Category: The Walk

That makes 3,001 miles in the past 28 months. That’s really a long way if you think about it.

Walked through Vila do Conde. Made me think of the Conde Spartans!

This Conde just has nicer beaches than Conde, SD.

The “Hola” smile of the day. She enjoys working in her garden and it shows.

I’ve seen several of these portable libraries parked near the beach. What a great idea!

Labruge was my target destination but the room I booked was actually a mile further south in the small fishing village of Lavre.

The majority of the walk today was along the beach. You can see the path in left and center of this picture.

It was a pretty non-eventful end to this hike. Met the lady I’m renting room from at her sister’s restaurant (a block off Camino). Felt a bit like Forrest Gump. Then one day I just stopped walking.

Did celebrate a bit. Had a few beers at a local bar. Bought a round for the house (myself and 2 guys who spoke no English!).

This guying is grilling sardines (right). The kebob is peppers, onion, and octopus. I didn’t try either. I do like hake. It’s a flaky white ocean fish. Very good grilled.

I am going to just relax in Lavre for 3 days and then Porto for 4 days.

I’ll be in touch regarding your pledges in a couple days.

Thanks to all for your support and encouragement. I appreciate it.

Hope you enjoyed the hike.

Happy trails and buen Camino!

The mornings have begun with a pretty dense fog in the early AM. Burns off by 11:00. Reminds me of June gloom in San Diego.

I’m taking every beach route possible so pretty much walking through lots of beach towns. They’re getting closer together as I get closer to Porto.

Lots of fishermen, boats, and seafood.

Some of the towns along here have the look and feel of an “Old Florida” beach town. Modest sized, nice homes on decent sized lots next to the ocean. Nice! Esposende (Kris notes) seemed particularly nice.

Some of the beaches are getting a bit more crowded. Lots of tour buses bringing people to this wide open stretch of beach for the day.

The “Hola” smile of the day is me incognito. Well, it could be if I don’t stop walking pretty soon.

They are big fans of the cabanas on the beach. Cabanas are pretty thick in spots. They also use smaller, very portable ones with no roof for wind protection.

I’ve eaten quite a few salads but not seen much lettuce growing. Been wondering where that occurred. Found out today.

The towns are so frequent now that I’m not carrying any water at all anymore. 3 miles is a long stretch between towns.

Póvoa de Varzim is a fairly large city with a wide beachfront. There are lots of small bars in the sand. By lots, I mean somewhere near 100 in a 3 mile stretch. Small, casual. Most tents. Some more permanent structures. My big question…where are all the bathrooms? There is no plumbing in most, if not all, of them. Things that make you go, hmm?

9 mile walk tomorrow and then I’m done. Ready to be finished and get home. Missing my wife and my retired bum life!

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Your generosity has officially exceeded my expectations. Your pledges to date total $41.61/mile. That means we will have raised more than $33,000 this hike for the charities I’m hiking for. Thank you so much. I am humbled by your support.

This is Aucke Ilff, my host for the past 2 evenings. He is a retired fishing boat captain from Amsterdam and a really nice guy. He has a nice house, too!

Going to day care during the summer must be pretty fun. You get to see your friends and it’s recess all day long!

It was a bit foggy along the beach this AM.

I came across this potential “Funniest Home Video”. Big RV is stuck in sand. Owner recruits guy to drive 4 wheeler to pull him out. I watched recruitee get instructions on how to operate 4 wheeler. He had no clue!

I was expecting something bad to happen. The RV was still stuck when I left but nothing eventful happened. I guess that’s kind of good.

Saw several of these along coast today. At first thought it was a small lighthouse. No light however! Stone grain bin? They have small doors at ground level but I didn’t notice anything higher up.

Mussel hunting.

This bar is right across from the marina in Viana do Castelo. I am guessing this is the spot where the local fishermen meet to discuss the day’s catch.

I’d much rather take a ferry than walk across this busy bridge on that narrow path. Driving and pedestrian traffic each direction. Got a bit crowded meeting someone walking other direction.

