Thursday, November 16, 2017, to Vila Praia de Ancora, Pousada Farol do Portinho, 18 kms. We again placed our faith in the GPS trace and this time were not disappointed. Most of our way today was on the coast or near the coast except for a jaunt over to the N-13 highway for something to eat. After walking out of Viana do Castelo, past the shipyards and castle for which it’s named, we came across our 1stboardwalk of the day. Each municipality along the coast has a sign showing the parts of the boardwalk project completed and the parts under construction. Sometimes they’re up to date; sometimes not. “Under construction” we found could mean a couple of things – already complete and open or working on it. We saw them working on a section – it ... read more

I'm behind in entering my blogs, so if you've been worrying about us, we're fine. We're actually in Spain now, hoping to get to Santiago by 11/23 November 10, 2017, Day 2 Porto. We're enjoying hanging back, relaxing and catching up. I completed 2 blog entries today. We're near where the action is - the Luis I bridge, cathedral and railroad station. There are lots of tourists and tour buses here for the weekend. We made the mistake of having breakfast in the "tourist area" this morning. (Note to self - never eat in a Portuguese restaurant where the menu is also in English.) It was good, but pricier than we're used to. We took a walk around the area of our Airbnb apartment and bought some breakfast groceries and good bread and snacks. - after ... read more

Saturday, November 4, 2017, to Mealhada (Sernadelo), Hilário Residence, 24.5 km.We had a long walk today -more than we usually do and so we left Coimbra before 7. It was a lovely walk out of Coimbra along the river, past a park and onto gravel paths that were created just for the Camino. We passed through many small towns and by many cafes (yay!). The Portuguese dog communication network seemed to monitor our every move as we moved from village to village, passing the word along that dangerous pilgrims were passing through their territory. Thankfully it was cool all day with some drizzle at times and downright chilly by late afternoon. I think the weather is finally starting to change. Mealhada is famous for its roasted sucking pig, and there were many ads with pictures of ... read more

Saturday, October 28th, Tomar, 2nd day, Hostel 2300 Thomar, 15 kms. Two weeks ago we got on a plane for Lisbon. I have to say that so far the Portuguese Camino has been an entirely different experience than the Camino Frances last year. There are much fewer fellow pilgrims, much less support along the path (places to eat and stay), less knowledge even of the Camino by the Portuguese people. Today it began to feel more “Camino-ish.” It got hillier (downright steep at times), with more off-road hiking through forests and olive groves and along rivers. We were walking towards our half-way point, and the heat and hills were getting to me. We had 2 alternate routes to choose from ahead of us, and we took the one with the café where we could wait for ... read more

Okay, kids, you can stop worrying. it’s your parents reporting. Sorry we haven’t posted. Our internet connection has not always been good and/or we’ve just been too tired at night to write. It’s also taken me a while to figure out this new blog site and especially how to include photos. This will be a pretty unsophisticated blog – not a travelogue. It’s primarily for our family and friends and also to help us remember our walk. For those of you following from American Pilgrims on the Camino you may get bored! But you may indeed learn something new about the Portuguese Camino. If you’ve followed us before our posts may be much shorter. Maybe then we can post something every day. But now we will catch up on the last 10 9 days. We landed ... read more