The alburgue provided a breakfast of toast with a tomato spread and orange juice. Those are sparse marching rations.
This is just after sunrise. We walked across the river on that stone bridge to the left.About an hour into today’s walk I ran across this lunatic. His name is Juan and he runs a donativo snack/souvenir shop. You pick out what you want and pay what you feel like paying him. I am sure most people overpay. I know I did. I bought a bottle of water and paid him 3 euros just so I could stick around and listen to him tell me about all the dangers ahead on the Camino. Lions and tigers and bears oh my.
Shortly after my encounter with Juan I ran into Old Bucky. He had heard through the horse grapevine that the Colorado Cowboy on the Camino was in the neighborhood and he was looking out for me. I stopped and spent some time discussing the challenges Bucky faced being a horse on the Camino. It looks like an easy life but it is hard to stand behind a fence day in and day out watching all the pilgrims go by. Bucky begged me to take him with me to Santiago but the alburgues have a pretty strict no horses allowed policy. I offered Bucky an apple to cheer him up but he refused saying that he had an apple allergy. Kinda like a peanut allergy.
After I said goodbye to Bucky I left the official Camino and started walking down the river variant and met Vicky, an attorney from Boulder. She knows two of my former partners at the Gorsuch firm, Dudley Spiller and Paula Connelly.
The river variant was really nice and shaded.Vicky and I had a light lunch at a vegan restaurant in Pontevedra. I had a raspberry smoothie and avocado toast. It was very good but meager rations for the long walk ahead.After leaving Pontevedra I departed from the Coastal Camino and turned left onto the Spiritual Variant. I will be on the Spiritual Variant for the next two days.As I was ambling along the Spiritual Variant I walked by this church. I went in and said a prayer for everyone. As my father used to say about prayers: “ It can’t hurt. “I finally got to my alburgue in Combarro. It is very nice.I got a lower bunk bed with sheets and towels and a blanket. I am living large!This is the washing machine at the alburgue. My clothes are in that washing machine. Other than hand washing I haven’t washed my clothes in two weeks. I have a pretty high threshold for unacceptable stench and at the end of today the stench from my clothes was bothering even me.This is the view from the backyard of my alburgue. Not too shabby.The restaurants don’t open until 8:00 PM. I am not eating that late so I got some provisions at the grocery store. A ham and cheese sandwich with all the fixens.Pictures of the Northern Lights from New Berlin, Illinois.
That’s it from Combarro, Spain. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.
Steps walked – 40,015
Kilometers walked – 33
Flights of stairs climbed – 29
Today was about ten kilometers longer than I thought it would be. The mileage in my guidebook is not even close to accurate. I am trying to keep my daily walk to around twenty kilometers and not doing a very good job of that.
There is lower Vigo, where I spent the night, and upper Vigo, where the Camino is located. Figures that if there is a lower part of town and an upper part of town I would stay in the lower part of town. An Australian woman who I was walking with today described lower Vigo as dodgy. I disagreed. I prefer to describe it as a good solid working class neighborhood. There is nothing wrong with that.
It took me about an hour to climb up to upper Vigo and find the Camino. The streets in Spain are not laid out on a grid and there are a lot of dead ends and blind alleys.
Fish and fishermen are an important part of Vigo, past and present.During my perambulations around Vigo this morning I walked by this huge fish market. You could smell it a block away.Another shot of the Cies Islands. Charlotte from the Netherlands is going to take a day off to ferry out and hike around these islands. Her hospitaleria told her the islands remind people of the Caribbean. That is still not enough to tempt me into taking a day off to hike around these Caribbean like islands.Outside Vigo we walked through a stretch of what looked like rain forest.Many beautiful waterfalls on this stretch of the Way.This is a rock that some very creative person turned into a fish.Great view of the Vigo estuary. We spent most of of the day climbing up to the top of a ridge and then climbing down to walk through a town or village.A bridge over the estuary. I love these level tree shaded sections of the Way.
I am staying at the Filla do Mar alburgue in Arcade, Spain.
