LIVE from the Camino Walking the Camino Portugues in Winter - My Experience

[jenwearing]

Hi everyone and happy New Year!

I just finished my walk from Lisbon to SDC starting Dec 13 and finishing New Year’s Day. I thought I would add a few notes I wish I’d know ahead of time.

1. Flooding! We actually got a lot less rain than I was anticipating, even some dry sunny days but it did rain a lot and my feet were always wet. On day two we had to walk through a puddle that was knee deep. After that, we did take several detours to avoid even deeper water on the path. This was throughout the route. In Portugal, the locals gave us a heads up on a few but we mostly just came to some water and had to map out a new route. This was not difficult. In Galicia, the routes were blocked off with detour signs posted.

2. There were lots of closures Christmas Day, Dec 31 and January 1 but there were enough cafes and restaurants open that we never had to carry a lot of food. We always had nuts and oranges to get us through when we couldn’t find anything but dinner was easy.
We just arrived in SDC today, New Year’s Day and there are plenty of options for food.

That’s about it for the surprises! Nothing too bad and while I still recommend going in the spring/summer/fall, winter is not impossible. It just takes some extra mental gymnastics to adapt to the constantly changing conditions and stay .

I went at this time because it was the only time I could get from work but it was special in its own way. The Christmas lights and music everywhere was really cool.

Feliz Año!

 

[timr]

Hi everyone and happy New Year!

I just finished my walk from Lisbon to SDC starting Dec 13 and finishing New Year’s Day. I thought I would add a few notes I wish I’d know ahead of time.

1. Flooding! We actually got a lot less rain than I was anticipating, even some dry sunny days but it did rain a lot and my feet were always wet. On day two we had to walk through a puddle that was knee deep. After that, we did take several detours to avoid even deeper water on the path. This was throughout the route. In Portugal, the locals gave us a heads up on a few but we mostly just came to some water and had to map out a new route. This was not difficult. In Galicia, the routes were blocked off with detour signs posted.

2. There were lots of closures Christmas Day, Dec 31 and January 1 but there were enough cafes and restaurants open that we never had to carry a lot of food. We always had nuts and oranges to get us through when we couldn’t find anything but dinner was easy.
We just arrived in SDC today, New Year’s Day and there are plenty of options for food.

That’s about it for the surprises! Nothing too bad and while I still recommend going in the spring/summer/fall, winter is not impossible. It just takes some extra mental gymnastics to adapt to the constantly changing conditions and stay .

I went at this time because it was the only time I could get from work but it was special in its own way. The Christmas lights and music everywhere was really cool.

Feliz Año!

Well done! Sounds brilliant

 

[ivar]

Flooding indeed. This is Rio Sar today, just outside of Santiago.

 

[mspath]

jenwearing,
Happy New Year to you!

What a wonderful time this must be to arrive in Santiago. Once you dry off do enjoy wandering about in the city.

Thank you for sharing your happy news and updates re your camino. May yiu have a safe trip back to Vancouver.
Carpe diem!

 

[jenwearing]

View attachment 138853
Flooding indeed. This is Rio Sar today, just outside of Santiago.

Yes, I’m addition to the swelling rivers, we had ankle deep water on some of the town hills and mountains.

 

[John Phillips]

Hi everyone and happy New Year!

I just finished my walk from Lisbon to SDC starting Dec 13 and finishing New Year’s Day. I thought I would add a few notes I wish I’d know ahead of time.

1. Flooding! We actually got a lot less rain than I was anticipating, even some dry sunny days but it did rain a lot and my feet were always wet. On day two we had to walk through a puddle that was knee deep. After that, we did take several detours to avoid even deeper water on the path. This was throughout the route. In Portugal, the locals gave us a heads up on a few but we mostly just came to some water and had to map out a new route. This was not difficult. In Galicia, the routes were blocked off with detour signs posted.

2. There were lots of closures Christmas Day, Dec 31 and January 1 but there were enough cafes and restaurants open that we never had to carry a lot of food. We always had nuts and oranges to get us through when we couldn’t find anything but dinner was easy.
We just arrived in SDC today, New Year’s Day and there are plenty of options for food.

That’s about it for the surprises! Nothing too bad and while I still recommend going in the spring/summer/fall, winter is not impossible. It just takes some extra mental gymnastics to adapt to the constantly changing conditions and stay .

