Hello,
I am just back home now after doing the Camino Portugues from Porto. I took 10 days to do it, but some of the people we started off with took 11 days in order to break up one of the longer days (i.e. they stayed at Mos which is on the way to Redondela). You can check out my comments on this route by looking at my 'Live from the Camino' post. I think that the Portugues is a lovely alternative to the Frances. If you start from Porto (you can also start from Lisbon, but there isn't as much peregrino infrastructure) you still meet some peregrinos, but not as many as on the Frances. This means that you still have the opportunity to make friends along the route, but that you don't have the mad rush to the albergue in order to get a bunk that you see on the Frances. The country side is quite green and the uphills and down hills are quite gentle. The largest single amount of uphill we had was 460m. I normally carry walking poles with me when I walk and the 460m day was the only day I used them (mind you, I was glad that I had them at the time). Porto is great place. We liked it so much, we returned to it after we came back to Santiago from Fisterra.
My top tip would be to get a good guidebook. We used the
Brierley guide which I got from Amazon.com. This is excellent and came out tops when we compared out guide with other peregrinos. The route is very well marked in Portugal. There are a few areas on the Spanish side, most notably coming out of Tui where a few more arrow would be useful. So, I would suggest that in addition to the
Brierley guide, you also download the online camino guide for this route
http://www.csj.org.uk/guides-online.htm.
My second tip for a first time camino person is to pack light. Below is a list of what I took on the camino (and some info on how much they were used).
1) Light weight sleeping bag and foam pad (just in case we couldn't get a place to stay). You might well choose, as many do, and run the risk and have a lighter pack.
2) walking poles (only used once, but I was glad I had them). Again depending on how used you are to walking, you can probably get away with out them. (note, if you plan to continue on to Fisterra via Murxia, you should definately take poles (see my live from the Camino report from the Fistera route).
3) sandals (for the evening). You WONT regret having a pair. Note: if you are planning on doing the Fistera continuation via Muxia, you will want proper walking sandals rather than flip flops for the river crossing.
4) comfortable walking shoes (you don't need heavy boots as most of the Camino is on good surfaces)
5) two sets of clothing (Camino clothes (lightweight/fast drying shirt and shorts) and evening clothing (fast drying shirt and trousers (washed clothing dries very quickly)). Note: I took a linen mix skirt for the evening rather than tousers. Many of the other peregrinas bought light cotton skirts along the way. My boyfriend thought that I was crazy, but a skirt does keep you cool when it is still 29 C at 9pm. You do not need more than two sets of clothing. Most of the people on the Portuges had already done the Frances and had learned that it is far better to wash clothing than to carry it
6) socks and liner socks (bridgedale) (2 pairs),
7) underwear (3 pairs)
8) very light weight fleece (only used once, but we had only one day of rain)
9) rain jacket, rain trousers (you will be thankful for this when you hit Galicia). Some people prefer to take a rain poncho rather than a rain jacket and trousers. On the one day that it did rain, I wore my rain jacket (which isn't as water proof as it used to be and a 2 euro plastic poncho). This worked fine, but we only had a few hours of rain and it wasn't that hard.
10) sun hat (Tilly)
11) sun glasses and normal glasses
12) suntan lotion and aftersun lotion
13) compede (you can get this at almost all pharmacies on the Frances but NOT on the Portugues) and a needle for pricking blisters (note: there is a debate about the pros and cons of pricking blisters. I always do, but have iodine or alcohol on hand to sterilise the needle and the skin) .
14) ibuproflen (anti-imflamatory + pain killer). You can buy this along the way.
15) ear plugs (for albergues)
16) watch with altimeter and alarm
17) anti-histamine pills for insect bites
18) zink oxide creme for heat rash
19) 2L camelbak water bag
20) guide book (the camino is well marked, but a guide book is still VERY useful)
21) a small bottle of alcohol (toughens skin on feet and acts as a disinfectant)
22) Vaseline (or Vicks Vapo Rub). I know that this sounds weird, but if you rub your feet with this before you put your socks on, it reduces friction and prevents blisters. I did the entire Portuguese route without a single blister. My boyfriend perfers vasoline. I prefer Vicks as it smells nice. It is also good for the end of the day foot massage.
23) swiss army knife
24) a head torch or light weight flash light (we would start off half an hour to an hour before sunrise)
25) tooth brush, tooth paste, dental floss, deoderant, a hair brush, bio-degradable soap, lip salve 26) camping towel and body wash
27) camera
29) Some people also take safety pins for pinning clothing/towel to your backpack so that they can dry while you walk.
30) Spanish and Portuguese phrase book and or dictionary
31) A scallop shell to identify you as a pergrino. As I said above, many people on the Portugues had already done the Frances and so had their shell. We didn't see any scallop shells on sale along the route. So, I would suggest that you get one from your local fish seller and use a tile bit on a drill to put a couple of holes in the shell (people use the top half) and attach it to your rucksack. This of course, is not a necessary thing to carry, but you will notice that you don't have one when your rucksack is lined up along the other at the first open cafe along the route.
I hope that this helps!
Bom Caminho/Buen Camino
