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 few kilometers were alright, but then I hit the main road and had to follow it for way too long. Cars and trucks were racing by and the view consisted of offices, factories or big shops. When the camino veered off, away from the main road, I saw a bakery. I was happy to have a break and took some tea with a pastel de nata. I hoped the next bit would be more interesting, but this day really was a bit boring. There was one old road where I met a man who was walking his dog. We had a quick chat. When I came off that road there was a house that had some statues of saints. When I passed it, it said “ola, bom caminho”. I was so surprised! A bit later I was a bit confused on a crossing in an industrial area. A woman was standing at the gas station across from me. “Santiago?”, she asked. She waved her arm with a big sweep, as if she wanted to say, it’s that way, but a looong way from here
I had a great time in the albergue. For the first time I spent most of my free time chatting to the other pilgrims. It was a place on a small, but surprisingly busy road. A big wooden door led to a courtyard with a shell and stone mosaic of a pilgrim. There was a bigger room on the right, a smaller room to the back and the showers. Upstairs was the office, three 2-bed rooms and a kitchen. I was in a room with 3 others. I spent some time chatting to Italian Andrea, who was walking South. Later, Viv and Suzie, whom I’d met several times in the last few days, joined us to a nearby restaurant. We were warmly welcomed by a cheerful man. We got some shared appetizers and I had a piece of steak that was simply delicious. They kept showing us other dishes as well, proud of what they were preparing. Since it’s Halloween this month, they also had decorations and came round with a big bag of candy. The food was excellent, but the staff created a great atmosphere too.
Unfortunately I didn’t have the best night sleep in Grijo. The pillow was super high and it was warm. Of course the group of early birds had alarms set for 6.15am again. I ignored it for a while, but I was awake. So I ended up being ready to leave at 7.15am. It wasn’t fully light yet, but after a few hundred meters I had a footpath. Knowing it was a short stretch to Porto, I kept a good pace. First, I passed by houses, where people were waking up and getting ready for the day. Then I came to a very old road. It wasn’t for vehicles anymore. The stones and rocks used had all kind of sizes and were very uneven. And it was uphill and super steep in sections! I expected a view at some point, but it never came! At the top it just went down again, with a super narrow trail where I had to push the plants out of my face. That was unexpected so close to the city!
The last part of the way was a long straight road into the center of Porto. It was so beautiful when I stood at the big iron bridge, high above the river, taking in the view of Porto’s centre. I got very excited since this felt like the first milestone of my walk. I had come about 125km on foot and now walked among the clean-looking, fine-smelling masses of tourists towards the Sé do Porto, the cathedral. Still with my backpack on I went inside and also asked for a stamp. Then I strolled to my hostel, where they were kind enough to let me check in so that I could take a shower. I found a, very expensive, laundromat and then spent the rest of the day wandering around. What a beautiful city!
