Well pilgrims its the last day of walking. Our 16th day of consecutive marching will see us arrive at the end of the world at Finisterre lighthouse. Our morning started with the same taxi driver picking us up (early so we didnt get to finish our coffee!!) He returned us to the small chapel where we finished last night. The weather was bag to grey and wet so the ponchos were on again. It seems to be cold grey mornings opening to sunny afternoons, so lets hope for more of the s

Setting out at 8 this mor ing we had a short 17km day ahead of us to a pension in the town of O Logoso. It was a damp start so the super combination of sandals and a poncho were being rocked. Only on Camino!! The route today has a decent amount of ascent and started out with standard tarmac! We made a good pace, coming off the tarmac for a very steep incline to a fantastic viewpoint. Well it would be if we could see more than 50 metres through the rain and clouds! At least th

Well last night was interesting. Someone turned all the lights off at 9.30 despite being under the impression it was at 10.30. Snoring competition was in full swing most of the night then people started packing up from 5 .30. We were near the room door and it seems people have never used a door handle before based on the way they crashed in or crashed out of the room! Anyway! Todays walk was a bit more challenging with ups and downs though there was a lot more road walking th

After a fantastic meal and social with friends we got back to our apartment later than expected at around midnight. Unfortunately the bar underneath was banging music out. Checking online its open til 4. Not very pleased is an understatement. A complaint to booking.com is in order!! One night for a 2 bed apartment so no earplugs needed was going to be lovely. Ah well earplugs again then!! Positive attitudes only! So we woke this morning at 6.45 to get showered and organised

Good Morning Pilgrims, The last day to Santiago is here! But first. Last night we arrived at the albergue, battered toes finally seeing it through to the end. It is not so busy so we both got bottom bunks and went for showers. The showers had one heat setting - melt your skin off. So they were not what we wanted. Laundry smashed we decided to grab a cabify (crap version of uber) to milongas recommended as a good place to eat. 15 minutes later the driver turns up, ignores me s

Good morning pilgrims. ×trigger warning this posts starts with a rant× Since the last camino I have noticed there are a load of stickers on lampposts. There always were, but generally advertising services or promotions etc. Now they are the current generation of look at me bullshit. From Porto we have been seeing stickers of a couple I refer to as "bintface and loverboy". Its an ai generated image of a couple. It isnt promoting anything or linking to anything. Purely a look

Yesterday and today we are walking the Variente Espiritual, an alternate route that was supposed to be a much more beautiful route. Well yesterdays walk up through the woods whilst pleasant was nothing spectacular, but made special by the blessing and the atmospheric setting to spend the night near the monastery. This morning however made up for it. Leaving the Albergue we walked a stunning path along the river with lots of small waterfalls. All along the path were little bri

Today started out less than ideal (I would say shit but my parents read this blog). We only have a 16km walk today so we can have a slow start and explore pontevedra and i could get a quick shave and haircut before a relaxed walk. But first breakfast. We found Lola and Lia in pontevedra. Have a quick look on google. Eggs benedict, juice and coffee should be an amazing start. It was STONE COLD! Who wants cold toast with cold ham/salmon, cold sauce and cold poached eggs. So col

Good morning pilgrims. Its going to be a long one today - our longest stint this side of Santiago with 3 decent hills to overcome. We woke up early, organising our stuff and setting off just after 7. We grabbed a quick coffee and hit the road. We made a plan to stop around 8km for breakfast, a further 8 for snacks, 8 more for a drink and lunch then a final push for 6km. The first hill started straight away on leaving mos, with a long and decent incline. At the top we followed

Today is the first day of the last 100km so we expected it to be a little bit busier. Therefore an early start and away was key with the idea to get a couple hours in before breakfast. The accomodation was good last night, albergue with 4 beds all with their own light, power and curtain so a reasonable night sleep and away around 7.30. Excellent. Until after 1.5km I realised that I had left my camera in the room! I left the bags with Mum and jogged back to get it, hidden behi

After a good sleep we awoke reasonably early for breakfast at 7. That was promptly skipped as the room had mould in the corner - and in the conserves!! A bit of a let down after Casa Fernandez but we are rested and ready to rock and roll. The walk started so much nicer today with paths through the woods, the first 4km wound gradually uphill, passing a wooden hunting tower where we got some great views and a few nice photos! We kept leapfrogging Stefan (the snorer) and his son

Well there was a snoring competition last night. And mum got thrashed. Stefan from Germany takes the grand prize of snoring master. He could be a mutliple grammy award winner in the nose trumpet!! Two of the ladies in the room said he inspired them to book private rooms! At around 7 a brazilian lady decided it was time to pack everything in plastic bags and pack her bag in the dark. So everyone else got up with little option really! At 8 Fernanda served breakfast which was gr

After a great night enjoying the fiesta and fireworks we were a little late setting off. We did our morning stretches and left the accomodation around 8.45 following the same path through the town and passed the church of flowers. We had a great little coffee and figured we would put a few km under our belt before breakfast. After 7km we finally found a cafe where we had great sandwiches and coffee whilst also picking up some lunch to carry for a hopefully nice spot. The walk

Good Morning Pilgrims. Well the street party last night was not the most happening place in Portugal. The 30 people there seemed to generally be enjoying themselves though. We had a good pizza and a beer and enjoyed the "hoedown" music! Today is our first day on the central camino and it feels a bit more camino. The towns we pass through are smaller, there are a lot more yellow arrows and pilgrim signs. Having left the big poncho in our bag of unnecessaries yesterday (the wea

Today was planned to be a long day, following the coastal camino to Vila do Conde before detouring across to the Central Camino. The coastal route is lovely, following the sea and pleasant boardwalks, however a lot of the towns are large and full of tourists. You dont get the same "pilgrimage" feeling as there was on the Camino Frances. So switching to the central once out of porto means woods and hills, albergues and pilgrims. Just what we want. The host at our accomdation a

Today was meant to be an easy start with a shorter walk, but anyone who has read a camino blog before will know the guide book distance and the actual distance are "a little" off. Tina's flight landed in porto prompt at 12 and passport and bags cleared, an uber to Cathedral Se de Porto was ordered at 1. Unfortunately the pilgrim office closes from 12 til 3 so we joined the long line to the cathedral to get camino passports and shells. At 2pm we finally set out as pilgrims. 2

If you arrive at the airport 90 minutes before your flight, security will take about 80 minutes. If however you are there 3 hours early security will take 5 minutes. Its the law of air travel. Bags dropped, security clear in record time, some tapas and a beer in the airport well deserved. Others had a similar idea as Ryanair flights and lager louts is the other law of budget air travel. Porto airport was a breeze, the new EES biometrics made no difference as i arrived first t

We went for a nice walk at hardcastle crags taking Storm and BigBear for a walk. Its a great route following the river through the woods, up and over the fell then back passed Lumb Falls. Practing shots and affects as i try and get the hang of this video editing lark!

We have been planning the route we will follow from Porto: Here it is!!

Preperation has begun for the Camino Portuguese Central route. On 30th April I will fly to Porto where i will meet my Mum (Tina) and we will set out towards Santiago. Over 12 days we will cover 247km. Leaving Porto we will follow the Senda Litoral along the river to the coast with 2 days along the coast before moving to the central route for 5 or 6 days then the Variante Espiritual taking us to Santiago. If we have life left in our legs we will then walk the 87km Camino Finis