Portugese Camino - leaving Porto 2nd of April - anyone else?

[muppet]

Hi everybody!

I'm MUPPET and leaving for Porto in a few days time to walk from Porto to Santiago. This will be my first Camino and I am intending to try and first walk the Portugese route and after that do a second one from Seville on the Plata route a few weeks later ending for a second time in Santiago at the end of July..........God willing!

Has anyone got any advice about Porto and getting a pilgrims passport in Porto and what sort of terrain can I expect on the route?

I would have liked to do the French route but decided against it due to the fact that everyone is saying it will be super busy..

Anyone else going my way in the coming weeks?

 

[Anniesantiago]

Well, the terrain is quite varied, from eucalyptus forest to vineyards to farmland to ruins to scary narrow road walking. We put bright orange hankerchiefs on top of our walking staffs and held them up so cars zipping around the corners could see us. There are stretches on roads with literally NO shoulder that are nerve-wracking.

There are not as many alburgues. We often stayed in hotels and split the cost.

The food is fantastic but be sure to eat when you're in towns because there's not much between.

I'm Portuguese so I really enjoyed the people and seeing where my relatives came from.

All in all, it's a nice Camino and a beautiful one!

 

[muppet]

Hi Annie,

Thanks for your reply and info. Sounds nice apart from the bits on the roads...looks like I'll be needing eyes in the back of my head for this trip! :?

I havent pre-booked any accomodation so I hope I dont end up sleeping outside at night....cant wait to fly off on tuesday...cant come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

When did you walk the route? Was that recently and how much money did you end up spending roughly every day for food and accomodation? I also cant speak any portugese so I hope that my english will get my by...

 

[larrycu]

I did this route last year. I took a credita with me. it took 1o days . I went alone but met up with lots of nice people, There was no crowding in the albergues. I do not know spanish or portuguese but got along fine. Just had a hard time finding grocery stores.

 

[handzondeck2]

Hi Muppet

I'm walking a week later with my nephew. Hope to see you on the trail. S.

 

[Anniesantiago]

We walked 3 years ago when the Euro was about the same as it is right now.

The alburgues were good and never crowded. The few times there were no alburgues, I think we paid between 25 to 36 Euro for shared room, but I'm having trouble finding my notebook (I just moved and haven't completely unpacked.) I don't think it's necessary to pre-book accomodation.

I know a bit of Portuguese. Some of my family lives in the Azores and my father's family is Portuguese, so that helped. Almost nobody spoke English. But the people know what you're doing, and they're helpful.

We found grocery stores along the way and were sure to carry food, because there were not as many restaurants as on the Frances.

The mosquitos in summer were practically the size of buzzards though, and they loved my 0+ blood! They didn't bother Joe at all. I swore if I did it again, I'd take a mosquito net for nights.

Brierley's guide to the Camino Portugues was the one we used, and it was very good.

As far as how much we spent, I'm sorry, I don't have those figures. I know we were in Spain and Portugal for 3 months and I spent $3000 American for the entire trip this last August and less the time before. But we were very frugal and did a lot of our own cooking and picnicking.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Maybe someone who has walked more recently....

At any rate, you'll have a great time!
Just go and trust the Camino to take care of you...

 

[muppet]

Hi Larry,
How many kilos were you carrying on your back when you did it? Do you find you need a poncho plus a raincoat and raintrouser combi or is one or the other a better bet as far as weight and space go? I've got a light berghaus gortex top with built in hood and waterproof trousers but also a poncho (including rucksack bit)...still debating whether to take both sets or not....any advice from the veteran walkers?

handzondeck2 - yes maybe catch you guys there somewhere on the route although i should be a fair bit ahead of you by that time...good luck and enjoy anyway!

Annie...thanks for your extra info.... i'm hoping to not spend more than 1000 euros per month but i can imagine that if I need to use other accomodation sometimes it could well work out more. I intend to be walking in Spain till at least the end of July or even August depending on when the money or my body run out of steam Hopefully the mosquitos only turn up later in the year so the Portugese part of my journey should be relatively bug free.....although reading about the bedbugs certainly makes me feel itchy already.....can i expect them on the portugese route in the hostels?

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola Muppet

The 10 day forecast for Porto has lots of rain around I'm afraid. My own preference for continuous days of rain is to wear a rain shell of jacket and trousers - if using a ponch I'd also use the waterproof trousers.

Buen camino

John

 

[muppet]

Hi John,

Thanks for the advice. I'm tempted just to take the jacket and waterproof trousers but I think I'll take both and can always get rid of the poncho on the way if its surplus te requirements......packing is a tricky thing and I want to keep the weight and space used down to a minimum but thats proving harder than i thought....i guess the camino will soon help me to take those decisions more easily.

 

[muppet]

Hi everyone!

I'm off to Porto this evening so good luck to everybody especially on the Portugese route. I'll try and log in occasionally when the opportunity arises to report my progress and see where everyone else is and hopefully bump into some of you walking the same path in the coming time! Adios y hasta luego!
Tu amigo... Muppet

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Buen Camino Muppet!

Let us know how you get on.

John