Day 1 Porto to Vila do Conde - June 18

Today was a long day. I can say that that it was a good day, now after I have showered, washed my clothes, had a bit of a nap and am now sitting on a patio nibbling on a sandwich ("sandwich rustica" per the menu) and drinking cerveca. When I arrived I was very tired and a bit grumpy.

I am glad I decided to take the metro to outside of Porto, to the jump off point at Matosinhos as it was a long enough walk without those extra 3-4 km from the Porto town centre. I left the hostel in Porto at 7:30 and it took a good 45 min to get to the "Mercando" stop, where I needed to get off and cross the river to the city(?) of Matosinhos. I stopped for a small coffee and then set off over the bridge on my way.

One of my concerns in choosing this route is the lack of information available. One person at my hostel Ian Porto said she knew of one person who had walked it last year and found the route poorly marked and the route not yet finished. I went to the Tourist information office in Porto and they had no information but agreed it was poorly marked and that there were few Albergues. That said, how lost can one get walking along the coast? So, convinced that any problems I might have would be small ones, I set off.

The first problem was that I didn't see any arrows on the other side of the bridge. I could have gone left and followed the river out to the ocean, but a lady spoke quite confidently that I should go straight ahead. I took her advice, but a few km later wondered if that was wise. In any case, no arrows and after asking directions several times more "caminho do Costa?" I was told to turn left at the next round about and so walked the couple of km to the ocean via the road. When I arrived I saw a boardwalk which probably started not far from the bridge where I undoubtedly should have turned left. Oh well, no big deal. It was 9:30 when I started walking up the boardwalk along the coast and it was going to be a very hot day to walk the 27 km to my destination. Probably should have left the hostel at 6 and have started walking at about 7 to escape the heat of the day. Oh well.

The sea view on this coastal was is just spectacular, but it is hard not to just decide to call it a beach day and don bathing suit and cool off in those tidal pools. No, instead I trotted along on that board walk hour after hour, without one wit of shade and getting hotter by the minute. Yes there was an ocean breeze, but on the far side of the dunes, with a large sand dune between the ocean and our boardwalk, the breeze seemed like it was coming from an oven. My thoughts of an idyllic beach camino walk with cool ocean breezes was dashed with the heat of the day.

I adjusted my expectations and decided the only way was to reconcile myself to a long hot walk and counter that with frequent stops for a cold drink and to take my shoes off and air them. My feet felt very hot all day and my socks quite wet with perspiration so I am now sporting 2 blisters, in exactly the same spot as when I stopped walking on the Frances route.

The boardwalk was pretty nice, but it ended abruptly, but fortunately just temporarily and I had to do some acrobatics to finish that section (so did the cyclists who happened to overtake me at that point)

Can you see the yellow arrow on the light post?

Then there was the issue with the Amarillo Fletchas (yellow arrows). By about 1:30 I had pretty much resigned myself that there would be no arrows but I just needed to follow the boardwalk. Then I was confronted with an arrow pointing away from the boardwalk! What to do? As most pilgrims would, I abandoned the boardwalk and followed the yellow arrows. Following this route, I found myself going over to the main road though the towns and past the stores, etc. Finally after following several kilometres of arrows reassuringly pointing forward down a residential road parallel to the beach but perhaps a km away I reached a T junction and the arrow pointed away from the ocean! That really perplexed me as I could see the boardwalk in the distance and that was where I wanted to be but maybe the boardwalk dead ended. At that point I saw a couple of people and decided to ask for advice. I was pointed back to the boardwalk. I was very peeved and the painter of the yellow arrows. It is not good when a pilgrim can't follow the arrows reliably. It is a good thing I didn't go further before correcting.

Thank goodness that I found a great hostel at 10 EUR for the night for a dorm room which sleeps 4 and they packed me a huge takeaway breakfast as I will start early tomorrow. They also reserved me a room in a hostel in Esposende, my destination for tomorrow, so I can take my time and stop as frequently as I like.

One of my roomies for tonight is a Japanese man, Aoki, who came from Porto today by a most curious route. His guidebook said that the coastal route from Porto to Vila do Condo was not passable in places except by wading through water. So he took the metro a distance further than I did and then did a hybrid route following the road from the interior route over to Vila do Conde.

There are about 8 of here at the hostel who are walking this route and no one from Portugal or Spain. I guess I will be seeing them each night as there is usually only one hostel/Albergue in each town.

