Category Archives: Backpacking

A good traveler has no fixed plans

October 13, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Spain, Travelkarenfranza

We had problems sleeping in Porrino, our first night in Spain. There was a festival going on with much drinking. Around 3 am, a drunk guy pounded on our door calling out someone’s name. Eventually, he realized he was pounding on the wrong door. It seemed that he might break down the door but it withstood his blows. Someone he knew came out and they shouted at each other. Finally, they went outside and walked away shouting.

We walked out of town and it started raining.

It rained most of the day and much of our walk was through urban areas.

It is hard to keep a positive attitude when it you walk over uneven stones and concrete much of the day, it rains hard, and the air is chilly.

We walked through Redondela and had trouble, at times, getting across the N-550 highway. We took shelter in communal washing…

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Padrón to Santiago

October 11, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Spain, TravelBotofumeiro, credencial, pilgrim, Santiago, St. Jameskarenfranza

10/10 – today we walk the final 14.5 miles in to Santiago! We left around 8am (that’s about a half hour before dawn), with the intent to get as many miles in as possible before the rain started again.

Around 11 a cold wind blew… then it passed over and we could actually see blue sky! It was exciting to see the markers count down to single digits:

We found our hotel, showered and rested, then walked down to the old city to see the Cathedral.

It was covered in even more scaffolding than the last time we were here in 2011, but looked beautiful to us, even though the rain was coming down again.

10/11 – In the morning, we got into the queue to get our Credencial, the official document that says you have completed your pilgrimage.

You do this by showing your record of dates and places you stayed and ate along the way. This record was as important as our passports – I’m going to feel like something is missing if I don’t have to ask for a stamp every night!

An hour later, we had our certificates:

. We didn’t realize until we got home that the clerk had entered the wrong start date, 21 Jul instead of 21 August. That officially makes us the slowest walkers on the Camiño!

Then we headed back to the Cathedral for the Pilgrims Mass at noon. We got there just in time to snag two seats in the front section nearest the altar.

The mass is totally in Spanish, but you can hear when your country and your Camino is mentioned. A nun with a beautiful soprano voice led the sung responses, and a choir sang during communion.

At the end of the service is the moment everyone waited for: with organ rumbling and choir singing, eight sturdy deacons hefted the world’s biggest thurible (incense burner), el Botofumeiro, and set it swinging across the cathedral. Word is that this tradition started because the pilgrims smelled so bad, but now it is the highlight of the pilgrim service, and is a wonder to behold. A pic doesn’t do it justice – go to YouTube and see any number of videos. Jim will post one soon on his blog.

After the mass, we took our turn climbing the steps behind the altar, to wrap our arms around the golden statue of Santiago and thank him for our safe journey:

Then down to the crypt, to kneel before the bones of James, son of Zebedee, Apostle.

Pontevedra to Caldas de Rais to Padrón

October 9, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Spain, TravelCaldas de. Rais, Padrón, rainkarenfranza

10/8 – we walked all the way through Pontevedra with the plan to stay at the only pension on our map that was north of the city, to give us a jump on the next day’s mileage. Yup, you guessed it, the place had gone out of business years ago. Our guidebook let us down again… We didn’t want to walk back to town, so we kept walking until we found an open bar. Jim stuck his head in and asked if there was any place we could rent a room for the night, and a lady jumped right up and motioned us to follow. Sure enough, a new building with no sign, with rooms to rent, and right on the Camiño!

11 miles to Caldes de Rais, with rain, rain, then torrential rain. We got soaked through, and there was an inch of water in my backpack!

Some people carry umbrellas rather than pack covers, but at the end of the day, we’re all just as wet.

Luckily, our pension had a washing machine, and, thanks to the spin cycle, our clothes came out much drier than they went in! (And smelled much better, too!)

10/9 – 12 more miles to Padrón, our penultimate day before walking into Santiago tomorrow. Our nice pension man told us that the rain wouldn’t start until 11am, so we got as much mileage as we could in the morning.

Sure enough, at 11 on the dot, the rain pelted down. I was feeling cold and bedraggled when we passed by a little statue of Santiago. Even though I don’t like to take my camera out in the rain, I had to capture his expression. Standing all day in the rain, he looked as miserable as I felt!

Here is the bridge into Padrón:

We are staying at the Pension Grilo, which translates as Cricket. Imagine my surprise when we went down to dinner and saw their sign:

Should we tell them that there is a difference between a cricket and la cucaracha?

