Day 5 Caminha to Valença June 22

This is another catch up blog. I am a bit hampered by no internet in the Albergues but I am doing my best to get caught up in the next few days.

The Albergue at Caminha did not have a hospitalero, nor did it have hot water for the showers. It was only 5 EUR so I guess you get what you pay for. The cafe owner around the corner collected the money and we filled in the register and stamped our credentials by ourselves. There were only maybe 10 people at the Albergue for the night and they a nice group of people to chat with and share a few drinks with. Some of my friends from previous day's headed on the ferry to Guarda and they will be continuing on Da Costa route. I met a nice young woman from Denmark who was going in the opposite direction. She has been travelling for months and started out in Holland! There are 3 of us that I know who are headed to Valenca, a young woman from Slovania and a man from South Africa. There will for sure be more as we join the people who have been walking from Porto on the interior route and also as there will be more folks starting at Tui, which is just over the 100 km mark. You must travel at least 100 km to earn your "Compostela" or certificate of completion and there are quite a few, I understand, who do just the 100 km.

Monday was much cooler, under 25 all day and cloudy. I welcomed the change and for the first day in quite a few I can say I enjoyed the walk and ended the day tired but not totally dead. The route today was across the bridge and then to Valença which is up river a distance of about 28 km. It eems I am destined for 28 km days still. At least today there are no hills and it is along the park.

I left Caminha at about 6:30 and after crossing the river lost track of the arrows. I was in no state to fuss with them and after consulting with my map saw that the highway looked pretty direct from here to the small town of Vila Nova de Cerveira which looked to be just a bit short of the half way point. The highway had a nice wide shoulder, so that settled it. After a coffee stop in the sleepy village of Seixes I set out down the highway at a good pace. The weather was cloudy and cool, perfect for walking and I listened to tunes on my iPod.

Before long I was at V.N. de Cerveira and admiring the pretty town. It seemed to have as its mascots both a big stag deer and also ladybugs - they were everywhere. It is billed as the city of the arts. If you check the wiki link I provided above, you will note that there is a legend which tells a tale of a big King Stag deer and a duel with a Nobleman for this land, the land of the stag deer.

I am sure you can't see it in the picture above, but from the plaza in the town you could see a statue of a huge buck stag. I zoomed to show it in the shot below.

At the tourist information I discovered there was a pedestrian pathway all the way to Valença. After topping up with a bocadilla and a cafe con leche I set out to walk down to the river Minho and the walking path.

The path was just perfect and I was very surprised that the 5 ft wide yellow asphalt walkway continued beside the river through virtual wilderness, beside the river for I guess about 15 km to Valença. Much of the path was brand new it seemed and even a few small sections had not been finished as yet.

The downside was that there wasn't a bar, cafe or store the whole length of the way, until we arrived in Valença.

Valença is a town with the most complete "living" fortress I have seen yet. By that I mean that not only is it still complete with all walls and fortifications intact but there are also people living in the houses and there are stores, restaurants and even a couple of churches. I was very impressed. Too bad it was so cloudy and overcast, not the best for pictures.

Valença is also the last town in Portugal before we enter Spain at the city of Tui. The two cities are separated by the Rio Minho, a wide and majestic river even at that point about 30 km from the sea. At the Atlantic it is, I would guess maybe 5 or 10 km wide. Apparently the fortifications were necessary at Valença (and Tui) to protect against marauding English pirates of the day who would sail up the river from the Atlantic.

The Albergue was outside the walled city beside the Bomberos (fire station)

 

 

 

The view from the walled city of Valença over the Rio Minho toward Tui, in Spain.

I am losing two of my Camino buddies tomorrow. Katarina, from Slovenia, is taking a train to Vigo at the coast to continue walking the coastal route from there. She is short of time and also wants to be near the ocean, so is skipping forward. She flies out of Santiago on the 29th. Also, Adriaan, from South Africa, is going to be walking further than I am tomorrow - he is also trying to make up time since he is short of time to finish also.

Me? I am headed for Spain tomorrow, over the bridge to Tui and then on to O Porrina, just over 18 km. In my next blog I will tell you about thenroutenchange I am making at Pontevedra - 3 days walk from here.

