Today I plan on walking 23.5 kms from Arcade to A Portela-Barro to stay at the municipal albergue there. The lady at the hotel/albergue desk supposedly made a reservation for me, although from what I’d read they don’t take reservations. She also called TuiTrans to transport my backpack. Apparently, I'm going completely through one stage, so the charge is 12 Euros instead of the normal 7. Also, she indicated that there were no more albergues where I could make reservations, and that TuiTrans would not be able to transport my backpack after today either! I am not looking forward to walking with my backpack again, but… little or no choice. I was up and ready to go by 7am, so out the door I went, feeling fairly spry. After I left Arcade behind, I had some ... read more

Last night I slept better than I have since I left home, waking up easily before 7am. After a cup of hot cappuccino from the vending machine and one of the package of pastries I bought last night, I was on my way to Vigo, leaving my backpack at reception for TuiTrans to transport for me. Leaving Ramallosas, by skirting up and around the main streets of course, I passed a group of 6 middle-age female pilgrims, taking a sitdown together. After I passed them, I realized why they were resting… the first wonderful (sarcastically of course) climb of the day, but not the last. Just past the outskirts of town, I had to cross a major highway. Apparently there are two or three ways to do it, all marked with the yellow arrows, so it ... read more

I woke up fairly and walked to the ferry dock to get the ferry to Valenca, right across the river from Tui, Spain. At this point it wasn’t quite 8am and the ferry wasn’t supposed to leave until 9, so I, with a number of other pilgrims, sat down to have a coffee or soda. Not long after, the lady in the café came out and said a smaller boat was leaving now and it was only 5 euros, but could only take 6 people. I was the 5th person to get a ticket, so away I went. The boat was a small motor boat, but didn’t take long to get across the inlet to Spain. Notice I said across the inlet to Spain, not down the inlet to Valenca in Portugal! Well, I’d done it ... read more

I started today hoping everything would be a better/easier day. Well, it was in some ways. I saw and spoke with a good many other pilgrims from places like Norway, Germany, and Canada. I wasn’t getting as tired, sore or uncomfortable as before. Also, I’d learned my lesson about stopping at available cafes, instead of figuring there’d be another just a bit further… there usually wasn’t! Finally, I’d made reservations at my next stop, Casa da Carolina. What I hadn’t planned on was the HILLS! Soon after I left the coast, the trail started climbing and climbing. After the first hill, there was a nice trail through the woods, followed by a cute little creek crossing over concrete, followed by the never ending hill from Hell! When it wasn’t ridiculously long and steep, it was just ... read more

My first day on the Camino Portuguese started well. I woke up about 6:30am and was ready to go by 7:15. Breakfast was free but I didn’t want to wait until 8am to eat, so off I went, to the cathedral to officially start. For the next hours I struggled to find the yellow arrows that marked the way! I’d decided to just take the more popular central route, but in my “wandering” around to stay on the path, I received all sorts of directions from Portuguese people, and ended up on the coastal route after all, too far from the central to be worth the distance and time. I realized I was on the coastal route when I encountered a nice Camino sign, that showed me how I could get to the central route, and ... read more