I went at this time because it was the only time I could get from work but it was special in its own way. The Christmas lights and music everywhere was really cool.

Feliz Año!

Hi Jen
How did you find the availability of hostels between Lisbon and Porto? Any particular recommendations or difficulties (apart from the weather!)?

 

[Grahammac]

Excellent. Well done and thanks for the update.
Question: Did you go coastal route or interior route?

 

[The Yukon]

It’s a wonderful time of year to walk: just a smattering of pilgrims and no problem finding a bed. Last year walking from Lisbon in December, my feet were never wet, but this year we did some inadvertent wading. It’s great to hear from pilgrims successfully walking the cooler, quieter months - an inspiration for other pilgrims to to walk in the winter. Thank you.

 

[Tandem Graham]

Well done!
Did Lisbon to SDC take just three weeks, even with winter's short daylight? You must have put in some big days!

 

[CaptainBonnie]

Hi everyone and happy New Year!

I just finished my walk from Lisbon to SDC starting Dec 13 and finishing New Year’s Day. I thought I would add a few notes I wish I’d know ahead of time.

1. Flooding! We actually got a lot less rain than I was anticipating, even some dry sunny days but it did rain a lot and my feet were always wet. On day two we had to walk through a puddle that was knee deep. After that, we did take several detours to avoid even deeper water on the path. This was throughout the route. In Portugal, the locals gave us a heads up on a few but we mostly just came to some water and had to map out a new route. This was not difficult. In Galicia, the routes were blocked off with detour signs posted.

2. There were lots of closures Christmas Day, Dec 31 and January 1 but there were enough cafes and restaurants open that we never had to carry a lot of food. We always had nuts and oranges to get us through when we couldn’t find anything but dinner was easy.
We just arrived in SDC today, New Year’s Day and there are plenty of options for food.

That’s about it for the surprises! Nothing too bad and while I still recommend going in the spring/summer/fall, winter is not impossible. It just takes some extra mental gymnastics to adapt to the constantly changing conditions and stay .

I went at this time because it was the only time I could get from work but it was special in its own way. The Christmas lights and music everywhere was really cool.

Feliz Año!

Pretty incredible you did it in 18 Days! It took me 30 days from Lisbon incl variate Espiritual to SdeC ( 29 April - 01 June 2022 with 2 extra days in Porto)
Well Done!
Buen Camino

 

[jenwearing]

Pretty incredible you did it in 18 Days! It took me 30 days from Lisbon incl variate Espiritual to SdeC ( 29 April - 01 June 2022 with 2 extra days in Porto)
Well Done!
Buen Camino

Oh, I should have mentioned that we skipped 100 km. I did in an earlier post.
Yes. 18 days would have been a feat!

 

[jenwearing]

Well done!
Did Lisbon to SDC take just three weeks, even with winter's short daylight? You must have put in some big days!

Important note, I skipped 100km between Coimbra and Porto.I actually took the train from Coimbra to Espinho on the coast and walked from there to Porto. That was 25km and absolutely one of my favourite days. Very windy but dry. The river view of Porto as you get closer and closer was just amazing.

 

[jenwearing]

Well done!
Did Lisbon to SDC take just three weeks, even with winter's short daylight? You must have put in some big days!

I skipped 100km between Coimbra and Espinho. That said, there were still a lot of 35km days.

 

[jenwearing]

Excellent. Well done and thanks for the update.
Question: Did you go coastal route or interior route?

I did a coast stage between Espinho and Porto which was so lovely. The winter waves were huge! The boardwalk was damaged in plenty of spots unfortunately but the walking was still fine along the path. From Porto I took the central route the rest of the way. I did meet a couple that took the coast and they ended up camping mostly.

 

[jenwearing]

Hi Jen
How did you find the availability of hostels between Lisbon and Porto? Any particular recommendations or difficulties (apart from the weather!)?

I didn’t want to risk it so I pre-booked all my accommodations on booking.com with free cancellation. We did have to do some switch ups along the way.
A couple albergues were absolutely freezing.
The popular albergue where you get the elaborate stamp, Albergue Pinheiros, was so full of black mold you could see it on a lot of walls. I would deem it un-safe. We were coughing the night and whole next day and the few other pilgrims we met were doing the same.

Other than that, it was fairly smooth sailing. There were maybe some longer stretches where cafes were expected to be open but were not so carrying food and is a must.