O Porriño to Cesantes to Pontevedra

October 8, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, TravelCesantes, Pilgrims, Pontevedra, St. Jameskarenfranza

10/6 – well, we’re not in Portugal anymore… How do we know? Rain, rain, and more rain. The rain in Spain falls mainly in Galicia, and our forecast is for rain every day until we reach Santiago. That said, it’s (usually) a nice, soft rain, and still warm (in the 60s). Our clothes and boots are starting to smell like wet dog again.

The other thing that happened when we crossed the border was a time zone change of one hour. Now, instead of the sun not coming up until 7:30, it doesn’t come up until 8:30! We early morning hikers will have to get used to walking in the dark…

There are more statues along our path today. Here’s a few I snapped when there was a break in the rain. That’s Saint James, with his big hat and walking staff. His token is a shell, and many pilgrims carry a shell tied to their backpacks:

11 miles to Cesantes, a good night’s sleep, and another 12 to Pontevedra. We started out at 7am, and were soon beyond the streetlights of the town. It was so dark, we had to use our flashlight to see the path ahead. Here’s a shrine we saw on the side of a house in the early morning:

We continue to see more pilgrims each day, some of whom just started at the Spanish border. One has to walk at least the last 100 kilometers to qualify for an official certificate of completion.

Pontevedra has a church shaped like a seashell, with a (rather effeminate) statue of St. James on the altar. We must be getting close!

Valença to O Porriño

October 5, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, TravelO Porriño, Rio Minho, Valencakarenfranza

10/5 – this morning we crossed the bridge over the Rio Minho in Portugal, or the Rio Miño, as the Spanish spell it, into España. (I just figured out how to make little squiggles over my ‘n’s, and am very proud of myself!)

I adjusted my greeting from Bom Dia to Buenos Dias, and on we went, 12 miles. On this side of the border, the Camino signs also count down the number of kilometers left to Santiago:

We read in the blogs about this Camino that the route in this area was recently moved away from a busy road to a wooded walk, much to the chagrin of the cafe owners on the old route who now get less traffic. Every night, the yellow waymarks are painted over with black paint by the bad guys, and every day they are repainted by the good guys. We laughed at a new arrow that was placed high on a pole – presumably the vandals are short people!

On our lovely nature walk we saw some geese, and a very friendly horse that took a liking to Jim:

Once we got to O Porriño, we could see that it was not just any Sunday. There was a town festival, and everybody was out; kids playing games, and everyone else drinking beer and eating…chickpeas! A chickpea festival?? There was music, lights and much cavorting in the streets until the wee hours. O Porriño!

Rubiaes to Valença – last day in Portugal

October 4, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, TravelRio Minho, Rubiaes, Valencakarenfranza

10/3 – another 11 mile day to Valença, the last city before we cross the border into Spain. Our days in Portugal are coming to an end, and I find myself wanting to stay longer. We’ve found our comfort level with the little we know of the language, and can communicate enough to meet our needs. We negotiate the cafes, markets, post office and residencials. We’re starting to understand commercials and the news on TV. Starting over with a new set of challenges in a new country will be both exciting and exhausting. It also means there is only one week left in our Caminho…

Lots more flowers to enjoy on another warm and sunny day:

Valenca is a fortress town, responsible for keeping the ancient Spaniards out, I guess. The high walls of the Fortazela still surround the city, with cannon on the bulwarks:

There is an ancient marker here, from the time of Claudius Tiberius Caesar, 47A.D.:

…and several old churches including an Iglesia Santa Maria from the 12th century that had some interesting wooden artwork and the blue tiles (azules) that we so identify with Portugal:

The town also had bus loads of tourists shopping for linens and souvenirs:

At the end of town is the view over the Rio Minho, with the bridge that we will walk over tomorrow to Spain.

Farewell Portugal! We love you!

Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes

October 3, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, TravelPonte de Lima, Rubiaeskarenfranza

10/2 – Ponte de Lima is a town that doesn’t take itself too seriously:

A man stopped us to explain that when the Roman soldiers were ordered to cross the river into Ponte de Lima, they refused to do so, as the river was so beautiful that they feared they were crossing the River of Life…

We were on the road as the sun came up, and the music piped through the streets was a very mellow instrumental version of Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…

Today we climbed a big hill. Took about an hour to get up, over big rocks. We were very glad it wasn’t raining, which would have made the rocks slippery. I was looking forward to capturing the panoramic view from the summit to share with you, but there was nothing to see, except the trail back down the other side! Oh well.

