How many pilgrims walking the Portugues in April?

[pilgrimyogi]

I am starting from Porto around the 13th of April--yay! Can anyone tell me how many pilgrims typically are walking on the Portugues at that time of year?

 

[sillydoll]

In the whole of 2011, 2374 pilgrims walked the Portuguese route. (Not sure what months they started walking though.)
638 pilgrims started from Porto (762 from Tui) The other 1000+ must have started from other towns.

 

[pilgrimyogi]

Thanks, sillydoll. Based on those numbers alone, this will be a very different experience than doing the Camino Frances!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hold on - something has gone awry here. In 2011 22,062 pilgrims walked the Camino Portuguese with 6539 starting in Oporto and 7720 joining in Tui (the rest along the way) which over a 10/12 day route in July/August would make it feel very like the Camino Frances at times.

Look here: http://www.peregrinossantiago.es/esp/wp ... es2011.pdf

Best wishes

John

 

[amancio]

In the whole of 2011, 2374 pilgrims walked the Portuguese route. (Not sure what months they started walking though.)
638 pilgrims started from Porto (762 from Tui) The other 1000+ must have started from other towns.

sillydoll, like Johny Walker suggests, those figures seem very unrealistic to me too, UNLESS they are referring only to April - again, if Easter was in april, figures might be relative.

I was in the Portuguese in 2011 myself at the end of June, and in average, there would be 30 or 40 pilgrims per night in the big albergues like Pontevedra, Caldas de Rei or Padron, but in Mos, for example, there were only 5 or 6 of us.

The Portuguese is very popular among Spanish people during the summer months and Easter, but other than that, at least between Tui and Santiago, I would say it is not terribly busy outside those seasons.

Gorgeous camino, beware the segment REDONDELA-PONTEVEDRA seemed a heck of a lot longer than expected.

Buen camino!

 

[sanet]

I'm aware of 8 pilgrims from SA walking from Oporto in April, there may be more. I'll be starting around 21st so about a week behind you. Buen camino!

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

In the whole of 2011, 2374 pilgrims walked the Portuguese route. (Not sure what months they started walking though.)
638 pilgrims started from Porto (762 from Tui) The other 1000+ must have started from other towns.

I started out from Porto last April. I didn't see another pilgrim for 2 days. It took me 16 fairly easy days to get to Santiago, during which period I stayed at several albergues where there were less than four peregrinos. Of course, the closer you get to SdC the busier the route becomes and hence the busier the albergues - especially in the last 100 kms when folk join in order to get their Certificate.
The diary I wrote covering Porto to SdC is on http://www.calig.co.uk/camino_de_santiago.htm
For me the experience was wonderful: so much so that I'm tackling the Via de la Plata in May this year.
Buen camino [or Bom caminho in Portugal, I think!]
Stephen.

 

[pilgrimyogi]

Much thanks to all. Stephen, it was your account of walking the Camino Portugues that convinced me to give it a try, so thanks for that as well!