I thought about using Aucke or the smiley faced rock as “Hola” smile of the day. I’ve got to use this one however. It’s from a week or 2 back but I really got a laugh out of this lady!!

Portuguese longhorn.

This tile art of a “Santiago Peregrino” (Pilgrim) was on the gate of a house.

Pretty dramatic rock mountains right close to coast.

25 more miles to go.

Happy trails and buen Camino!

Spent a good portion of the day exploring Caminha. Got a ride into town (10 miles) from a local guy.

Caminha is surrounded by Atlantic Ocean to the west, a river on the north, and another river to east.

This is the “Hola” smile of the day. He had lots of fun chasing the pigeons around the plaza.

Well, he had lots of fun until he face planted a few minutes after this.

There are some distinct word differences between Spanish and Portuguese. Apparently only the Spanish words I actually know are different. For example, gracias (thank you) is obrigado in Portuguese.

The good news is that more people speak English in Portugal. Students are required to learn a second language (English or French).

Had lunch in the big central plaza area of town.

Took the train back out to the burbs late in the afternoon.

Got my plan made up for last 10 days I’m here. Over the next 3 days I will hike to Labruge. That is 43 miles away and will put me at my goal of 810 miles.

I plan to spend 3 nights in Labruge, walk to Porto, spend 4 nights, and then fly home on July 24. Anxious to be heading home.

Happy trails and buen Camino!

The Camino left A Guarda by going right through the center of Saturday’s swap meet and market. Not my favorite type of scene. I only paused long enough to take this picture. 

Good morning, Portugal!  This river is the border between Spain and Portugal. 

Today’s walk is pretty much entirely right next to ocean. Nice paved pathway for a long stretch. Beautiful place to exercise if you lived here. 

At one point walked through the grazing area for a bunch of goats and sheep. 

OK, OK, I know I’m not technically on the Camino but give me a break. All this little guy wanted to see was me getting gone!!

This is a small coastal town, Vila Praia de Âncora, just south of Caminha.  Very nice, expensive looking, town.  No lodging here, either. 

Other parts were board walks on the beach. The walks are really nice in most parts but they are apparently difficult to maintain (loose, broken, missing boards). There were also small areas where vegetation was trying to take over and areas where sand dunes had taken over. Couple areas where sand dunes were like 5’ snow drifts across walkway. 

The weather the entire time I’ve been along the western coast of Spain has been extremely moderate. Sunny and temperatures in the 70’s. Similar to San Diego except a bit more humidity. 

This guy is putting up hay the old fashioned way. Raking by hand and then pitching it up onto bed. 

Nice pastureland. 

It’s easy to see why this was referred to as the Coast of Death. It is so rocky that if your boat came close to the coast at the wrong place, you were probably going to be swimming (best case). 

The “Hola” smile of the day. Caught her a little by surprise but I don’t think she minded!

After many years I’ve come to accept and even appreciate traffic circles. Now traffic semicircles?  I don’t get this. 

A Guarda is the southern most Galician port city in Spain. We’re about 4 miles from Portugal here. 

There are lots of really old boats tied up in the harbor and being used. Saw a couple sailboats that looked like they were at least 100 years old… and lots of work to sail!

Tough leaving Baiona this morning. Probably favorite town of those I’ve stopped in. 

That hill in center of the picture is the end of the peninsula which I was walking around yesterday. 

The walk today was primarily along the coast. Usually up on a ridge but parts right along the shoreline. 

The coast through here is extremely rocky so very limited stretches of sand and beach. 

Sometimes I get so mesmerized looking at the coast that I forget to look to my left. That view is sometimes pretty nice as well. 

I guess with such a rocky coastline one should also expect a rocky trail. 

Not sure what the name of this town is but I can tell it’s pretty upscale, even from up here. 

Lots of big houses. Several with pools. Pools aren’t as common at houses here as some places in US. 

