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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Day 3 Fao to Viana do Castelo - June 20

I am writing this blog in catch up mode. It has been a very difficult few days, but (spoiler alert) at Day 5 I have made some changes and the weather has cooled and I am happier and more optimistic about the days ahead.

The journey today started ok with me first walking for an hour then me getting a cafe con leche and toastada, to which I added my peanut butter. A good breakfast by my definition so the day started well. It was a very hot day, so I had my usual arsenal - a bandana to wear wet under my hat, a microfibre face cloth to wet and use to wipe my face when I started to feel overheated and lastly my water/gel cooling neck kerchief ready in a Baggie wetted with a cup of water. It was going to be a hot one today - maybe 35 degrees.

All was well as I walked along the coast beachfront until I lost sight of the arrows - or maybe the arrow guy hadn't done a good enough job - in any case I had oat the arrows and was just following the coast - except there was no coast path.

I got a bit annoyed as I wound my way through the suburban streets walking a ways north then going down to the beach every once in a while to see if there was a path along the coast. I guess I could have just walked along the sand on the beach but that was hard going and the nice vents in my hiking boots soon filled with sand.

The saving grace was finding a beach access point with a map and a toilet, which by now, after a few hours of morning walking, an essential thing, given that it was a residential area. The map implied that there was a path to be walked and even though it didn't mention the camino, I assumed it was the way.

Can you tell that this is a path?

The path was sand bUt a bit easier to walk on than open beach. After following this trail for about 30 minutes it came clear that there was a river ahead emptying into the sea and no bridge in sight. I had to backtrack an pd head inland to find a bridge. Hot and peeved, I figured I lost over an hour due to the missing or just missed arrows.

I was able to find the trail of yellow arrows at the bridge and it led me to a stretch of busy road then vanished again. I was really stressed as I walked along this busy road - a main thoroughfare with a posted 80 km. speed - because there was barely a foot of shoulder which sometimes disappeared or had bramble bushes biting at my ankles. I wondered if the arrow painter had really chosen to have us wall this busy highway or if I had missed an arrow putting us on a less travelled street. I was no a happy Perigrino at this point. I also noticed that Spaniards do not move over to give pedestrians more room, they just zoom by with very little room to spare.

The arrows suddenly appeared and we were put on a nature trail going down, down, down, So yes, the arrow makers had put us on an incredibly dangerous road.

We went way down to cross a stream via a pretty stone bridge. Then we went up, up up... In the 30+ degree heat. High up to a ridge where there was a church.

I stopped for a rest break and to admire the pretty view of the sea and Viana do Castelo in the distance from up on the ridge.

Then we plunged back into the forest path winding our way around the small mountain through the woods for an hour's walk in dappled shade (yes!) and the heat and humidity. If it weren't so hot I might have enjoyed this bit.

Then we came out into civilization and wound our way through country roads like the one shown here. It seems everyone walls their property to there are always walls on each side of the road, sometimes with no shoulder at all. Not too much of a problem now as the traffic died off as I think most were home having their siesta. I however had been walking since just after 6:30 in the morning and it was now approaching 4:30 in the afternoon. Those path meandered and wandered from village to village and I was just about to drop when reached my destination. I don't think I could have walked another kilometre.

The bridge

The town of Viana do Castelo is interesting and Happened to be having a Medieval festival. Lots of fun after I showered and resented and recovered from my day.

 

 

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Los Arcos to Viana - May 14

Added: May 14

Uploaded Pictures: 3 on May 14

Today was a very nice day. The temps have cooled down to 22 and a good wind has come up so made for a much more pleasant walk. Also, I walked with music today and that had me skipping down the way to the sounds of my tunes. Soon I will be able to enjoy the walk a bit more, having gained sufficient strength to walk without so much difficulty.

 

I was unsure how far I would get today. The day was so nice, I had idle thoughts of perhaps being able to walk the full 28 km to Logrono, but by the time I got to Viana at about 1:00, my feed were sore. I have been nursing a small blister on my baby toe and decided not to push it. I checked into the first Albergue into town - Albergue Izar, and for 8 EUR have a bed in a pretty nice private Albergue in a dorm room of 16 people. There are a total of 40 beds in this Albergue in rooms of various sizes.

In all I walked just over 18 km in 6 hours having left Los Arcos at 7 am.there was some very beautiful farmland we passed and a couple of typical Spanish towns to stop for a bocedilla and a cafe con leche. There was one major mountain ridge to cross - Alto N.S. Del Poyo at 570 metres - a climb of only 170 metres so not so tough.

Ok, so I am getting a bit annoyed at my blogging tool, having re typed the next two paragraphs a couple of times. It keeps crashing and although I have saved my work somehow the saves didn't work. So I will finish up and post what I have. I guess the Internet is too slow here - uploading photos is causing the software to crash. I was trying to upload a photo while I was writing the blog, which worked at the library yesterday, but is not working today with the slow Albergue internet.

Viana is a pretty little walled town on the outskirts of Logrono. From my Pilgrimage Cultural book, it was quite a booming city in the Middle Ages. The walls of the city are almost intact and inside is a castle as well as a church and municipal office around the central plaza and of course housing for the population. I would guess the central street running the distance from one wall to the opposite wall is about a km, and there are 4 parallel streets running the length of the walled town. I have scouted out a nice place for my dinner and for 11 EUR I will get a salad, a main course, bread and wine and dessert.

Tomorrow I think I will only go as far as Navarette, which is about 22 km down the road and with of course, one smaller mountain ridge to climb, Alto Grajera at 520 metres, 120 metres above Logrono. We are slowly making our way over this range of mountains which will peak at Alto de Pedraja at 1149 metres above sea level, in 5 or 6 days time. I have travelled 152.5 km so far.

I wish I could load some pictures. If I find a place with better wifi I will up,old one or two later today.

 

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