The Caminho Português: Valença do Minho to Santiago de Compostela, approximately 132kms: no worries, you can always catch the bus back
Doing the Caminho Português has been something we've been talking about for a while. We started training in October planning to do it in March or April. We break in our boots and, during the latest lockdown, talk endlessly about what to pack and the best itinerary. We know we have no patience to walk for more than a week but we also don't want to do the bare minimum final 100kms. So we settle for leaving from Valença do Minho on the border with Spain and plan to walk approximately 130kms in 6 days. We both feel we're fit enough, our only concern is, are our boots worn in enough? Anyway, thanks to climate change, we find ourselves in the middle of a very mild and dry winter, we check the weather daily and there are at least another two weeks of sunshine and mild weather so it's time to go for a walk.
We lock in our dates, Friday, 28th of January to Wednesday 2nd of February and get ready. We leave on the Thursday as we have friends who live near Paredes do Coura and have invited us to visit. Our friends kindly offer to keep our car in their garage and also to drive us to the starting point and to pick us up on the way back, which makes everything so much easier to navigate, thank you guys. We spend a day with them, visiting the stunning region and enjoying their hospitality, go to sleep and leave the following morning.
Preparation: We started training for the walk in October planning to do the Caminho in March. We start by walking 10 to 15kms once or twice a week on a variety of terrains, up and down, wet and dry, always wearing our walking boots and experimenting with a variety of sock combination, until we found what worked for us. Some people recommend you train with your backpack but we decided to take the absolute bare minimum with us instead. As we later changed the date and did it at the end of January, we actually trained for a total of 3 months. We are however fairly fit overall, so maybe it would be recommended for some to train for a bit longer.
Costs: We budgeted for 75 Euros per day, including hotel (private double rooms with bathroom 29 - 45 Euros), breakfast, lunch and other small costs and it was spot on. The costs will go up if you want to have dinner as we preferred to just stick to one big meal per day. Keep in mind that we did it in the winter, the lowest season, and prices of accommodation might be higher from March to October. Also, you can cut costs by staying in the Albergues available along the way, which are cheaper, some even are free or by donation. Buying your food at supermarkets instead of going to restaurants can also help in keeping your costs down, if that's your intention. If you are unable to travel light and are willing to pay, there's a service that will take your luggage to your next accommodation while you walk, and it costs, at the time, 5 Euros per day.
Tips: Buy your walking boots and break them in way ahead of time, at least 6 months. Can't stress this enough. Seriously. Mean it. Try on a variety of socks, till you find what works for you. For us this was a thin, cotton pair underneath and a thicker hiking pair on top. Get seamless socks if possible and during the walk, alternate your socks every day, it will make a huge difference. Pack a broad variety of shapes and sizes of band aids and sticky plaster. Put them on at the first sign of discomfort before it becomes a blister. Try to avoid blisters at all costs as they are your worst enemy on the Caminho. The signage along the Caminho is excellent but it's important to pay attention all the way. When the signs indicate that you should cross the road, it's important to do so as the signs will be posted on the other side of the road and you could miss your turnoff, I can't stress this enough. Always carry a small water bottle (there are water fountains with free drinking water along most of the way) and a couple of cereal bars, just to be on the safe side. Please be aware that, if you want to get your Compostela (Free Certificate of completion), you need to get at lest two stamps a day on your Pilgrim Passport (called a Credential). You can pick up your credential/passport (costs 2 Euros) in a array of venues along the way and get it stamped in churches, hotels, cafes, restaurantes, tourism offices, etc. Also, please consider that the distances here are approximate as shown on my MiFit after arrival on each day. It's also important to remember that, if you want to leave early in the morning, you should check where to pick up the Caminho trail the next day, in case it's still dark or a bit hard to find. It's important to say that we chose to do all of our walking in the mornings and be done by lunchtime. We are both morning people and function better before lunch, however, that's a personal choice as you have the entire day to match your walking hours to your energy levels.
Packing: As I said before, we kept our packing to a bare minimum, between 2 to 2.5kgs, which is possible it you do it in 6 -7 days. To begin with, pick a very light backpack as anything can add to the total weight of your backpack. Remember that you will be walking through and staying in cities, so you can always buy whatever else you need on the go. I pack 8 pairs of underwear, a spare bra, an extra top for the return trip, a light polar top and pants to lounge about and to sleep in, a pair of slippers for when you 'peel off' your boots, 8 pairs of socks, toiletries in very small bottles/jars, a small bottle of water, my tablet and charger. I'm wearing a pair of polar leggings, a pair of warm tights underneath, a warm polar outdoor top and a warm thermal undershirt, polar gloves, a beenie and a polar neck warmer. Paul is wearing pretty much the same and carrying the same but a mobile phone and charger, instead of toiletries, he's packed a Swiss Army Knife and a couple of plastic cups for the evening recovery wine.
