Day 8 - Rubiaes to Tui

12.3 miles. The day turned quite nice, with no rain. A typical walk along cobblestone country lanes, with a few dirt and loose rock cow paths, plus a bit of pavement and sidewalks as we passed through a handful of villages. There was bit of mud and running water along the trails, but for the most part less than an inch deep. Best of all, there was only one substantial hill to climb and descend.

As from the start, the wildflowers were beautiful, as were the many flowering trees. Many of the small streams along the way were still running out of their banks from yesterday's rain, with small waterfalls and cascades gurgling beside the trail. Sunday morning church bells rang all around, mixed with tinkling cowbells in the bright green pastures. Hopefully I can get a couple of photos to post tonight.

We're now in Spain, and able to communicate better with the locals.

Day 7 - Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes

11.6 wet miles today, plus a steep, rocky climb to equal anything in Colorado--but luckily not long in horizontal distance. We left our room in Ponte de Lima at 8:45, and it started raining within the first half our, never really stopping all day. It was a real test of our rain gear, which didn't fare very well. But we survived in good spirits and arrived a a small, private albuergue just after 2pm. Best of all it has a washer and dryer!

Day 6 - Lugar do Corgo to Ponte de Lima

After the rain yesterday, the heavy showers last night, and the forecast of more of the same today, we wimped out and took a bus for this 11+ mile stage. We were more concerned with trail conditions than the rain itself, but we had no more dry clothes in case of heavy rain and slogging through muddy or flooded trails.

So we arrived in Ponte de Lima a little before 10am--a 20-minute bus ride rather than a 4 to 5 hour walk. We spent the day walking around this beautiful little medieval town, and are staying tonight in cozy little room in the Casa de Villa guesthouse.

Santiago Matamoros with wet feet in the rising waters of the Rio Lima, flooded from the rains of the last couple of days.

Casa Fernanda

The crem de la crem of albergues. Fernanda is a charming hopitalara. Runs this place by herself. A tough day with all the rain, but we did it and feel rewarded to be at this lovely place tonight.

Day 5 - Barcelos to Lugar do Corgo

Today's distance was 12.4 miles, for total of 52.7 so far. It rained off and on all day, but only one really hard shower for about 15 minutes. The terrain was beautiful farmland and rolling hills, with that inboxed a long, slow climb of about 150 meters. We'e staying tonight at Casa Fernanda, a private albergue which provides a home-cooked dinner and breakfast in the morning. A couple photos follow; Jeanette may post more.


A break in the rain.


Dormitory at Casa Fernanda; 10 beds, no bunks.

A Couple of Photos from Day 4

The way to Santiago is marked with yellow arrows, which are common to all the various Camino de Santiago routes. This Portugues Camino route shares much of the way with the Camino de Fatima, which is marked with blue arrows. So we see many yellow areas pointing north, and blue arrows pointing south -- often side by side.

Days 2 and 3

Day 2 was from Matosinhos to Vila Cha, a distance of approximately 11 miles. The first 3 or 4 were on paved sidewalks or bike paths along a busy oceanfront boulevard between the beach and a continuous row of hotels. As we reached a large refinery, we transitioned onto a boardwalk along the  the top of the dune line. We stayed on the boardwalk all the way into Vila Cha, which, for me, turned out to be a pretty boring walk.

Our stop for the night was new, 10-bed municipal albergue, which was very clean. We had dinner a nearby cafe with a couple of Danish ladies from the Albergue.

Today, as we left Vila Cha, the yellow arrows led us along a series of narrow, but heavily-trafficked roads through a eucalyptus forest to the town of Vilo do Conde, then through rolling farmland and a few small villages to Arcos, where the Coastal Route joined the Portugues Central Route for the final three miles into Sao Pedro de Rates, our destination for the day. We checked into the 50-bed municipal albergue and went through the typical shower/laundry/nap/cerveza routine before dinner. We shared a meal of pasta, salad, and bread with a group of three lovely Turkish ladies who may be the beginning of our camino family for this trip.

Today' total was a bit less than 14 miles, and a case of sore shoulders from the backpack. The forecast for tomorrow is 90-100% rain-ugh!