Lots more pilgrim rocks today. Jim says that Appalachian Trail hikers also add rocks to cairns, just to say, “I was here”.

We checked in at the first residencial we passed in Rubiaes, where there really isn’t any town. For the third day in a row, a nice lady has taken all our dirty clothes, washed them in her machine, and hung them up to dry for us. This is the cleanest our clothes have been in a month!

The waiter from the nearby restaurant picked us up at supper time, where we met all our friends of the day: Mary and John from Australia, Richard and Pat from Canada, Mark and Julie, young retired Americans who now live in Hungary, Hannah from Germany, and the Italians who climbed the hill with us. Good food and good company.

Casas do Rio to Ponte de Lima

October 3, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, TravelCasas do Rio, Ponte de Lima, rocks, Shrinekarenfranza

10/1 – Happy October! Instead of fall weather, it got sunnier and warmer today, back up into the 80s. After our killer breakfast – quiche, assorted cheeses, fresh fruit, fig cake from the figs in the yard, ham, olive loaf, quince marmalade, omelettes, well, you get the idea, we rolled out of Casas do Rio thinking we’d never have to eat again.

We walked eleven miles north, seeing pilgrims throughout the day – a young girl from Luxembourg, a nurse from Slovakia, two women from Hungary, Marcus, Sophia and Brigett from Switzerland, and a man from Lisbon! There were more that we didn’t get a chance to talk to. This Caminho is certainly getting crowded!

This is one of many shrines of St. James on the Way, with many rocks placed around it, to represent bringing your troubles or prayers, and leaving them with God. Some pilgrims carry rocks from their home countries.

The corn fields have been harvested:

…but lots of flowers are still blooming in the woods and along the roads:

Ponte de Lima is a lovely town right on the bank of the Rio Lima. Although traffic uses a modern bridge, the medieval ponte is still used for pedestrians.

Here’s a friendly fellow, welcoming us to town!

Barcelos to Casas do Rio

October 1, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, TravelBarcelos, Casas do Riokarenfranza

A quiz for you today:

9/30 – We bade farewell to Barcelos to walk eleven miles today. We got an email from our new friends Patricia and Ray, that Casas do Rio is the land of pilgrims dreams, with a pool, jacuzzi, sauna, wifi, laundry service, game room, and super breakfast. They were staying for three days, so we will catch up to them. Ooh my! We can’t wait!

Some interesting things we saw today:

The walk in was lovely, and we arrived in early afternoon, so we had plenty of time to jacuzzi and swim the afternoon away, and sample figs and kiwi from the fruit trees on the grounds. At supper time, a car arrived to take the four of us to a nearby restaurant, where we enjoyed good food and great company. We hope we’ll have another opportunity to spend time with Patricia and Ray.

Vilharino to Barcelos

September 28, 2014Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, TravelBarcelos, cock of Barcelos, Nice People of Portugal, Pilgrims, Vilharinokarenfranza

9/27 – 17 miles today will get us to Barcelos.

Many pilgrims start their journey in Porto, and today, for the first time, we met others walking the same path; Martin from London, a couple from Poland, a man from Hungary, a girl from Germany, and a couple, Patricia and Ray, from Sacramento! We walked with Patricia and Ray into the city, and met for a drink in the evening. So nice to share experiences, and to communicate in English!

For lunch, we stopped at a pilgrim-friendly restaurante where the proprietor’s picture was in our guidebook! We asked him to autograph his photo, and he was happy to oblige.

By 3pm we walked over the bridge into the city:

Throughout our travels in Portugal, we have encountered the image of a colorful rooster on many shops and souvenirs. Now that we are in Barcelos, here is the story of The Cock of Barcelos:

If you look closely at the cross, you will see St. James holding up the feet of the hanging man.

Tomorrow, a day of rest.

Taking Our Time

Seeing the World, Nice and Slow

Category Archives: Backpacking

A good traveler has no fixed plans

Padrón to Santiago

Pontevedra to Caldas de Rais to Padrón

O Porriño to Cesantes to Pontevedra

Valença to O Porriño

Rubiaes to Valença – last day in Portugal

Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes

Casas do Rio to Ponte de Lima

Barcelos to Casas do Rio

Vilharino to Barcelos

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