I have a nice lower bunk with sheets and a blanket.And there is a swimming pool. The first rule of swimming pools is that you shower before you get in the pool. I am ashamed to admit that I broke that rule. The minute I checked in I shed my dirty smelly duds and put on my gym shorts/bathing suit. I ran, or rather limped, out to the pool and executed a perfect Memorial Pool/Sandlot belly flop. After about 15 minutes of flailing around the pool like a seal caught in a fishing net I got out and noticed that a brownish oily scum had formed on the surface of the pool. Perhaps it would have been a good idea for me to shower before swimming.This alburgue also has a bar and a restaurant. In the bar they have Radler on tap. I love this place!!!My first, but not last, Radler on this Camino. Cheers!
That’s it from Arcade, Spain. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
This morning I had a little bit of a hard time finding the Way. I wanted to follow the coast and the Way outside the hostel where I spent the night headed up into the hills. I finally found a group of pilgrims that looked like they knew where they were going and I followed them. After a half an hour I was out of the city and on the Senda Litoral Coastal Way.
Looking back at A Ramallosa.Praia is beach in Spanish. America is America in Spanish. This was the American beach. Who knows why?The islands in the distance are the Cies Islands. Spain is very proud of the Cies Islands and is trying to get them designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. I was going to take a day off and take the ferry out for a visit. As I checked this out I realized that the only thing you can do there is hike around. Kinda like a busman’s holiday for me. I didn’t want to take a day off from this hike to go out to the Cies Islands and hike.I stopped in a church on the waterfront in Vigo to say a prayer. This statue is a memorial to all the Vigo fishermen who went out to fish and never came back.Vigo is a big port and has a thriving ship repair industry. I walked by almost a half mile of these waterfront shops that were repairing what looked like fishing boats.The workers at these repair shops frequent the taverns that are located across the street from the repair shops. I decided to go local and stop at one of these taverns. My waiter didn’t speak a word of English and did not understand a whole lot of my Spanglish. There was no menu and I finally figured out that there two choices for lunch, meat or fish. Vigo is the home port for a substantial fishing fleet and the tavern was surrounded by fish markets. So, I ordered fish. It was very good.This is my cozy private room in the Colegiate Hostel. It is small and clean with a nice memory foam mattress. It is located on a church square, with church bells ringing every hour. That is quaint until it is bedtime and then it is annoying. Good thing I have heavy duty wax earplugs.This is the church.At Mass at the Church of Saint Mary.After Mass I needed a little snack so I found a place where I could get a beer and a small portion of pulpo 🐙. For those of you who don’t know, pulpo is Spanish for octopus and it is delicious!Johnny Depp is on my balcony. What in the world is he doing there? Do you think he is walking the Camino dressed up like a pirate?
That’s it from Vigo, Spain. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.
I got a great night’s sleep last night. Sunset is now about 10:00 PM and sunrise this morning was at about 7:00 AM. I got out on the Way at about 7:30 and felt pretty energetic for the first two hours. I was marching on an empty stomach and was running out of steam about mid morning so I stopped and had breakfast at an RV campground. I had a chocolate croissant and an orange juice and a banana, the breakfast of champions.
This was right about the time the sun was peeking over the hills to the east of The Way.Interesting roadside Camino art.This coast in southwestern Spain is spectacular.A lighthouse because I know Jan likes lighthouses.The Way today was a mixture of walking/biking paths that hugged the coast and these rough as a cob trails over the hills.It seems like there are a lot of horses in the pastures but we don’t see anyone riding the horses.I stopped in Baiona for lunch. It was noon and they didn’t start serving lunch until 1:00. They invited me to sit at a table outside in the shade and drink beer and enjoy a plate of tapas, which I did. When 1:00 rolled around I had a very nice plate of pasta carbonara.This is my home for the evening, Pazo Pias. It is an old monastery. The common areas and the grounds have a lot of character but the rooms are nothing special.I splurged and got a single room.
That’s it from A Ramallosa, Spain. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
After breakfast at the alburgue it was time to cross the Minho River from Portugal to Spain. A shuttle driver picked us up at the alburgue to take us to the boat.
This is the shuttle. The driver was a Mad Max madman who scared the living daylights out of me. I was sitting in the front passenger seat with my backpack on my lap as he careened through Caminaha.This is our water taxi.
