George and Deborah's Great Adventures: 09/05/14

Friday 5 September 2014

After Three Days of Camino Walking ...

After three days of walking about 82 km, we have arrived in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. No one has escaped the aches and pains that come with this kind of travel but we are all proud of our accomplishment so far.

First off, generally speaking, Portugal is a relatively inexpensive place to travel. Once you leave the large cities, it is much cheaper to travel than at home. Ice-cold beers can be had most places for less than $2 CDN. Wine can be had in a store for about $2 to $4. Two people can dine in a nice restaurant, with wine, for under $50. We have had expensive rooms in Porto and Lisbon but in Barcelos we staying in a modern hotel and it only cost $75 CDN.

Secondly, we have been asked what do we do during the 10 hours on the trail. Simply put, we take in the scenery and activities at a walking pace. There are lots of conversations about what things are and why they are there. There is much speculation about the age of all things. There are many stops to take pictures of things along the way. Occasionally, the locals will engage you in conversation. They have grown up living along the trail and sighting pilgrims is a way of life. Sometimes we walk alone lost in our own thoughts or walk along side someone and become deep in conversations, completely unrelated to our surroundings. One thing is certain, at the end of the long days, conversation decreases as folks concentrate on the path in front of them as they wish the end would appear a little sooner.

Thirdly, the trail varies. Clearly when this trail was established over a thousand years ago it was from village to village, through undeveloped or farmland. Villages have grown up. Some of the walking is on busy roads and detours have been created to bypass the busiest stuff. The road surfaces also vary.
There is some smooth asphalt, much cobblestone (both compacted and rough), flagstone, loose gravel, and dirt. We used to favour rough cobblestone when we only had to look at it. Rough Cobble stone is now our enemy. It causes the feet to slip side ways and after a long day the nerves of the feet scream in discomfort. As well, there has been little level walking. This part of Portugal is very hilly and pilgrims are constantly going either up or down.

Lastly, while the thirty plus km days have been challenging, it has been heart warming to hear and feel the groups encouragement when the days have gotten long and the feet are surrendering. The “Stinky Beers” at the end of each day are celebrations of endurance and accomplishment.

We are dividing this blog post into three sections to represent the different stretches of walking.

Day One: