2019 Camino Walk – Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela – 260 km.
When I first learned about Camino Walk through my grand-niece, Leela. I had no idea what to expect. Suddenly I found myself free to travel and decided to take the opportunity to join her on the Camino Walk. First thing Leela told me was to start walking to practice. I used to go for walks 2-3 times a week. I decided get serious and walk every day. I managed to practice for about 2 weeks. Then I sprained my ankle one evening and my walks stopped. I decided to not worry about training and got busy planning the trip. Leela helped me plan the trip. I gathered the list of things needed on the walk. We Planned a sightseeing trip to Lisbon and Porto before starting our walk on June 1st. We carried everything in backpacks. I had two backpacks since I knew I would send the heavier pack with the porter service each morning to the next destination and carry a day pack with me. Looking back I packed way too much. Oh well!!!
We started our walk on June 1st, 2019 from Porto, Portugal. Leela had a guide book showing details of each day’s walk path, terrain, elevation, restaurants and points of interest on the way. Day 1 we had to walk about 22 miles. Since I was not sure if I could walk such distance on first day, we planned to take a train to half way point and then start the walk. I was grateful to have Leela as my personal tour guide throughout the trip. We said goodbye to our family who had come for the sightseeing and boarded the train in Proto. We walked 10 miles to the Albergue de Santiago Mosteiro de Vairao, where we would stay for the night. Walking with a backpack was a new experience for me. My big pack was sent to the destination we selected to stay for the night. The Process was to put 5-7 Euros in an envelope and fill out the destination address on the outside of the envelope, attach the it to the backpack and let the porter service know where to pick up the pack. The system was so amazing. The backpack was at the destination each day by the time we arrived there in the afternoon/evening.
The day pack had what I would need on the walk. Water, medicine, jacket, rain cover, snacks etc. Leela carried all her stuff in one pack and had it with her at all times. She was also less than half my ageJ We would stop often to see the surrounding areas. We walked through villages, cities, forests, mountains, plains. Highways, byways, dirt paths, cobblestone streets. Every morning I would ask Leela, how does the elevation for the walk look like for the day. Her answer would be “Flat-ish”. Perhaps a new word was coined…. Most days there were spots that were NOT Flat-ish at all.
Second day was the longest day. We walked 17.4 miles. By the time we reached the Albergue for the evening, I was totally exhausted. All I could think of doing was find the bed in hostel room and crash. Each subsequent day got easier. We walked about 10-12 miles each day and finished the Camino walk in 12 days (two days ahead of planned two weeks). Leela had asked me to think about why I was going on this walk. Second day I was really wondering why I was on this walk. Was it that I wanted to see if I could do it? Was it to find myself? I had been taking care of my dad for the past 4-5 years. I lost him in January and now I was wondering what was next? Throughout the walk I would come back to the question of why this walk again and again. At the end of the walk I realized I needed this time away from home to destress and rejuvenate myself.
On the fourth day, we had planned to stay at a very nice Albergue which was private home and would include breakfast the next morning. There were no bookings ahead of time. It was first come first serve. We had start early enough to reach the place by 1:00 pm. But there were others who must have started even earlier. The next Albergue was additional 6-7 miles. We had already walked 11 miles and I was ready to call it a day. The lady at the house said that we could take the bus to the next place. Leela and I decided that would be the way to go. I carried my big backpack which had arrived at the place and my day pack to the bus stop. Thankfully it was only a short distance around the corner. As we waited we planned what we would for dinner once we got to the place. Few minutes later two ladies came around the corner with their backpacks and plopped themselves on the bench in the bus stop. We exchanged pleasantries (I always wanted to use this phrase). They had been also rejected by the lady the Albergue and guided to take the bus to the next spot. Within minutes we were talking as if we had known each other for years. Eileen R., 6’2” and Michelle L, 5’ 0” were two best friends from USA doing the Camino walk together. We debated whether to start walking or wait for the bus. Michelle and I voted to wait for the bus even though we did not know what time it would come. Leela and Eileen were itching to walk. But we did not want to split up. After about 15 minutes they also decided to wait for the illusive bus. It finally arrived after about 45 mins. We got in and breathed a sigh of relief. We reached the Albergue around 5:00 checked in got our beds. Cleaned up and went to explore the area for dinner. At dinner we got to know each other better.
We decided that our pace was very similar and that we could walk together. Michelle was happy that she has found someone closer to her height and speed. Leela and Eileen paired up nicely. Every morning we would get up, pack up and start walking. The first coffee shop we came across would be where we would break for Café-con-Leche and chocolate croissant (or any other food they had). I needed my Ginger Chai (I carried unsweetened ready to use tea pouches with me). I would try to get up before the others did. Find my way to the kitchen for some hot water. I even had my crochet with me and sat outside in the early morning light sipping my tea and crocheting. All three of them found this very amusing.