The boat was so small that only five of us could cross at a time. I sat in the front of the boat and I got soaked from the spray of the bow of the boat cutting through the water.
Our boat captain waving goodbye after he dropped us off in Spain.
As I was walking down the boardwalk toward A Guarda a Spanish gentleman welcomed me to Spain and reminded me that I had just lost an hour as the Spanish time zone is an hour ahead of Portugal. So instead of 8:30 it is 9:30. That is a very late start to the day.
This was a salt pond. At one time salt was as valuable as gold or silver. Salt was the only way to preserve food. I am going to hug the coast on the Litoral Way and avoid going up and down that hill.Spain does a great job marking The Way. Just follow the yellow arrows. Portugal does a very half assed job marking The Way.The Camino today was a nice mixture of beach and forest paths.At about 1:00 PM I passed by a cafe on the beach that had tortilla español. I love tortilla español. It is like a quiche with eggs and potatoes and onions.What in the world is a Buddha doing on the Camino??? In Spain you have your mailbox and your breadbox. Pan is Spanish for bread.This is Jose, the hospitalero at the Portuguese Camino Alburgue in O Serrallo. He saved me a bottom bunk. He is my hero.Memory foam mattress and a top and bottom sheet and a blanket. What a great bunk bed!I walked with Rafael and Judy yesterday and was very pleased to see that they were staying at the alburgue. Christine from Germany joined us for dinnerThis is the view from the bar where we ate dinner.I had a hamburger for dinner and it was really good.
That’s it for today. Good night from O Serrallo, Spain. I hope you are having a good day wherever you are.
I got up at about 7:00 and was on the Way by 7:30. For the first hour or so we walked on narrow roads winding through small villages. Then the Way veered to the right and proceeded through a forrest and up and over a fairly big hill. In places the forrest path was a burbling stream and in other places it was a muddy mess. All the rain last week really did a number on the forest path.
The recent rains have swollen the streams so that they are spilling out from their banks. And my gut is spilling out over the hip belt on my backpack.Once we got over the hill and out of the forest we got a great view of the Atlantic.The flowers are really putting on a show. I walked most of the day with Rafael and Judit. They live in Florida and are both retired. Rafael has bad blisters and he is really suffering.
Rafael and Judit couldn’t walk all the way to Caminaha. They stopped at an alburgue about 5 kilometers short of Caminaha. After I dropped them off it was 2:00 and I was hungry. I walked by an Italian restaurant and decided to have lunch.
For 12 euros I got this huge plate of pasta putanesca. It was fabulous. I also had a couple bottles of beer to fight off dehydration.Statue of a fisherman and his fish in Caminaha. The Portuguese sure are proud of their fish.
I finally got to my alburgue, the Arca Nova Guesthouse, at about 3:30.
The bunk room is pretty basic and the bed springs have sprung.The alburgue does have a foot bath. You alternate hot salted water and cold water. My feet are tired but the foot bath gave them some relief.
That’s it from Caminaha. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
When I got up this morning it was raining buckets and the clouds had descended on Mount Santa Luzia diminishing visibility to almost nothing. I slept in, had breakfast and packed my backpack before heading over to the church for the 11:00 AM mass. The church was freezing and the roof was leaking and the church was almost empty, but I got down on my knees and prayed for a cessation of this constant Noah’s Ark rain.
What a beautiful altar.
After Mass was over I noticed light coming in through the church’s massive stained glass windows. I ran outside and sure enough, the rain had stopped and the clouds parted and the sun came out. Hallelujah!
I took the funicular down the mountain and decided I needed a quick bite to eat before I started walking the Way. It is Sunday so everything is closed. I was worried that I would be marching on an empty stomach. Then I walked by a shopping mall, on the Camino. I figured shopping malls everywhere have food courts so I might as well duck into the mall and check it out.
And this mall had an excellent food court. Everyone was well groomed and smartly dressed and staring at vagabond me.I found a place that sold paella and it wasn’t half bad, for mall food court food.
After I finished my food court lunch I started my afternoon march. The Way exiting Vila do Costello was well marked with yellow arrows and after about 45 minutes I was in the countryside.
