Bom Caminho.

[Playful Dread]

Monday I fly to Lisbon with my wife to walk the Portuguese Way.

I feel my pilgrimage though has well and truly started for me these past few weeks, as all preparations went awry with so many things going 'wrong'. "These things were sent to test us!" springs to mind.

I also came to a very emotional conclusion that I'm going to throw my mum's house key into the sea at Finisterre as a symbol of my letting go of over 35 years of an attachment to my family home. Currently the house has just sold (my mother passed over in late August last year) and will be finalised with my brothers whilst I'm away in Portugal and Spain.

So it's Bom Caminho from me! I may see some of you along the way! I'll be the one hiding in a bush peering at you from a sleeping bag through my dreads!

ONE love.

 

[Mike Savage]

Playful Dread, I hope you enjoy every step and receive everything the Camino has to offer. I will be with you in spirit and will follow in your footsteps in September. I do love Lisbon and Portugal and wish you all the best.

Bom Caminho!

 

[JLuis]

Welcome to Lisboa
Bom Caminho

 

[Sarah Olson]

Bom caminho!! I will be starting next Monday from Porto, perhaps our paths will cross! Have a wonderful time!

 

[Playful Dread]

Playful Dread, I hope you enjoy every step and receive everything the Camino has to offer. I will be with you in spirit and will follow in your footsteps in September. I do love Lisbon and Portugal and wish you all the best.

Bom Caminho!

Much appreciated Mike. Thank you.

 

[Playful Dread]

Bom caminho!! I will be starting next Monday from Porto, perhaps our paths will cross! Have a wonderful time!

Thanks Sarah! They may well do now as I've shortened our route slightly with Fatima (instead of Lisbon) being our starting point for walking! I'll keep my beady eyes peeled for you! Have a wonderful time though if I don't manage to catch you along The Way.

 

[Coleen Clark]

Well darn. Sounds like the party will be done by the time this slow old lady gets there August 10th to Lisbon.
Can one of you at LEAST leave one of those party blowers for me at an Albergue along the way?
That way I won't feel so left out.
sigh.

 

[Sarah Olson]

Thanks Sarah! They may well do now as I've shortened our route slightly with Fatima (instead of Lisbon) being our starting point for walking! I'll keep my beady eyes peeled for you! Have a wonderful time though if I don't manage to catch you along The Way.

I will be hard to miss in my bright pink walking skirt! Bom caminho!!

 

[Playful Dread]

We had a bit of a shaky start after falling into trouble with the route from Fatima to Tomar. The route is not very well waymarked at all and in the sweltering heat my wife and I both got burned. We decided halfway across at a place called Ourem (I think) to get bus back to Fatima and start our journey even further up at Porto. However yesterday's walk took us from Matoshinos to just beyond Povoa de Varzim then back into Povoa de Varzim after we got drenched in a thunderstorm at around 2am. Talk about opposite ends of the scale! Again, waymarks for this section of the coastal route out of Villa de Conde were hard to find although we were walking this section gone 11pm and it was fairly dark. We did manage to spot a few very small ones out of villa de conde but not many from the town to starting point at the coast.

So currently we have been lucky enough to get a cheap-ish hotel room around 7am this morning where we intend to dry out as much as we can before check out tomorrow morning, as well as 'lick our wounds' (and blisters on my heel pads) and get some more sleep as we are both tired out from last night's events. This also included a run in with some local who was obviously up to no good on the beach at 1am and seemed to think our presence sleeping under a section of boardwalk was threatening to his 'crazed' antics. It was definitely one of the downsides I'd not yet encountered to sleeping outdoors.

Onwards and upwards from here though. We won't be defeated by this stretch of the coast. The weather is not good again today after thunder woke me again a few hours ago. I think we have rain again for 5 out of the next 7 days with temperatures as low as 16. If you're headed this way bring a wetsuit and warm clothes.

Bom Caminho fellow pilgrims.

 

[Suzanne S.]

Keep posting, @Playful Dread ! I'm in Mealhada, about a week behind you!

 

[Mike Savage]

I hope it gets better for you. You sure are taking it well.

Bom Caminho to all of you.

 

[Playful Dread]

We are currently in Viana Do Castelo and about to head west out of here to rejoin the coast and beaches up north and into Caminha where we plan to stay for a few days before heading across the border into Spain via the ferry.

We picked up waymarks along the coast again after a rather dreadful start and the path has since been an easy one to follow all the way so far. It's simple enough I guess to just stay on the boardwalks keeping the ocean close on your left, eventually coming slightly inland and off the coast at Esposende where you head through agricultural fields and further along into a nice woodland walk bringing you out just before the bridge at Viana Do Castelo.

Sun was again hot yesterday and I definitely need to invest in a wide brimmed hat today if I'm going to keep my neck and nose from melting. I currently have tube scarves wrapped around my hands and am wearing a long sleeve top after yet again another long walk in the sun yesterday. Forecast has somewhat changed so hopefully although it may be a bit overcast up this coastal section and we could save ourselves a few days of burning, we could still potentially have 4 days of rain ahead of us too. Looking for the best option on how to build a good shelter with the tarp as we plan to stay a few nights up this section also where we came across some wild goats being herded the last time we walked back down this coastal section in 2015.

A good friend said to me a few days ago. . ."If you want to see God laugh, tell him your plans!". I thought it was very apt all things considered and was probably how I was feeling anyway after our shaky start.

So, burnt and blistered we carry on our Caminho adventure. Us both overcoming obstacles and hurdles along the way and my mum (RIP) and my beautiful daughter never far from my thoughts and with me in spirit on this journey to Santiago and beyond.

Bom Caminho and much love and blessings.

 

[Playful Dread]

Keep posting, @Playful Dread ! I'm in Mealhada, about a week behind you!

Planning on slowing down this section between Viana Do Castelo and Caminha as we have stopovers on a section of wild beach for a few nights and then 2 nights in Caminha also. We're talking the ferry across and rejoining the coast again after that with plans to deviate along the Spiritual Way out of Ponte Vedra.

Will definitely keep our eyes out for you Suzanne. We signed a book in a church yesterday where we also got a stamp between Ijar (completely wrong spelling as I'm guessing that one!) and Chafe. Really great walk this section and I've loved being a little bit further inland than on the boardwalks. My wife would rather the opposite! She can't wait for this next section that takes us back on the boardwalks and sometimes beaches.

Hope you're holding up okay with the sun?

 

[mspath]

Playful Dread,

Before you leave Viano do Castelo here are two wonderful places for food. The Casa Primavera/Taberna Soares is where the fisherman eat. Delicious huge portions and cheap; you can ask for a half order of anything. Busy at lunch with local workers. More upmarket but with a simple daily menu is O Laranjeira. The dining room is handsome with white linen, the service friendly and the food creative and delicious. Splurge and visit both!

Bom Caminho!

 

[Playful Dread]

Well darn. Sounds like the party will be done by the time this slow old lady gets there August 10th to Lisbon.
Can one of you at LEAST leave one of those party blowers for me at an Albergue along the way?
That way I won't feel so left out.
sigh.

I'll hopefully find one in those Chinese stores along the way that seem to sell anything and everything. Although we're not staying in many albergeus so may leave it at a cross for you along the way!

Bom Caminho Coleen.