We met many pilgrims at each of the Albergue every night. They were walking at different pace. Some of them we met every day, some we met only once. Each day we would reach our destination for the day by 3 – 4 pm, put our gear down, shower and step out to explore the area. Eileen would say it’s Cerveza time and we would find a small local pub and relax. Towns had quaint little squares where people would gather for the evening meal and conversations with friends.
Michell and I would walk at a slower pace. Leela and Eileen would walk faster and would always be ahead of us. We knew our end destination for the day and would plan to meet there in case we got separated. The Camino walk is very well marked. They have the Yellow Arrow showing the direction all the way. Every so often they have signs showing how much further to go for the end of the walk. Though we were walking together and ate all our meals together, each one of us found time in the day to be alone with nature. We were always within shouting distance from each other. One day Michelle and I were walking through a forest. Eileen and Leela were about half an hour ahead of us. As we were climbing the hill, we smelt smoke. We increased our pace not knowing where the smoke was coming from and what would happen. As we got higher we could see a controlled fire being burned near the creek at the bottom of the hill. Suddenly we relaxed our pace and paid attention to the surrounding beauty of the forest.
As we crossed the border between Portugal and Spain, we were on a high bridge over Minho river. I walked across the bridge without any problem. The walkway was metal mesh and I could see the water flowing below. The breeze across the water was refreshing. Michelle had a real tough time crossing the bridge. She was afraid of heights. But she managed slow walk across and breathed a sigh of relief. We celebrated with extra wine and beer that evening. The next morning we got ready for the day’s walk. As usual Leela and Eileen were way ahead. Michelle and I were walking at a leisurely pace. After walking about 3.5 miles we reached the first café on the way and we were ready for Café con Leche and food. In Spain common breakfast is Tortilla de Espanola. We had it every chance we got along with Croissant de Chocolate.
This café had the Croissant de Chocolate and Café con Leche. We were sitting outside the café and watching the traffic go by. As we finishing our breakfast we noticed that there was a bus stop across the street. We both looked at each other at the same time and smiled. The question “shall we?” popped in our heads simultaneously. We asked the café owner with our broken Spanish, if the buses are running today and found out that they were. We decided to take the bus to get closer to our stay for the night. What would have taken us all to walk we covered it in one hour. We had decided to keep our bus ride a secret. But as luck would have it we ran into two pilgrims who were traveling the same route and were going to the same Albergue that night. Since we had arrived earlier than anticipated, we walked through the local market place. We saw many local foods, crafts, and fabrics. I picked up some fabric to make a blanket for my grandson (still in the design stage). We picked up sweet cherries, fresh olives and some bread. It was just about lunch time when Leela asked where were. And we could not keep our bus ride a secret anymore. We met Leela and Eileen for lunch and walked the rest of the way to the Albergue.
Next day we started our walk as usual. At the beginning of the day all four of us walking together. I asked Leela how far could she spit a Cherry pit? She looked at me quizzically? What spit the cherry pit!!!? And that to how far? Her answer was that she had never done it. Well we found a great pastime as we walked on. After about 20 attempts Leela was able to spit out the cherry pit a respectable distance. We reached our destination at usual time, took shower, got ready and stepped out for Cerveza and Wine followed by dinner. We realized that we would reach Santiago de Compostela two days ahead of our schedule. That made us all feel really elated. We planned our walks such that day 12 we only had to walk 5 miles so that we could reach the church court yard in the morning time. Day 12 arrived and we could hardly wait to finish the walk. My shoes that had worked so great for the past 11 days ( not even a tiny blister) decided to give up on me. Both feet started hurting as soon as I took few steps. I tried tying and re-tying them but could not walk. So I decided I would walk bare feet since it was only a short distance and my sandals and flip flops were in the big backpack. Luckily Leela had her flip flops with her which I used for the last 4.5 miles. When we reached the court yard we saw there were others who had reached the end destination of their journey as well. We hung around for some time not knowing what we should be doing next. After we had soaked up the culture for some time we found our way to the Albergue near the church. We put all our backpack in our rooms. Stepped out again to find the office of the church to get our walking certificate. We walked around the city for rest of the day aimlessly and enjoyed it. Since we had arrived early we decided to go to Finisterre for couple of days extra. That was an awesome way to end our long walk. We took a bus from Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre and stayed in a hotel for two night. We had no agenda for those two days. We strolled around the town, went to the beach, saw the end of the world as it was considered in Roman times. Two days passed very quickly. It was time for us to say goodbye to each other. Leela went off to meet her parents at another vacation spot. Eileen and Michelle went back to USA. I still had one more day of sightseeing in Madrid. Madrid was lovely, I took a city tour bus and spent the day seeing places and enjoying good food. The flight home was uneventful. I was recharged and ready to get back to work and routine until the next trip.