I am walking the Coastal path today. I have been walking the Litoral for the last four days. The Litoral is a boardwalk right along the beach. It is very windy and the scenery is beach, after beach, after beach. I needed a break so I decided to walk the Coastal path which as you can see is a couple of kilometers east of the coast.Interesting garage.This is typical of the Coastal Path today.There has been so much rain lately that some of the foot bridges are flooded. We had to cross this foot bridge.The water was only about six inches deep but it was cold and fast moving. I took off my shoes and socks and carefully walked across this flooded foot bridge.This is a fellow pilgrim crossing the bridge.This is some sort of alburgue where you work as an agricultural laborer for your room and board. That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.Amazing detail at the top of the gate to the agricultural alburgue.Somebody got a little carried away with this yard art.I finally arrived at my alburgue, Casa Sardeo, Lizard House. It is an oasis in the middle of nowhere.And they have cold mini beers for a buck. I might never leave. This is my lower bunk for tonight. Clean sheets and a blanket. I am in heaven.As the evening winds down I am sitting by the wood burning stove at the alburgue.Me finishing my blog.
That’s it for tonight from Casa Sardeo, outside Carreco, Portugal. I hope everyone is having a great day.
This morning there was a cold wind blowing and the rain was coming down in sheets. I found a bus stop a couple of blocks from the alburgue and planned to take a bus to the next stop on the route, Viana do Costello. It would be a long walk from the bus station to my alburgue in Viana do Costello, but there was no way I was going to walk the 20 kilometers from Marinhas to Viana do Costello in the wind and the cold and the rain. The bus was scheduled to come by at 10:00, but you never know with public transportation. I got down to the bus stop at 9:00 and spent 30 minutes in a cafe having breakfast, an orange juice and a chocolate croissant.
After breakfast I was sitting at the bus stop, wet and miserable and cold when I saw a cab approaching me going towards Viana do Costello. Reflectively I jumped out in front of the cab, waved my arms and screamed at him to stop. The cab driver, Thomas, pulled over to the side of the road and got out to castigate me for being a stupid pilgrim. After I explained my plight and my desperate need for a cab to take me to Viana do Costello he threw my sodden backpack into the back of his cab and drove me to my destination and gave a 25% Pilgrim discount. The Camino does indeed provide.
This is where he dropped me off.
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It sits on the top of Mt. Santa Luzia.
When I got there the wind was howling and the rain was sheeting down and it was bitter cold. And I packed for a warm Camino. My alburgue didn’t open for three hours so I had some time to kill. The church looked like a good place to kill some time, say a few prayers and get in out of the rain and cold. The inside of this church was amazing.
The altar.The church had three of these huge stained glass windows.
The church didn’t have heating and the roof was leaking and it was drafty because bus loads of tourists kept coming and going. After an hour or so I decided to go out and look around. It was still raining so I ran over to the gift shop which had a generous overhang. I was soon joined by Peg and Sue.
Peg and Sue are sisters who like to do Caminos. We chatted for an hour before they had to be on their Way.
It finally cleared up and I took some pictures of the beautiful views.
Ocean view.City view.
I finally got to check into the alburgue attached to the church.
The bunk rooms are clean and bright and we get sheets and a blanket.
I needed to go down the hill to town to get a late lunch and food for tomorrow. This is how I got down the hill.
It is a funicular.As my car was going down, this car was going up. It went to the right and we went to the left.
I found a sushi buffet place for lunch/dinner.
It was a large buffet but the sushi was average at best.The flowers in this part of Portugal are starting to bloom.
That’s it from Viana do Castello, Portugal. I hope you are having a good day wherever you are.
A couple of the guys in the bunk room at the alburgue in Vila do Conde got up at 5:30 AM and woke me up. I decided that as long as I am up I might as well get going. I was out of the alburgue by 6:30 and walked out to the coast. It was very overcast and windy and wet for most of the day.
These are the remains of old windmills that they used to grind grain. From what I have seen there is plenty of wind for the windmills.
As I was walking the Way outside Vila do Conde I came upon this golf course.
They had a gate to keep out the riff raff but when they heard that I was the commissioner of the Hansen Golf League in Denver, Colorado, they opened the gates wide and bade me enter.On the other side of the dune in the background is the beach and the Pacific Ocean. All in all it is a pretty nice track.This is the clubhouse. Nothing fancy on the outside but very nice on the inside. The Head Pro bought me lunch.