Resources: Paul used a site for planning our walk - https://www.caminodesantiago.me/ and downloaded their free app which among other things allows you to track where you are on the camino using the gps in your phone allowing you to estimate remaining distances to next destination, making sure you don´t get lost etc. We also used an excellent blog (in Portuguese) for further information - https://www.vagamundos.pt/caminho-de-santiago/
Day 1 - Valença do Minho to O Porrinho - 21.6kms - Our friends drop us off and we cross the bridge from Portugal into Tui, in Spain. We have our Pilgrim Passports stamped at both the Cathedral and the Tourist Office and make our way into a beautiful and very pleasant long walk in the forest. The second half of the day is just walking along the industrial area of Porrinho, definitely not as nice and very long. We arrive at the Pension Puente (45 Euros, definitely needs a bit of TLC) at around 2PM, have lunch at their restaurant (11 Euros each for a set menu with wine), go to the supermarket then fold for the day. We quickly realize that, to complete this walk, one of the most important things is recovery time, so, we have breakfast and lunch and do not go out for the rest of the day after checking in.
Day 2 - Porrinho to Redondela - 16kms - This is the easiest and shortest day. We leave at 9AM and it's yet another beautiful day, walking up and down through villages, forests, rivers and small towns. We arrive at around 1PM, have lunch (La Barraca de Freddy, Menu 7 Euros per person, including wine) and check in at the Bahia de San Simon. The hotel staff is great, very helpful, and so are the rooms, a bargain for 30 Euros and we got upgraded to a triple room. It's a bit of a walk up the hill but nothing we can't do as, overall, it was a much easier walking day.
Day 3 - Redondela to Pontevedra - 22.4kms - we leave our hotel at 8.30 and after yet another breakfast of cafe con leche y tostada con tomate, we start the day´s walk at 9AM and after another lovely day of walking in the Spanish Galician countryside, we arrive in beautiful Pontevedra at 2PM. We have a couple of slices of pizza and a beer and walk around this majestic, medieval town. It's important to say that we've been to this region and to most of these cities before, which minimizes the need for sightseeing and in turn, increases our recovery time. We check in at the nice and very well located Hotel Casa Marujo (41 Euros) and rest until the next morning.
Day 4 - Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis - 23kms - by now, we're pretty sure we're going to finish it strong and if we have any issues at all, they will be related to our boots, not our stamina. We leave beautiful Pontevedra at 9AM and this day is definitely the most pleasant one so far. We walk almost all day through forests, villages, rivers and waterfalls, very typical Galician landscape. We arrive in Caldas de Reis around 2PM and check in at the Albergue Agarimo Hotel, not too bad for 45 Euros. Halfway through the morning, we are stopped by the Pilgrim Special Police. They support people during their walk and ask if they can stamp our passports. We guess they are a little bored as the Camino has been empty most of the way. We saw two girls on Day 3 and one guy on Day 4, besides that, we had the entire Camino to ourselves, what a fantastic privilege. We have lunch at the Hotel O Crucero, another great set menu for 10 Euros, including your wine, and go for a rest till next morning,
Day 5 - Caldas de Reis to Padron - 21.4kms - We leave at 9AM and it's again a very short, pleasant day which is great as we know the last day is going to be long and a lot harder. We have a lovely experience as a kindergarten teacher and his little group of students, in a very small village, ask us where we were from, give us pilgrim shells and ask us to send a photo back to them when we get back home. They also get their Brazilian and Australian flags out in our honour and ask if they can take a photo of us, it's really moving to chat with these guys then we say adios and keep on walking, We arrive at around 2PM and check in at the Hotel Grilo. We have a nice lunch at their restaurant (set menu 10 Euros each, plus wine 4 Euros), and again, it's recovery time as we know tomorrow it's going to be a long day before we reach the Cathedral.
Day 6 - Padron to Santiago de Compostela - 26.5kms - We decide to leave the hotel at 8 AM, it's still dark and after a quick breakfast we make our way to Santiago de Compostela as we know the day is going to be longer. The last day is definitely the longest and hardest of the 6. I would recommend that for some people it might be better to break up the last day into 2 days, principally if you have blisters or other issues with shoes or overall tiredness. The second half of the day is just up and up and a lot of it done not on the most gorgeous landscapes. The arrival in Santiago is quite painful, literally, but as they say along the way, No Pain, No Gain, I personally disagree... We finally arrive in Santiago and go Straight to the Pilgrim Office, where you get your last stamp for your passport and get your free Certificate of Completion (Compostela), a very easy process. We then have a nice menu (set menu 11 Euros with a glass of wine) and check into the Oxford Suites (29 Euros), just behind the cathedral square. Lovely room and perfect location. Our feet are killing us, but again, no blisters, so, the cheap Decathlon boots (waterproof, 35 to 50 Euros) definitely cut it.
We go into recovery mode for one last time. We wake up the next morning and have our last cafe con leche y tostada con tomate for this trip and make our way to the bus station. The bus from Santiago back to Valença do Minho costs 17 euros per person and the trip takes 1.45 hours. Yeah, it can be easily done by bus. Back in Portugal, we shout our friends who pick us up for lunch and drive back home, see you guys on our next trip.