 

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Day 4 Viana do Castelo to Caminha June 21

Still trying to catch up on blogs and so today I will tell you about 2 days ago. The night spent in Viana was great and the Albergue (at 6 EUR) was pretty good. The Hospitaleros were a couple from Porto who were volunteering weekends at various Albergues in Portugal. It was great to be given a glass of tea and a sweet bun when I arrived and slowly revive from the ordeal of such a hot day and 28+ km. After recovery I went out to see the town and ran into the Japanese pilgrim Aoki who was heading off in a different direction in the morning. He just couldn't take the uncertainty of route and the lack of bars and cafes to stop, so he was taking a side trip for a day (something about an antique train south of here) and then was going to transfer to the interior route. We had a cerveca and said Bom Caminha and I went back to the Alberge for an early night.

The Carmelitas Convent in Viana do Castelo

I left just after 7, a bit later than normal because they only open the yard gate at 7 and there is no way to leave early. I was assured that the way was well marked with yellow arrows and so I was hopeful that it would be an easier day. That plus it was a tad cooler than yesterday and so I was optimistic that the day might be a bit better than yesterday.

As far as the route was concerned it was easy peasy - no problem finding the route. There were really 2 parts to the route. The first part was up in the hills high above the ocean and then we winded down from the hillside to the town of Ancora which on the sea and from there we followed tight to the coast.

The first part of the route dipsy doodled up and down hills but kept high in the hills. When we could see the sea below it was spectacular. The route was about 50% down walled lanes, without a bit of breeze and only a view of the sea every so often. The rest was a was a beautiful walk though woodlands. I think I have said this before, but again - if it were just a bit cooler I would have enjoyed it more. I guess I have to add, that with nearly 30 km of walking in the day's plan, it was just a bit too far to stop and enjoy the streams and dangle my feet in and read a book for an hour or two, which is what I would have loved to do.

Every so often a dog would appear at the top of the wall and bark and growl fiercely. Sometimes the lanes were sunken and the property on one or both sides was considerably higher. At one point I wondered if the dog was going to jump down at me.

Sometimes the arrows would navigate you down a path to a park or a water tap and then back to the route. I stopped and sat in the shade at the picnic table at this rest stop.

There was a good amount of forest in this first half. The shade was welcomed.

Magical doors to abandoned estates

 

There were a couple of beautiful streams which were very inviting.

The theme changed quickly once I reached Ancora. The beach was to die for and the town reminded me a little of Wasaga or maybe Sable beach north of Toronto. It was a pretty typical beachside resort town.

It wasn't long before the route left the town and followed the beautiful coastline for about 10 km to the destination, a town called Caminha.

You can see the Spanish town of A Guarda which is right beside the pointy bit in the background of this picture.

In the town just before Caminha, there was a man with a camera gesturing to me from his balcony and he took my picture. It turns out that he was the arrow painter for this section of the Camino. He provided more specific directions to the Albergue ahead and talked about the Costa route above Caminaha. It as nice to see someone so excited about helping pilgrims. He said he posted all his Perigrino pictures on Facebook and identified them as to the nationality.

Caminha was a 3+ km walk down a major sidewalI after my chat to the arrow guy. Not infrequently we pilgrims are treated to a big 5ft wide sidewalk out in the country of no reason other than the road is well travelled by pilgrims. We had this nice walk the whole way into Caminha all the way from the previous town of Moledo.

Finally the town centre in Caminha. The town is on the very large river Rio Minho at the point where it empties into the Atlantic. A ferry boat takes passengers to A Guarda in Spain and there is a bridge over part of it to land still in Portugal and on the way to Valenca, which will be my destination tomorrow. Today was another 28+ km day and the forth day ending in near exhaustion. I didn't arrive until nearly 7 pm and I had been travelling 12 hours at that point. I have decided to go to the interior route where the distances are shorter and there are more bars and cafes along the way, as well as more frequent Albergues. Tomorrow will be another 28 km day,mount thereafter the distances are more in the 20 km range. I will find that much easier.

The Albergue at Caminha is on the river in the basement of a community building.

 

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