After lunch the pro tried to set me up with three of the members for 18 holes and a high stakes pig and wolf game. I was tempted but I told him that this pilgrim was on a religious journey to Santiago and that I should probably avoid golf and gambling while I am on my pilgrimage. He understood but invited me back after I have finished my journey. As I was leaving he tried to load me down with a dozen Titleists with the club’s logo and assorted hats and shirts. I told him that I am traveling light and that golf attire is probably not acceptable attire for a pilgrimage.
I stopped at this family run small bar and restaurant to have lunch. I ordered fish and it came out in less than a minute. Not a good sign.
The fish was not good. As a matter of fact the whole meal was not good. I ate it because I was hungry but it was not a treat for my tastebuds.
After lunch I found this church and went inside to say a prayer for everyone on my prayer list.
Not exactly an old church but it beautiful in its simplicity.
I couldn’t find a place to stay in my intended end point, Esposende, so I wound up walking another 5 kilometers in a torrential downpour to get to Marinhas and the municipal alburgue. Thank God they are open and thank God I got a bottom bunk. This is not a complaint it is just an observation, the water in the shower was freezing cold. And I was really looking forward to a nice, long, hot shower. These things happen at an 8 dollar a night municipal alburgue.
Due in part to all the walking in wet socks and shoes and the distance I walked, too far, I developed a big blister on the pinky toe on my right foot. The hospitalera at the alburgue told me that there was a clinic a couple of blocks away that takes care of Pilgrim injuries, gratis. I walked down to the clinic and they let me see a nurse right away.
This is Nancy my nurse. She was so nice. She popped the blister on my little toe and spent about 5 minutes massaging the toe to get all the blister fluid out.Some poor pilgrim got stuck with this fold out couch.
Good night from Marinhas, Portugal.
Steps walked – 39,000
Kilometers walked – 36 – way too many kilometers!
Flights of stairs climbed – 6
The forecast is for rain all day tomorrow. I might take a bus or a taxi to my next stop, Viana do Costello. It appears to be only 20 kilometers away. I have reserved a bed in an alburgue that opens at 2:00. It might be nice to take a break and avoid another day of walking in the rain. We’ll see.
As I was ambling out of Matosinhos I walked by this car repair shop.
What an interesting and eye catching way to advertise a car repair shop.
A few kilometers outside Matosinhos I ran across my first kilometer marker.
258 kilometers should be a piece of cake.
This stretch of the coast was flat out stunning.
This was a salt water swimming pool right at the water’s edge. Too cold to be swimming this time of year.Jan loves lighthouses so I had to include this lighthouse in the blog.This beach stretches all the way from Matosinhos to Vila do Conde.Dad’s ashes.I found this amazing beach next to a Catholic church and decided this would be a great place to spread some of dad’s ashes. He loved the water and he was a card carrying, never miss church on Sunday, Catholic for his whole life. This spot was perfect. Rest in peace dad.
Now it was time to find a place to spread some of my sister Anna’s ashes. I think I found the perfect spot.
I found this hippy dippy section of beach that Anna would have loved. Rest in Peace Anna.This is Anna’s stretch of beach now. Not a bad view.This fishing enclave stretched for almost 1/2 a kilometer along the beach.A little bit of funky fisherman art.
Now it is time for lunch. As I walked along that fishing enclave I decided that I was going to have fresh fish for lunch.
This is grandpa grilling my fish.And this is my lunch. I don’t know what kind of fish it was but it was delicious.Charlie Brown in Vila do Conde. This is for my mom. We both love Charlie Brown. This is the bunk room at the Alburgue Santa Clara in Vila do Conde. I have the lower bunk on the right hand side. The hospitalera who checked me in assured me that she saves the bottom bunks for old geezers like me. Thank God! This is a pretty good deal for 10 euros.
After I checked in I washed and partially dried my clothes and had a moderately acceptable pilgrim dinner with two German women. I had fish and it was OK and they had pizza that was not very good. I am not sure why they expected good pizza in the fresh fish capital of the world.
That’s it for today from Vila do Conde, Portugal. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 