Camino 2019

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Today was a great walk and FINALLY …FINALLY it has the hallmarks of what we had hoped we would be seeing – green fields, tracks, rural life happening- and at the start of the day we had 208km to go to get to Santiago.

We headed out of Arcos after breakfast and have started seeing Peregrinos on the road – behind and in front…just like last year. Lots of quiet chatter. Interestingly we have been walking at about the same pace as a fellow Australian, but we haven’t done much more than greet him along the way when we have seen each other. He is travelling with a group and is clearly staying in the albergues and so that group has formed. We have been walking around people that were with us at last evening’s accomodation at Arcos which has been a new experience for this trip. We anticipate that some of them will be here at the same accomodation as us in Barcelos. Last year one of our group seemed to play the role of organising the “group” for dinner each day – it was a task that he took on of his own volition and perhaps that was what created the “group” that we walked with.

Heaps of corn and rye fields – grape vines, kiwi vines and ACRES of domaci kupus (for the non-Croatians that = Croatian style Kale). We were so happy to be off the asphalt and walking on trails and tracks – although most of the day it was drizzling – there were two very happy vegemites in Portugal today.

We also began to notice that clearly some of the folks building up here are starting to play with their architecture – echoes of the past with materials that are the same – but interpreted so differently. Lots of stone and steel and timber and the biggest change of all – big windows and no roller shutters…

We are in Barcelos tonight and will head shortly with jackets and scarves and wet weather gear on to explore…and Spain is getting closer.

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That was a tough walk – not because of distance, but simply having to get out of the city took forever, down busy highways and it seemed to go for ever. It was 27km and all of it was on asphalt or cobblestones. We eventually did make a turn towards rural Portugal and that seemed to provide some hope that we might eventually get back to the country paths and trails which we have been waiting for.

We have made it to Arcos where we are staying for the night and met a chap from the Netherlands when we stopped for a coffee this afternoon. He is walking his 14th Camino – this time he has done a circle route that took him from Porto to Santiago via the coastal route, then joining the mystical route walking BACK to Porto via the Central route. This was his last day. The Central route is the Camino that we are walking. I thought we were a little crazy doing this for the second time in two years – but he told me that he is coming back in September to walk from Seville following yet another route to Santiago…clearly he enjoys walking!

Tonight we are staying in a converted farm house and dinner is provided at the home – which is a blessing as we have walked the village and apart from the cafe which looked like slim pickings – we would have to walk back 5km for a meal where we have just come from.

We still cannot get over how beautiful the OLD part of Porto is, but interestingly once we got out to the burbs, we wondered how many of the residents who don’t live in the historic part of the city, actually enjoy the beauty of the old town and the amazing Douro river.

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Porto is simply beautiful…we had no idea. All the better for having shared it with Jordan and Pru – we walked UP and DOWN and UP and UP… we ate fish, and Portuguese tarts and drank Vinho Verde and Port and watched a parade of local villagers and their brass bands and walked on top of and beneath bridges and caught a finicula when we couldn’t face the climb UP again…twice.

We would all come back in a flash…beautiful, sublime Porto – the photos just cant do the place justice.

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Today we walked through one of the more interesting (albeit small) sections of a town so far on the Portuguese Camino. The town is called Pinheiro da Bemposta and was founded in 1514. The remnants of the medieval town are built on the remains of an old Roman Road (another one) and the heritage walk, which the Camino follows, takes you past many buildings with historical society signs explaining the history or importance. The interesting thing was to see houses that have certainly been added to and built upon, so well maintained. The juxtaposition of looking at some that have been left derelict only serves to heighten the experience.

The walking today again involved more “UP” which Lori has mastered by dropping her head, staring directly at the floor and basically “pushing on” and being very clear that she is not to be disturbed during an “ascent”. This proved to be quite amusing as I completed a sharp hook turn (following the way marks) and Lori just kept walking past not noticing me or the turn. I suppose it was lucky I turned, noticed and called after her or she could be at the Atlantic by now.

The hook turn was also interesting because it led to another way marker which had us walking on an abandoned and dilapidated railway track for about one kilometer. This took us into a valley and then the climb for about 40 minutes into Oliveira de Azemeis. As we were walking along we began to notice lots and lots of adult sized straw figures in windows, doors and attached to buildings. This is part of a festival that recognises the presence of the Spanish in the region. The town is interesting because there is certainly all the hallmarks of a rural centre with large squares, surrounded by shops and coffee shops but on the walk into the center we were walking through what looks like new suburbs of multi hi rise apartment buildings and new single dwelling homes. Many, many of the towns have this growth occurring on the urban fringe in Portugal, I suppose as you would expect. What is remarkable to us is that on the Camino Frances, except for about three towns, we never saw this. Perhaps it is because of the route that the Camino Frances follows where most of the “industry” in the towns we walked through is the Peregrinos and the Camino. It is clear that this “industry” is only just being identified in Portugal.