A couple commercial fishing boats out today. Haven’t seen lots of them down here. 

The “Hola” smile of the day. This stylish dude was more than willing to pose!

Hadn’t planned on stopping here but saw this small place with a lodging sign. Beach view room for $35. Can’t pass that up!

Happy trails and buen Camino!

The harbor is filled with boats. Lots of nice, big boats. 

Not sure what town is on the peninsula across the bay. Possibly Nigrán. 

I walked around the peninsula in the afternoon. It was only a couple miles. Stunning views from the paved pathway. 

This picture is from inside the remnant of an old building. 

This is a religious memorial out near the point of the peninsula looking up to an old fort on top of hill. 

Not a bad place to stand guard duty. 

And now on to the other side of peninsula looking back to Baiona. 

If you’re ever out walking across NW Spain, I would definitely recommend a stop in Baiona. 

The “Hola” smile of the day. She’s actually trying to tell me that I should be taking pictures of the islands instead of her!

Today was a very enjoyable walk. Everything about it was great…weather, scenery, hike, people. 

This “Hola” smile was incredible. I saw her coming from a block away. Huge smile on her face the whole way. 

There are several large islands just off the coast. 

We were up on a ridge most of the day. A mixture of forest and wide open ocean vistas. 

That high rise building just doesn’t seem to fit in on that tiny little island. 

Met a young couple from Oakland along the way. We’ll just call them Amy and Warren since I can’t recall actual names. Chatted for about 5 minutes. They told me that Baiona and Caminha are both really nice beach towns and that the wines from northern Portugal are really sweet. Good info!

This stone bridge is ancient. I’m guessing the Romans built it on their way to Poo. 

Baiona is awesome. It is a well preserved old town with some nice beaches. 

On March 1, 1493, Baiona became the first Old World city to learn of the success of Columbus’ journey. The Pinta was separated from the Nina and the Santa Maria by a storm and made land here. She was captained by Martin Pinzon who some say was the true brains behind the operation. Columbus landed in Lisbon 3 days later. 

I’ve been very fortunate with the weather recently. Apparently Europe had a major heat wave last week. Not here. Don’t think it’s hit 80 once. Also can’t remember last time it rained more than a few sprinkles.

Today we climbed out of Redondela and walked along a ridge line virtually entire way to Vigo.

As we were getting up to ridge line I passed a local couple who were out for a walk. Shortly after that I heard some yelling behind me. Guy I had passed was yelling “Beego. Beego.” and waving his stick…at me.

I wondered what I had done and then remembered that a Spanish V is pronounced like a B. He was telling me I was missing the turn to Vigo!!

The ridge followed a large river to Vigo. Hundreds of those flat squares along the length of the river. Some type of docking station I’m guessing.

The traffic of pilgrims heading to Santiago has decreased significantly. Did not run into any large groups today. Crowds were small enough that I actually meant buen Camino when I said it to people.

If you have a good imagination you can see some things here.

The “Hola” smile of the day will be quite a collection by the time I’m finished. There will be about 50 of them. I’ll have to figure out something to do with them. Maybe I’ll make a calendar.

Her dog was supposed to be in picture as well but he hid at the last moment.

I’m still not exactly sure what these things in the river are. Don’t get quite close enough to get a really good look. I’ve seen only a couple boats tied up to them. One looked like a small tug boat. Whatever they are, there are lots of them. Must have gone on for 5 or 6 miles.

Vigo is a port town built into the hillside. Some pretty steep streets and an upper and lower city center.

I stayed in the lower city. Pretty modern with very upscale shopping area. Surprised I had never heard of Vigo before. It’s a pretty nice city.

Tomorrow I will start hitting beach towns…I think. Planning to make Baiona and, if it’s a nice town, take a 0 day there.

I’d rather walk 18 or 20 miles one day and take a 0 day the next than walk 9 or 10 miles for 2 days to get to the same point. That’s my strategy for tomorrow anyway.

Happy trails and buen Camino!