Getting Ready For A Walk-About in Portugal and Spain.

The summer season is coming to an end and for many of us it is time to embark on new adventures.  Deborah and I are joining eight friends to walk the Camino Portuguese.  Our walk will follow 241 kilometres of the ancient Pilgrims’ Trail from Porto, Portugal to Santiago, Spain.  We won't be "roughing it".  B&B's and hotels will make our end of day stays quite relaxing.  I sense "big beers" occurring on a daily basis.

Packs Are Packed - Training Walks Complete!

Fellow Pilgrims - Linda, Cheryl, Glen, Nola, Deborah, me, and Phil.
Sam Took the Picture and Warren & Diane were M.I.A.

The pilgrims’ ways to Santiago have their roots in the history of Saint James.  The Bible tells us that after Christ was crucified 2000 years ago, the disciples dispersed to different parts of the world to spread the Christian gospel.  James went to Spain and spent years travelling and evangelising.  We are also told that when he returned to Jerusalem a few years later, King Herod had him beheaded.  Finally, the story tells us that Saint James’ body was returned to Spain by ship and given a martyrs burial in a tomb on a hillside that is now modern day Santiago, Spain.

About 700 years later Christians began making pilgrimages from all over Europe to worship at the remains of Saint James.  The different “ways” to Santiago are still well travelled and are very much evident today.

While this is not a Christian pilgrimage for us, the literature asks us to “keep an open mind to the sometimes mystical happenings” that have been experienced by many past pilgrims during the days of walking while meeting new faces and cultures along the way.  Our purpose is to see Portugal and Spain from a walking pace and to remain open to any new experiences that may occur.

We will keep our Camino passports with us and get them stamped in the village way points to prove our progress.  We will be entitled to receive a “Certificate of Completion” from the Cathedral in Santiago and meet with a representative of the Church to talk about our reasons for completing the pilgrimage.  I have already given this some thought and I think I will state that the pilgrimage satisfied a bucket list desire to complete a long walk.  (I am not sure my feet have the same item on their list).  Deborah’s answer will be short and sweet, “peer pressure!”

Passports Will Get Stamped in Villages Along the Way.

The Comino Portuguese is only one of the many “ways” to Santiago but it is second in popularity only to the Camino Frances made famous by the movie “The Way” starring Martin Sheen.  Our trip will be “short” in comparison to many others.  The Camino Frances is over 1000 km from Paris and many more from places in Switzerland and Italy are of even greater length.

Our path is a predominantly coastal route and we plan to walk for ten days to cover the 241 km.  We have planned one day of rest on the journey and daily distance counts will range from a warm up 16 km on the first day followed by two 30+ days followed by a rest day.  The Rest day will be followed with seven consecutive days of between 18 and 31 km days.  Some of the distances will be on roads and most will be on paved pathways interspersed with walks on the sandy beaches of the Atlantic.

Our journey will follow the footsteps of the ancient Celtic, Roman, Islamic, and Christian wayfarers.  It will cross bridges and roads built 2000 years ago when Portugal was part of the Roman Empire.

Our training has involved many long walks, followed by tailgate or house get-togethers for drinks and dinner.  Conversations have focused on the weight of our prospective packs and usually comes down to how many t-shirts and underwear does one really need for a month in Portugal and Spain.  I have decided on two of most things; underwear, socks, shorts, T-shirts, golf shirts and footwear.  I plan to carry about 8 kilos in my pack and Deborah plans around 5 kilos.

Nola, Deborah, Cheryl and the Rest in Training.

Cross Train Bike Ride to Ft. Langley

We fly from Vancouver to Toronto and direct to Lisbon.  We plan a few acclimatizing days in Lisbon and then a train trip to Porto to begin the pilgrimage.

We don’t know about Internet connections but plan to fill in the blog when we can.

Stay tuned.