The people in Portugal along the Camino have been incredibly welcoming and helpful – perhaps because with only 2000 people walking “The Way” last year rather than the 250 000 walking the Camino Frances, we are probably a novelty. We have been blown away by how helpful the people are even with our VERY limited Portuguese. In many respects the folks here are more welcoming than those in Spain, but …the path itself is no where as welcoming with so much more of the route in Portugal on asphalt and roads rather than on tracks, bush and farms as it is in Spain.

So tonight we are in Malaposta – 27km out of Porto with 315 kilometers covered! Tomorrow we head into Porto where Jordan and Pru should have flown in to get away from their London summer of 11 degrees and rain – let’s hope that the Portuguese weekend will defrost them a little before we head to Korcula in Croatia in a couple of weeks time.

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Well we haven’t done this before…we are back at Agueda, having walked to Albergaria la Velha and tomorrow we get “transported” back to la Velha and we keep walking. A quirk in the agenda which will get repeated a couple more times this Camino. Must be something to do with the Scottish company that we have booked through this time. Nonetheless it was a great day of walking with a couple of hilarious bits and a quite touching encounter.

We headed “UP” out of town – which I have to say we are getting much better at as the days are progressing – almost two weeks in and the “UPs” are getting more doable. I’m almost regretting writing that because on the horizon are a serious lot of mountains and I am positive that eventually they are going to get between us and Santiago. We cleared the town of Agueda and had walked for about two hours and saw a sign to a restaurant which was slightly off the path.

We headed into the restaurant for a coffee and even though they were setting up for the day (I doubt that they were actually open) we were invited in. Coffees and mineral water consumed we got up to pay and the young woman serving asked if we wanted our Camino passport stamped – we of course said yes as that meant we were not going to have to be searching for another place to get the stamp today. Again, this is a difference from the Camino Frances where almost every church is open and stamps “Sils” are relatively common place. After the stamps were completed I offered the money for the coffees and waters and the young woman responded that her father (the owner) was shouting us – no money required. We were a little surprised, but gratefully accepted.

The young woman explained that she had last week completed the Camino from Valencia to Santiago and although it had taken 6 days, she is sure that she and her husband could have made it in 4. We said that we were walking from Lisbon and planned to be finished in about 25 days of walking. Her father was listening to the conversation and as we were leaving, he called something out and she stopped us and asked us to wait. She went into a back room and brought a bag of local biscuits for us to take “on the way”. A gift, from her Dad. She then went on to say that they were all having a difficult time as a family as her son had just died – for a young woman, clearly her son must have been young and her father was offering us a gift for our Camino. Her Camino was obviously for very personal reasons and we were afforded a kindness from her family – and we were grateful for that. We set off again realising AGAIN this year that many people walk the Camino for many different reasons.

We were hoofing it along and realised that the signs on the road were different from those on our map. Looking at the signs on the road it was taking us straight onto a freeway and map was leading us away – always ready to get off a freeway, we chose the map. As we came around a bend having taken photos of the Horreo ( a typically Galician granary to dry out corn or cheese so that the mice don’t get the goods inside) we walked towards a bridge which interestingly had the entrance bricked over. Not to be daunted, we took off our packs and placed them over the wall, and then scaled the wall and started walking along the bridge – as we came to the top of the rise of the bridge the ‘slight’ issue became clear…. “ummm Lori – there’s a bit of the bridge missing”…ie there was a complete section fo the bridge missing…we both burst out laughing. After considering whether we could climb down and roll up leggings and pants and wade/swim cross the river, and deciding that was silly, we rescaled the wall, and headed back onto the freeway. The photo, the diversion and the laugh was worth it.

The remainder of the walk took us through more eucalyptus forests (if you close your eyes and simply breathe you could be anywhere in our Australian bush) and back through the back streets of town and into Albergaria la Velha. These back districts are interesting because there’s clearly a great deal of building going on and new districts are surrounding these towns – again, not something we saw much of in Spain last year.

So, another day done – tomorrow we continue on and we are getting closer to Porto.

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Having hoofed out of El Caballo (yes we did get an omelette for dinner and no we didn’t go to the DISCOTECA) at a very civilised 8.25am (because Allan set the alarm for 6.00pm instead of 6.00am and thank goodness Lori can knock loudly and I can pack very quickly) we are very pleased with ourselves….26km and we walked into Agueda at 2.30pm AND we had two stops along the way for cafe Americano and argua con gas con gelo…

Today we headed out through a series of small urban villages and having had an irreverent conversation with Rad about ‘objets d’arts’ along Phoenix Road in Spirivood and whether I had spotted any similar ‘prizes’ on our stroll through Portugal, we turned a corner and there before our eyes were a couple of “pieces”. They have now been recorded in the blog for posterity sake but neither come anywhere close to the magnificence of “THOR the THUNDER GOD” in Jean Street Beaconsfield which arguably alongside “DISCO MADONNA” on Phoenix Road are examples of the highest forms of objets d’arts ‘d ethnic front yard.

