance and stopping when it suited them. We stopped at Cafe Vanguard in Cha and for 4.5 eruos we had a delicious fresh fish dinner, including bread and wine. We met an interesting couple from Vancouver that were on their 7th Camino - Mario and Julie. Pretty incredible - they walk for 7 weeks every fall - pretty amazing for this retired couple! After 24.2 kms we arrived at Vila do Conde and miraculously, the sun started to shine - very warm and sunny now. We went to the tourist information centre to find directions to our hotel, which happened to be less than a block away (whoops :)) Some in our group, got upgraded to a suite - which was our evening our Taverna She-Lyn (wine and munchies for supper). Tomorrow is an early start - as we have at least 30kms to do and now that we have our luggage and it arrived at our destination - we can relax and not worry about it any longer. We are still trying to catch up with our sleep and although our accommodations are near the main drag, we are hopeful that a bottle of wine and a day of walking with help us with a good nights' sleep.

Portugal Camino Day 1

Today we started our day with a tour of Se Catedral - a famous cathedral in Porto, lavished with gold carvings, very impressive. Next we made our way to the train station, nothing like our train station, the individual hand painted mosaics depicted the history of Portugal. Each tile hand painstakingly hand painted and really, really amazing. We found out that one piece of our luggage was in Germany and the other 3 pieces were making their way to Porto, still unsure of when things will arrive. We needed to make a decision - we opted to get some better walking shoes, socks and maybe some clean t-shirts. We were conservative in our purchases and only bought what we absolutely needed to make today's journey. We had lunch by the River of Gold (River Douro) and then headed off to Matosinhos - leg one of today's journey. We enjoyed the lovely ocean-side trail with light breeze that made our 25 degree journey with long pants more bearable. The scenery was spectular with palm trees, sandy beaches and a sunny day - what could be better? Thanks to Lynn and Shelley's hawk eyes, we quickly found our lodging and as we arrived - so did our luggage. Yahoo!!!! We were like a bunch of little kids on a Christmas morning with prized positions in our luggage. A warm shower, hair products, makeup and fresh clothes could only be beaten by the fine tasting Passatempo (red Portugese wine), cheese and crackers. Today was a 16 km day, tomorrow will be around 24km - we can manage that, we have our own gear, walking poles and clean clothes. P.S. - if you are looking for a pair of shorts in Porto - best thing is to bring your own!

It is Sept 18 (9 pm Porto time - I believe 7 hours ahead of Alberta time) and although we arrived safely in Porto Portugal, our luggage did not (all 4 of us have only our carry on luggage). The trip started off with Air Canada mixing up two names on their reservation list (e.g McGreg Phillips was my name - even though my boarding passes name matched my passport). We got that sorted out (hence the importance of allowing extra time at the airport), and we were ushered into a no wait line through security, and some colleagues got upgraded to "almost" first class because of mix-up on there seat booking - we thought well, this is going well. We arrived in Toronto and had to quickly rush to board our flight to Brussels - no time to even grab a bite to eat. I changed my seat so that I could have an isle seat and ended up at the back of the plan - yup - no meal selection by the time we got to our area (not to self about next time) - however, we did get some food. We thought that all was well until we arrived at Porto early this afternoon and even though the luggage carousel stopped, indicating the they were finished uploading, we eagerly awaited for our checked bags to come through, but sadly they did not. As we tried to check into our hotel, we were told that there was no registration under our names(almost panicked), we then realized that there are several hotel names that are similar and finally found our hotel. Wait, it does not end there, although we booked our rooms for 2 single beds in each room - we ended up with two rooms with one twin/double - but the hotel found cots for us to use and now we get a free breakfast, but still no luggage. After a ride on the gondola to the river (how smart are we, we road downhill and walked back uphill!!!!), an interesting tour on a scenic river cruise, followed by a nice glass of Portugal wine, we were thankful we had our passports, money and each other. We did get some emergency supplies (toothbrush, comb, extra large t-shirts and so forth from the airport to help us out overnight) we are trying to make the best of it. What tomorrow will bring, we are unsure, with only one of us wearing our hiking shoes and none of the supplies we packed for our journey available, this Camino has already taught us that we need to go with the flow. We still have our sense of humour and are confident that our luggage will arrive tomorrow, stay tuned. Signed the weary pilgrims in Porto.

On Sept 17, four pilgrims head to Porto, Portugal to walk the roughly 300 km to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The excitement is mounting as we are nearing our departure date. Marilyn, Shelley, Lynn and Sandy compose the four trekkers. We have met, planned what we need take (and this time I listened and took notes), prepared (physically and mentally) and packed for this journey. We will share our experiences through this blog and hope you enjoy this journey and we inspire you to try to experience a similar adventure. Enjoy through us :)) Sandy