Route opinion

[hokiebobwise]

I've set an intention to go on another pilgrimage in 2025. With only so many days I can take, I've put together a draft plan for the Camino Portuguese starting from Porto. I am a huge fan of port wine and do intend for my first 2 full days to be full of wine and emersive activities with the Portugese people. This way, once I begin my walk to SdC, I will be able to focus solely on my internal growth as a person. My goal is to walk Coastal, Central and Spiritual Variant. The dates are for planning purposes only, but as you can see I'm not planning any official rest days -> i didn't rest on my journey from Astorga so I figure a boat ride and a bus ride could be sufficient for "resting." If you have thoughts or areas I should be aware of, such as different town from which to switch from Coastal to Central, or maybe flip, start central and move to Coastal.

 

[trecile]

I would definitely try to split up that 39.6 km day!

Couldn't you walk to Balugaes the same day that you take the bus to Barcelos?

 

[hokiebobwise]

Yes, the goal is to take an early bus and then walk to Balugaes. I agree, 39km is crazy. last summer our longest day was ~34 and it just about killed my feet. I'm thinking maybe alter the stops between Fontoura and Vilanova so that I shrink that long day.

 

[Vacajoe]

It’s not only that 39km length, but that stage would include climbing up and down a very large hill! I would definitely adjust that schedule by splitting that stage in two, if possible

 

[hokiebobwise]

I managed to shave some distance by altering the stages. I'm unsure how to get below that last 30km. Thanks for the elevation information. My Wise Pilgrim guide doesn't show elevation for the Spirtual Variant, only the central route. I think I'll do what I did when planning last summer. Consult both Wise Pilrgim and Brierly guide books to ensure I have all of the details on elevation and "opportunities."

 

[auburnfive]

You could break up that 30km stage with a stay at Os Castanos in Ribadumia. They have a website.

 

[hokiebobwise]

Thanks for the advice. I found on StingyNomads.com details about the spiritual variant, they list Armenteira to Vilanova de Arousa as 21km.....WalktheCamino.com shows the stage as 24.6km......my math above is based on Wise Pilgrim guide. With all of my spreadsheet calculations last summer, I may have stayed at my "planned" stop 2x, out of the 10+ stops.

Bob

 

[TashH]

I did a similar route but stayed on the coastal until Caminha. You can even out the distance of some of your stages by staying at smaller towns either before or after the typical stage ends, which will also often make it easier to find accommodation.

 

[TashH]

 

[hokiebobwise]

View attachment 165105

wow, thanks for sharing.

 

[TashH]

wow, thanks for sharing.

No problem.
On day 10 I should have walked to Arcade which would have made the next day to Combarro a bit shorter.

 

[kimgaspesie]

View attachment 165105

Hi I'm planning the same route starting June 25. Is there anywhere you would have stayed an extra day if you could have?

 

[CA_Pilgrim]

I've set an intention to go on another pilgrimage in 2025. With only so many days I can take, I've put together a draft plan for the Camino Portuguese starting from Porto. I am a huge fan of port wine and do intend for my first 2 full days to be full of wine and emersive activities with the Portugese people. This way, once I begin my walk to SdC, I will be able to focus solely on my internal growth as a person. My goal is to walk Coastal, Central and Spiritual Variant. The dates are for planning purposes only, but as you can see I'm not planning any official rest days -> i didn't rest on my journey from Astorga so I figure a boat ride and a bus ride could be sufficient for "resting." If you have thoughts or areas I should be aware of, such as different town from which to switch from Coastal to Central, or maybe flip, start central and move to Coastal.

View attachment 165053

Your route looks similar to the one we have planned starting on May 22 from Porto. We staged it with 12 days instead of 15, averaging 13 miles/day (20.9 Km/day). We used the Camino Ninja App to plan the route and Booking.com to find lodging. Often finding a place to stay dictated the distance for each day. I generally don't like going much over 12 miles per day on through hikes. We also did not include any rest days. I know from experience hiking the French Way in 2022 and twice hiking the California Mission Trail that I can two weeks before needing a rest day.

A comment on your spreadsheet. I use a similar spreadsheet to plan my route. I also include a number of other columns for Lodging name, cost, last date to cancel (important column!), whether breakfast is included, and then a general comments column. I found this spreadsheet invaluable on my 2022 Camino Frances. I could pull it up on my phone and get the information I needed very quickly. I could also edit it on the fly if need be.

 

[TashH]

Hi I'm planning the same route starting June 25. Is there anywhere you would have stayed an extra day if you could have?

Nowhere specifically. I had planned to take a rest day but found I didn’t need it. I walked a couple shorter days instead. Everywhere I walked through and stayed was lovely.
Allow time to explore the Fortaleza de Valenca before crossing the bridge into Tui (which has a lovely old town area). I was also really glad that I stayed in Combarro, beautiful sea side village. This also meant to the hill to Armenteira was at the beginning of my day, the cooler part of the morning. I found that 4km stretch up the hill no where near as torturous as I was expecting.