Exiting the villages we headed back into eucalyptus forest and after a couple of kilometres we came to the sign which signals that we are leaving another region and entering the Agueda region. This will take as almost through to Porto. Although the path was through several sections of forest and vineyards, by far the majority of the walking was on asphalt roads. We normally complain about this, but today it wasn’t too bad because the roads were quiet. Walking through the last of the eucalyptus forests we could hear the sounds of kids – lots of kids – and it wasn’t until we came out of the forest that we discovered that we were walking towards amazing sports facilities and multiple soccer pitches and stadiums that appear to have been constructed for the European Championships several years ago. Fantastic facilities and loads of kids participating in their phys ed lessons – funny same sounds of kids playing sport no matter what the language.

Heading on through several more villages and several pretty heavy industrial areas we both were wondering whether if this were the first camino that we had undertaken would we have considered coming back for a second – the jury is still out. The asphalt and the industrial areas are definite put offs, but once we are onto the trails and away from the traffic it all becomes enticing.

Today’s “lessons” included that chopping wood (in particular eucalyptus) is made MUCH simpler with a heavy duty pneumatic wood splitter attached to the back of a Massey Ferguson tractor AND Kiwi Fruit grows on vines…not only are our calves getting exercise but we’re learning things as well!

So, coming into Agueda which is built along the banks of the river…..was very pleasant and pleasing – the time was great and we were able to locate the accomodation easily. This is our home base for two days as the villages that we are walking through do not have accomodation – so we walk our kilometres and then get transported back to the hotel and the reverse happens in the morning. – transported back to where we finished the day before – mod cons that the old pilgrims wouldn’t have enjoyed.

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Today was one of those walks that if there was a choice – you wouldn’t. Much of the walk was along bitumen and on some pretty hectic highways with relatively short breaks from the noise in Eucalyptus forests and some small farming hamlets.

We headed off at about 8.30am as we had only 23km to cover. Heading out of Coimbra required some nifty crossing of railway lines at a railway station where clearly the warning bells to not cross the tracks as a train is approaching are treated merely as a suggestion – one which the locals (and subsequently we) ignored. Off we headed full of confidence and found ourselves walking around a very large round about, crossing every lane of oncoming traffic and ending up back where had started and basically then deciding to head north.

The little villages along the way were pretty run down and although crops were looking good, there were still relatively few people out and about – pilgrims or locals. Again, we seemed to be heading “UP” many hills and came across the only other person heading to Santiago on the road all day. This continues to be the most uniquely different experience to the Camino Frances of last year. I have read that last year only 2000 pilgrims walked the Camino Portuguese as compared to 250 000 who walked the Camino Frances.

We finally made it off the roadways and into Eucalyptus forest which was a very welcome relief from walking on the bitumen. We were able to pick up the pace on this section which ended all to soon as we came out onto the roadways again. We were heading to a town called Mealhada – and it is quite unlikely that there is going to be “Meal – hadda” for either of us as the specialty of this region is suckling pig on the spit…neither of us being porky eaters, both of us feel an omelette coming on! (For those in the family the sign above the entrance gates of our hotel of “ee lovey piggy crunchy”…did give me a giggle.)

To get to our accomodation for the night we had to walk ‘out’ of the town (we think???) by about 3km – wondering what the accomodation would look like, the laughter said it all once we had spotted the building. Basically, we have walked into El Caballo Blanco (see the photos above!) and it feels like we have made it through Midland and that El Caballo is located at the intersection with Roe Highway and Great Eastern Highway rather than in Woorolloo. However, you can imagine how much laughter there was when we saw the sign above the accomodation that let us know that at least we had a DISCOTECA – just what we need! I wonder whether they will mind if come in wearing our boots and carrying hiking sticks?

So, an omelette at El Caballo and I would suggest an early night (passing on El DISCOTECA) is probably the way things will go – hopefully less asphalt tomorrow!

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Today was one of three days off that we get in the 620km walk from Lisbon to Santiago. So we get up a little later than normal – have breakfast and I head off for a wander walking around Coimbra. “Around” is a loose description of walking “UP” Coimbra – everything appears to be “UP” in Coimbra. This city is basically built on one very, very high hill. The other thing that becomes very obvious is that for 10am on a Monday morning NOBODY is out and about. Curious, I call Lori back at the hotel.. “Lori you remember when you said that you thought there may be a public holiday in Portugal while we were here…you can’t remember the date can you?”

