NomadBoomer
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances ( 2017, 2018,Aug 2023) Vdlp (2018)
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I forgot to say that the reason I posted was that if August is no busier from SJPP I may be tempted to walk the Portuguese from Porto before starting the Frances in September.
Hi I walked both Aug, and April. And I would say Aug was slightly busier and hotter. In August I would start at day break and usually was there in time to get a municipal albergue I don,t think I ever had to go to plan B. My day on route Napolian was 33deg watch ya water.I forgot to say that the reason I posted was that if August is no busier from SJPP I may be tempted to walk the Portuguese from Porto before starting the Frances in September.
Anamya, can I ask which route you took on the Portuguese camino? I have also done the Frances and would be interested in your comments on the differences (topography, road/track surfaces, accommodation etc) ThankyouI would guess August is probably busier than September because of summer holidays in Europe.
The Portuguese Camino is waaaay less crowded than the Frances, maybe you can have a more tranquil walk along there in August before heading to SJPP. Enjoy the food in Portugal, it is even better than in Spain, if such thing is possible
Anamya, can I ask which route you took on the Portuguese camino?
Wonderful, thankyou!Hi Wazza!
I did the Central Route in April 2017, starting in Porto via Barcelos and Ponte de Lima. I really, really loved it.
- Topography: In general, not too challenging and not too different from the Galician part of the CF. I usually highlight that Alto da Portela felt way more challenging than Cebreiro, imho, but it was one off tough day out of 11 that were tranquil.
- Road/track surfaces: there is more road walking in CP than the same distance in CF. But tarmac is not the issue, it does not happen thaaaat much. Stones are the issue. Sometimes you get kms and kms on stony paved roman/medieval/somewhat new roads. I had no problem with them as my shoes were very comfortable and cushioned, but my husband had almost flat feet by the end of some days. So, yeah, it will vary from person to person, but can be challenging.
- Accomodation: there were plenty of albergues, and also plenty of small inns and hotels that were affordable. We actually stayed in a few casas rurales, when the price of a private room was close to the price of two beds in an albergue. We never had a problem finding a place to stay, in April. The places we stayed also seemed newer than the ones in CF, and we were fine just having a silk liner instead of sleeping bag.
Some other things:
- weather: although the Portuguese were saying "Abril, águas mil" ("April, heaps of water"), we only got sporadic rain. It was not too hot, neither cold, neither humid... it was actually very, very pleasant. Maybe I was lucky.
- Food: Probably the best gastronomic experience of my life, hands down. Plenty, hearty, cheap, delicious. Just tell them you don´t want all the extras (they fill the table with extra bread, olives, etc), or it can get expensive. Try obviously the Port Wine in Porto, plus the Bacalhau (cod fish) and Francesinha (7 meats and cheese sandwich wrapped in cheese and beer gravy). Get also Pasteis de Nata (custard pastries), they give you energy for hours! Try Pimientos (Sizzled peppers) in Padrón and eat at the old tavern under the bridge in Caldas de Reis (we had 1 portion of sardines for both of us... it came with 16 sardines!).
- Language: I can speak Portuguese and Spanish well, which always opens doors over there. But everyone in Portugal seemed to speak at least 3 or 4 languages, it was quite incredible.
- History: Porto is a fantastic city - I spent 2 and half days there before I actually started walking, totally worth it. Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, the border Vaçença/Tui and Pontevedra were my favourite cities, full of historical places to visit.
- Water: there were less water fountais along the way, so I was always refilling my bottle when possible.
I'd also mention that I took the Central route because I lived most of my life near the sea, so the inland landscape and the history interested me more than the seashore. I was also not fond of feeling "the sea breeze" all the time - had lots of it most of my life. although enjoyable, I wanted something different.
In a nutshell, i loved it and really recommend. Feel free to drop a message if you wanna talk about any details! Bom caminho!
did you use a pack transfer service similar to that on the Frances?
Thankyou Anamya, greatly appreciated!Hello again, Wazza!
English will be fine. In Portugal, everyone spoke English (and many other languages), and in Spain, most places that deal with pilgrims and tourists do too. You wont have any issues - but knowing "obrigado" and "gracias" (thank you) always help!
For transport, we sent a pack ahead to Santiago with TuiTrans. They were lovely and our suitcase was waiting for us in the hotel the day we arrived in Santiago. TuiTrans also does daily stages pack transport if you need, from Porto to Santiago. We didn't use them for daily transport, but many other pilgrims did and enjoyed the service: https://tuitrans.com/
Unfortunately I cannot advise on companies doing the Lisbon-Porto part of the Camino. Maybe a search on the forum can help
Perfect thanks. I see August from SJPP is a bit quieter than September but not as much quieter as I hoped. I will start midweek late August unless I try to squeeze CP in. Anytime on the Frances is going to be very busy after the Vdlp
I'm also starting a week earlier on August 25th! Maybe I'll see you in SJPDP then.Just anecdotally tons of people on this forum have chosen to start on the first of September and in the first few days. I decided to start a week earlier at end of August to try to avoid that bunch up. The only issue that I noticed is that flights from North America are a higher cost in August.
I'm also starting a week earlier on August 25th! Maybe I'll see you in SJPDP then.
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