Onthecamino23

What a confusing morning, leaving the hostel as the sun came up and yellow arrows going all over the place. Followed arrows up a hill( against my better hill judgement) and then ended up reversing and walking along the roadway. Today we are also again given the option of walking through an industrial area or taking the green route.  Of course we again chose the green route that just seemed to dissolve. Back tracked to the way we came and it wasn’t long before we were adopted by a wonderful local who put us straight again, bless… We plodded along until we came to the town of Moz and got ourselves caught up in school drop off, little bit hectic. Survived that in time to come across a cafe, well praise be.😊 Whist we were sitting there our carol realised her wallet was missing, probably left behind at the albergue this morning. Long story short, found and will be delivered to Carol tonight. The Camino will always provide.😇 Perfect ending… On we go and now it’s a pretty consistent up...

Pretty warm evening last night and many noisy pilgrims made for a restless night but I truly loved staying in beautiful old convent. Spain is an hour ahead of Portugal so it was still dark outside the clocks said 6am so we all started to rise and shine. Great little brekky room off to the side of the kitchen and a real coffee machine so ever happy. Particularly as first cafe break today will be after 7or 8 kms.  Biggest decision today comes a couple of kms post coffee. Do we take the route through the industrial area or turn left and embrace the green trail. Our mate Ronald from Pilger pause STRONGLY recommended the left turn. A few patches along the road but mostly protected from the sun with lovely trees and a beautiful path along the river. Made it to Porrino about midday which was pretty amazing considering it was a tough walk although, Stuart seems to have found his Camino legs and appears quite happy with himself. To note, we are no longer walking alone.  Tui this is the...

Today is Day 7 of this Camino journey.  We entered Spain in Tui and have walked in total about 130 km. I think it’s time for a bit of reflection…. 1 week in, well I do know I am  10 years older and less fit: not sure if that’s an excuse for it feeling harder.  I suspect the memory blunts the difficult bits so is probably not that different really.  Secondly, there seems a lack of albergues, well at least the municipal and donativos, even the donativa will often mark the price they expect.  Most places we have stayed are private and we are now feeling the pressure to book.  I feel this has limited our ability to be flexible. I guess not really a problem, but a pressure that takes away from the experience of “placing one’s future in the the hands of the Camino” aka yellow arrows. We are also missing the camaraderie, our camigos. Maybe because the Camino Frances was longer, maybe there are 4 of us… I don’t know, maybe it will change or evolve. Regardless we ha...

Firstly apologies for the delayed post for yesterday. The wifi is very hit and miss so I had to pull out a bunch of photos so it was easier to send. So I guess I will post this one with just a couple of photos as well, sadly. Onto today, well it was always going to be a bit nasty as essentially it appeared to be mainly up hill, but not enough downhills. We were a bit cluey yesterday and walked a bit further than originally planned to stay at a place in Labruge, which was effectively 200 m up the first hill.  It was tough and admittedly I’m not firing on all cylinders but made it to the top (eventually.😂😂) Stuart on the other hand was like a mountain goat. Still beautiful country to walk through again circuiting the farms and the vineyards.  Again, it’s quiet as it’s a Monday. Of interest, we found out that we are walking along the old Roman XIX highway to Astorga in Spain. This bridge was built in 12century, some parts by the Romans and is still in use. Then again what have...

Always one of the funnest things that happens when walking the Camino is the number of people from everywhere that you meet. The meals shared are always lively events.  Last night in our hostel was exactly that.  Sharing a table with another Australian, a chap from London, 4 Italian gents (leaving the wives at home), An American lady and a charming couple from Brazil. So many languages flying around the table and it was great. I certainly look forward to more of these. Anyhoo, On to today, Sunday. What a really nice morning spent walking through the village vineyards and farming areas. What made it nicer is that so many locals out and about after church or on their way to Sunday lunches and they all give us a Bom Camino as they pass. We arrived in Ponte de Lima ( a gorgeous medieval town) late morning.(about 15k) It’s a nice walk into town along the river. In town there is a market happening, which was fun and we managed to pick up some fruit. Had a coffee in the main square ...

Another day in Portugal, the routine is feeling … well routine but different everyday, if that makes sense. Walking out of the cities and bigger towns is always a bit monotonous but today we were met by a lovely local lady.  She had already walked past us and then returned asking if we were going to Santiago.  The roads ahead of us were closed and there was no way through. She walked with us until we found the yellow arrows. We found some coffee on the outskirts of town and even a ham and cheese tosta. Exciting, because almost always the offerings are sweet pastries. Today seemed to be full of some fairly nasty hills and they certainly sucked the energy from us. Some beautiful paths and very much walking through farmlands as well. We also had one of those wonderful Camino moments when this gorgeous lady with not a word of English firstly helped me fill my bottle from a Fuente but she continued to keep us company ( muttering away in Portuguese) until we got to the railway line....

Well, apologies are definitely in order for husband. I actually took a look at his injury. Turn away now if easily offended but he did want to share.🫣 A pleasant morning wandering the  country lanes, through woodlands for the 1st 5k until we came across a coffee shop, definitely not a mirage. The lanes were much appreciated after the trauma of yesterdays highways. Much more enjoyable following the yellow arrows! There are warnings of the next section being along roads again albeit not highways. Following our yellow arrows, it seems we are just doing big circles but I am guessing the arrows are taking us away from the roads. Arrived in Barcelos about 1pm and stopped for a bit of a rest and cool drink in the Historial square. Not a typo… Once feeling a little rested we walked back to the Museu Arqueológico. Here amongst many other amazing remains is the Pillory portraying the legend of the  Cock ( lenda do gallo)   Barcelos is described as a medieval city and there are man...