Rainy days
It’s Sunday. The streets are quiet even though I left the hostel late. I was up before 7am, but enjoyed writing, having tea and generally taking it easy. The elevador down the hill wouldn’t go till 9 anyway and… it was raining. A lot. So I got off the elevador…
A wet but dry day
It’s about 28km from Esposende to Viana do castelo. On the map it looks like there’s a coastal route and one that travels a bit more inland, through a few towns. I chose to do the latter since this one was laid out with arrows and signs. I left early…
Through the drizzle
It was already raining when I left Póvoa de Varzim. It wasn’t a lot, just a drizzle, but enough to make my jacket look super wet. The weird thing is that I didn’t wear rain pants and yet my trousers felt totally dry. I didn’t want to have my camera…
Watching wild waves on the camino
After a free walking tour in Porto I started my way out of the city. I had hoped to arrive at my hostel before the rain started and left with my sunglasses on. It was an easy 10km walk today, all flat, following the river Douro until it reached the…
Hitting the first milestone
Day 5 and 6 on the camino went from São João da Madeira to Porto via Grijo. It’s about 37km and like most of the others, I didn’t feel like doing it all in one day. Luckily there is a small albergue in Grijo to spend the night. The first…
Zigzagging around train tracks
The morning was absolutely stunning. The sun was out. There was a breeze. It was quiet on the streets because it was Sunday. And my path led me into the forest between Albergaria-a-Velha and Albergaria-a-Nova. Here it was clearly visible how close the fires got to people’s houses. A scary…
An unexpected bright day
The forecast wasn’t good. It would rain a lot today. But just like the other day, it turned out better than expected. Much better. Just before 7am I got up and saw two Spanish pilgrims standing in the doorway. Outside, in the little alley with the decorative umbrellas, the rain…
Gloomy day on the camino
The people in my room are early birds. Even though one stumbled in drunk last night, the alarm was set for 6.30am. Ok, she stumbled in at 9pm. But she was so drunk she couldn’t open the door and later fell out of her bed. I tried to ignore the…
Picking up the camino
During the pandemic I spontaneously started walking North from Lisbon. It had been a dream to walk a longer camino route and I was excited to have the time to do it. I met 2 other pilgrims along the way and besides that it was quiet, solitary. But I loved…
The end of an unexpected journey
Finishing my Portuguese Camino in Coimbra The sunshine filled my body with an instant happiness. It only added to the great experience I’d had in the pilgrim’s hostel in Rabaçal and the fact that this was my 8th day of walking and I would have a break after arrival in…