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I made this trip just a few weeks ago. I got a coach from SDC to Porto and then a train from Porto to Lisbon. I stopped for the night in Porto in between. I got the coach to Porto because it was more direct than the train - you have to catch a train from SDC to Vigo and then change trains for...
You can absolutely wait until Santiago to pick up Camino-related souvenirs. In the old part of the town there are souvenir shops absolutely everywhere - you won’t go 50 metres without seeing one, such is the high volume of them. And they sell lots of different things - t-shirts, fridge magnets...
I’ve taken mine on a bunch of long-distance treks and if I don’t want to wear it I’ve always just folded it up and shoved it in my backpack. It’s still going strong nine years later despite this treatment.
It will be interesting to see what happens as the Portuguese Coastal Route gets more and more popular. I was able to get across quickly using the current river taxi service but if the number of pilgrims grows significantly one wonders whether that will be enough to service them getting across...
I walked the Portuguese Coastal Camino in April this year, and did the section from Vila Praia de Ancora to A Guarda via Caminha on 6 April. I can confirm that the ferry wasn’t running. There’s a cafe/bar at the ferry terminal in Caminha so I went in there and asked what I could do to get across...
Regardless of where you start and how far you have walked, the requirement is that the distance you have walked must include the last 100km to Santiago. Here’s the relevant Pilgrim’s Office information page on the matter: https://oficinadelperegrino.com/en/pilgrimage/the-credencial/
If you...
And here’s another idea if you feel up to another day of walking - Johnnie Walker Santiago has devised a 14km ‘Route of Routes’ walk in and around Santiago which incorporates sections from five of the Camino routes: http://www.xacobeo.fr/ZE2.06.Sant.routes_JWalker_en.pdf
There’s some tour companies based in Santiago (Tour Galicia, Toxo Tours, etc.) who offer a bunch of day trips on coaches to see various nearby places. These include trips to the Costa da Morte including Finisterre and Muxia, Rias Baixas, La Coruna, Lugo, etc. I think one even does a day trip to...
I spent a night in Viana do Castelo and then a night in Vila Praia de Ancora. Viana de Castelo was nice enough. I only passed through Caminha on my way to the ferry terminal but I remember thinking that it looked like it would have been a nice place to stop.
I purchased one from the Camino Forum store before my first Camino and wore it on my backpack from the start of both that and my second Camino which I recently completed. And from what I observed while doing both Caminos the vast majority of my fellow pilgrims generally did the same.
I stopped at Orisson in September 2014. It didn't take me long to get there from SJPdP - about three hours, as I recall. I left sometime between 10am and 10.30am and I got to Orisson sometime between 1pm and 2pm. They didn't allow access to the accommodation section (I had booked a place in...
It took me 34 days to walk from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela. I tended to follow the Brierley guide fairly closely but I split the stage from St Jean to Roncesvalles in two, staying at Orisson on the first night. The 34 days, I should note, was 34 consecutive days without a...
Oh I’ll definitely give this a listen - I read this book when I was preparing to do the Camino Frances five years ago and it really brought together a lot of thoughts I’d had floating around in my mind about why I was doing it. Very thought provoking stuff.
You could start in Porto rather than Lisbon. I’ll be doing that in May - I’ve booked to do the Portuguese Coastal Camino through a travel company here in Australia (I’ll be doing it self-guided) so I’ll be walking from Porto to Santiago over 13 days and then from Santiago to Finisterre over...
The Pyrenees and the Basque Country are great, but personally I can’t go past the few days in Galicia at the end. So green and rustic; it feels a bit like walking through the Shire out of the Lord of the Rings. The Camino Frances really does leave the best for last.
I didn’t take any rest days when I did the CF in 2014, which I regret, but if I did it again and took rest days they would certainly include Pamplona, Leon and Burgos - all lively and beautiful cities worth spending more time in. If I had to nominate a fourth rest day location it would probably...
Yes that’s true, but I do want to have a couple of days to look around Porto before I start, and a few days to recover at home before I return to work. It’s 26 hours to get from Sydney to Porto and I’ve always had a lot of difficulty sleeping on flights, so I know I won’t be in any fit state to...
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