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I, too, stayed at Largo da Sé, but can't recommend it! Although I prearranged a time to drop off my backpack, I found the door locked and waited for 1.5 hours before staff arrived. My room looked nice and clean, but around 1 a.m., I awoke with 15 bedbug bites, sighted 3 of the creatures in the...
With roaming on, the data on my Portuguese Vodaphone sim still stopped working when I crossed the bridge into Spain (I didn't test the phone function). Now I use an international data-only sim from a company called Keepgo. There is no monthly fee: you pay only for the data, and the data never...
When merino tops (short- or long-sleeved) start to fall apart, I keep wearing them as base layers. There's no noticeable difference in their warming/insulating qualities, and the holes don't show when I'm wearing something over them. When these old friends eventually give up and fall off of me...
I did the same thing last October -- got a 30-euro, 30-day talk-data-text SIM at Vodaphone in Lisbon with unlimited calls in Portugal and more data than I needed. When I crossed into Spain, I reinstalled my data-only SIM and had to rely on a somewhat unreliable phone app if I needed to make...
I, too, got a huge heel blister on the CP. I drained it with a needle on the side and disinfected it daily (or more often) with iodine and/or rubbing alcohol, applied an antibiotic ointment purchased at a pharmacy, and covered it with Compeed. All these ministrations succeeded in preventing...
I stayed last October at Hotel Payro in O Milladoiro. The staff were very pleasant, and I had a comfortable, clean, spacious room, with good heating (it was a cold night). With a walk of only 7 km to Santiago in the morning, I arrived in plenty of time to drop my backpack at my accommodation and...
Here is Google translate's version of your post:
Sorry if this has been discussed endlessly before, but I can't find a specific thread. I am considering the Portuguese or French route and would like to hear your subjective experience of the differences. I like that the albergues are more and...
Some Portuguese SIM cards may work outside of Portugal, but my Vodaphone SIM, bought in Lisbon, stopped working the minute I crossed the bridge to Spain. I anticipated this, as they told me if was for Portugal only, and they were right!
I was surprised by the extraordinary beauty of the CF. Before leaving, I had been on the forum and had read all about socks and shoes and blisters and bedbugs, but nobody had mentioned the sheer beauty of the landscape and the villages. I was just blown away by it, from SJPP all the way to Santiago.
Having walked from Lisbon to Santiago a couple of months ago, this question made me curious. I added up Brierley's numbers for all of the stages between Ponte de Lima and Santiago, and here are the results:
57.9 km - natural path / forest path / gravel (36.3%)
88.6 km - quiet country lane...
DyanTX's advice to find a store where you can try weighted packs is exactly right! I spent an afternoon trying on nearly every pack in the store, weighted at about 20 lbs., and narrowed it down to two choices. Then went back a day or two later and test-drove each candidate for about 30-40...
Using my Altus day in and day out on the C. Portugues last fall, I found that it got wet on the inside, too, but I was never sure whether it was leaking from the outside or whether it was self-inflicted condensation from inside. I suspect the latter, because my pack was always dry whereas my...
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