 

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Porto Sight Seeing - June 16 & 17

The view looking to the opposite shore of the Duero River - this area of Porto is called Gaia

Porto is a fabulous city! I have spent enough time here to know it would be good to come back and really get to know it. It reminds me a little of San Fransisco because of all the ups and downs. The river is down in a valley and the city spans both sides and is also quite hilly. The city is picturesque, vibrant and quite touristic. By calling it touristic I mean both that there is lots here for tourists to do and also there are lots of tourists doing all these things. Not necessarily a bad thing if you are a tourist. I arrived at the bus station, about 30 min by foot from the hostel but it was right beside a metro station so it was very easy to get to the centre of town and my hostel. Porto is a city with excellent public transit and I am glad for that.

I did find a place to eat a traditional Portuguese meal and listen to a live Fado music show on my first night here. The music just grabbed my soul and as I listened to the singer I was in awe that she could put so much emotion into her singing. It was a great night.

Fado musicians at the restaurant

The Next Adventure - Caminho Portuguesa Da Costa

Our replacement Hospitaleros arrived yesterday and our job here is finished as of tonight. Barbara and Jose Luis live in Valencia, Spain. José Luis is Spanish and Barbara is Italian and between them they speak Spanish, Italan, French and English. José Luis worked at this Albergue last year, so there was not as much orientation needed as was necessary for us novices, so they went to Toro sight seeing this morning. Later tonight they will look after the Albergue for a few hours while Jocelyne and I go out and have our "Goodbye Zamora" dinner. We plan to first have a aperitif at the Zamora Parador.

My Hospitalera partner Jocelyne is heading to Madrid and will fly home to Montreal on the 17th. It has been a wonderful experience working with her and I have made a new life long friend. Also, now have someone to visit in Montreal! I have had a fulfilling and unique experience being the "rock on the shore of the pilgrim river". That said, I am very tired having been on duty for 14 days straight and without much relaxation or alone time. So I am happy to say goodbye to Zamora and pass my Hospitalera hat to another.

The yellow line marks the coastal route

As you might recall from my earlier blogs, this is a 3 part holiday. I first walked the Camino Frances from May 8th until the end of May and since then I have been here in Zamora. I had planned to bus back up to Astorga and continue the Frances route after I was finished here, but I have changed my mind. Not about walking but about the route to take. I fly from Santiago to Madrid on the 1st of July and my flight home is on the 2nd so I have 13 days after leaving here to walk. This is just not quite enough to finish then Frances route or to do the Sanabres route and I so I had thought I would do the Frances route but bus forward a piece to make up some time, but I have found a better plan.

The route is fairly flatland not much uphill or downhill walking.

On Tuesday the 16th I am busing to Porto, Portugal and I will walk the Portuguese Coastal route, which heads north via mainly beaches and fishing villages next to the ocean. I can cover the 260 km in 12 days and so be able to spend the one extra day in Porto drinking - guess what - port - and listening to Fada music. Click here to read another blog I wrote some years ago about Fada music. Ok, so I won't spend the entire day drinking port, but Porto is the place that port originated so having a glass or two will be on my agenda for sure.

 

I have booked into the Porto Sports Hostel for 2 nights, on the 16th and 17th (for a mere 11 EUR a night for a bed in an 8 women dorm room) and will start walking on the morning of the 18th. The hostel is in the centre of the old part of the City and near to all the sights. I will be able to go out on the first night and find a nice bar with live music and sit and sip my port. The next night it will be early to bed as I will be up at dawn the next day to walk.

I think the route will be pretty spectacular as it is all along the ocean and beach pretty much until I get to Spain just beyond Redondela. I will stay in small fishing villages along the way and the seafood should be excellent. The ocean breezes will be great if the hot temperatures return and still pleasant enough for walking if not. Spain has turned cold and wet these last several days, but next week it will be warmer - I hope! If the weather is hot I will be able to lay on the beach and swim in the ocean in the afternoons when I get to my destination each day. Sounds pretty perfect, eh? I went shopping for a bathing suit on Saturday!

This route through Portugal is relatively new as the traditional route is just a bit further into the interior of Portugal. I think this route is just maybe 10 km from the interior route, so if I find it under serviced with Albergues or if the weather is nasty alongside the ocean I can always skip over to the other Portuguese route. At least on the coastal route it will be impossible to get lost as the ocean will always be just to my left.

So tomorrow, Jocelyn and I will head to the bus station in time for me to catch the 9 am bus to Salamanca and for Jocelyn to catch the 9:30 bus to Madrid. I will be on the 12:45 bus to Porto and arrive there at 6 pm Spanish time which is an hour earlier in Porto. I will be sightseeing in Porto, so may not post a blog until the night of the 17th. I am not sure how accessible wifi will be on this route, and my Spanish SIM card will be no good in Portugal, so don't be surprised if there are a few days of radio silence once I start walking. I will at least check in on FB at least whenever I stop in a cafe or bar with wifi, so folks will be able to keep tabs on my whereabouts.

Hasta luego!

 

 

 

 

 

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