Sure enough – today is Portugal Day! So the plan becomes one of wandering around a lot, seeing what you can, enjoying whatever is open and basically resting up from the heavy duty walking.

Coimbra is known as Portugal’s university city. The university is located at the highest point in the city (of course it is and we walked walked UP to see it) and one of its buildings occupies the original palace of King Aphonso Henriques from the 12th Century when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal. The streets and narrow alleys around the university are all within what used to be the old walled city and so the sense of medieval is all pervasive. Lots of young people, lots of bars and cafes and lots of tables and chairs outside – in good uni traditions I am positive that they are put to good use.

Having now hoofed close to 250km, the day off was very welcome. Tomorrow we are off again to walk the next third of the journey as we head to Porto. I am looking forward to catching up with Jordan and Pru who are heading down to spend the weekend – happy in the knowledge that they may get away from a London “summer” which this year, would best be described as an oxymoron.

That will teach me to talk too soon. I’ve been waxing on about how austere and simple the church’s are in comparison to Spain and then we stumble across the Church of the Patron Saint of Coimbra, Saint Queen Isabel (that’s her up there in the silver casket behind the altar). There was gold gilt everywhere. The cloisters and church were nowhere as well preserved as they are in Spain, however the simplicity is absolutely appealing.

Slow start this morning with it being Sunday we opted to stay for breakfast at our accommodation rather than taking a packed breakfast. We headed out by about 9.00am and made our way through the hills towards Coimbra – University City. The walk was pleasant in that temperatures were great and although there were quite a few ups and ups again, we made it in good time.

The weekend is upon us so we had laundry to do. Locating the closest Lavadaria, we loaded up the machines and got the process underway with seemingly everyone in the laundry wanting to help us get the machines paid for and going! We are now VERY happy with clean clothes loaded back into the suitcases. However, the downside is that you should be able to smell the chemicals in the wash powder the machine automatically uses all the way back to Australia. In fact we didn’t need Google maps to find the laundry – we could smell the powder almost two blocks away!

So washing done, a wander around the city , a light dinner and back to our rooms and looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

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Today is the day that Lori got to watch Lado perform ALL day as we walked from Alvorge to Condeixa-a-Nova…my thanks to the many people who sent me videos (breaking every rule of recording live performance) and to Darlene for providing me with live feed to the after party – a bitter sweet experience not being with Lado for the performance and for the celebrations. Congratulations to you the amazing team who all worked so hard to make this inaugural trully national fesitval happen – I’m looking forward to Adelaide and dancing Bunjevacko again (David I’m holding you to your word!).

So the first thing I have to say is that you can’t please either of us – last night in our “house” we FROZE. Lori has ‘allowed’ me to include the photograph of her channeling her inner Eskimo on the couch last night… first it was too hot and last night it was too cold…BUT today was JUST RIGHT!

Before we start on today I have to comment on the forward thinking Portuguese. What we have noticed is that Portugal absolutely DOES NOT do churches like Spain. These Portuguese churches are quite beautiful in their simplicity and lack of ornamentation – particularly the lack of gold is very obvious. However, we have become mildly hysterical because clearly some bright spark thought that on the nights that they can’t find someone to pull bell ropes – perhaps technology could help. Hence, in almost every town at every half hour are BOOMING recordings of bells and the most hysterical was the town where they were playing the tune of “The Bells of St Clements” at 10 decibels above the legal limit. We’ve also had “Ave Maria” and a Bach Tocatta and Fugue (it seemed to take half and hour to finish which made it pretty useless chiming the half hour!).

Today was a great walk. The scenery was wonderful particulalry walking through a valley for the better part of an hour. The photos just don’t capture depth or height – so high! I was getting texts and phone calls and the quiet was very much interrupted by the sounds of Lado and Koleda singing. I don’t think I will ever forget this experience of watching from afar.

We walked past windmills, vineyards and olive and orange groves. The WINNER of the day was the almost two hours we spent in the excavated Roman ruins at Conimbriga (Condeixa-a-Velha). This is the largest and best preserved Roman settlement in Portugal. The Romans arrived here in 139 BC and built a settlement on what was a Celtic settlement. Excavations commenced in the late 1800’s and implements back to the Iron Age in the 9th century BC have been found at the site. We were blown away – the mosaics are stunning and boy did those Romans have a thing about baths and bath houses – they were BIG on cool – medium and hot baths…what a pity that the owner of the house we stayed in last night wasn’t Roman (we had no water in the house this morning!!) Anway, we spent a couple of hours wandering around continuing to marvel at the ingenuity of the Romans. It seems to have taken a long time to get back to the level of innovation that they seemed to have remarkably captured 2000+ years ago.

We have a relatively short walk into Coimbra tomorrow and then a day off – washing and repairs!

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