Oops! Mama Bear here, and my bad, having hassled D2 to write the story of her Portuguese Camino, I then totally didn’t get around to publishing it, so another 9 months later, here it is………..

Better late than never!

Mama bear has been requesting that I write about my experience walking the Portuguese Camino ever since I got back but I have been hesitant to do so. (NB from Mama bear….just didn’t get around to it!) Six months I feel I’m  in a much better frame of mind to put my thoughts down in writing.

After finishing the Camino Frances with Mama bear and my sister I decided to give the Portugues Camino a try because …..why not??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t have the best start unfortunately, after arriving in Lisbon I discovered that my Qantas cash card was not working. I had about one hundred euros and accommodation to pay for put of that, just as well I like 2 minute noodles!!  Fortunately mum and dad were also in Portugal so after a panicked phone call, a couple of days later we met half way and they lent me some money. Every cloud has a silver lining they say, and this one was a delicious platter lunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day I set off to the Cathedral to get my credentials only to find it was closed to the public for some unknown reason. I stood at the steps and for 1 minute quietly gave up on doing the Camino, but then I told myself to not lose hope and after walking around and looking up my phone I secured myself a credential at a different cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite fixing my money problem and finally getting my credential I was still filled with an anxiety that stayed with me for the rest of my journey. From Lisbon to Porto is around 400km and not many people walk this part. There are less places to stay and the distances between places are quite long. There were a few times when I would be walking 12km+ along main roads without seeing a single person or building and I would be walking 35km+ each day. It would be about about a week into my walk until I met another pilgrim although there were plenty of statue people along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were lots of different arrows to help me along the way, some easier to see than others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was HOT! For about a week and a half it felt like a heatwave had hit Portugal. It probably didn’t help that I was walking along bitumen roads with little shade. I remember one day being so hot that I stopped walking around 1pm. I checked into a hotel with awesome a/c and after  a cold shower had a short nap. When I woke an hour later I stepped outside and the whole sky was covered in smoke. The next day I learnt that a massive forest fire had started about 30km from where I was. It  ended up killing around 60 people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the tracks were easier to walk on than others, the cobblestones were hard work. I was proud of my longest day, 45km! But my left foot started to hurt a bit so I took it easy and caught some trains for some of the longer distances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I got to Porto it got a bit easier, back at a familiar place  and only about 220km to go! The weather was a lot cooler, there was less distance between places to stay/eat and more pilgrims walking. Even so my left foot was starting to hurt a bit more so the next couple of days I took it easy again and didn’t walk as far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of all the places I stayed at, Casa da Fernanda was definitely my favourite. It was a building with 8 beds and two showers out the back of a house owned by a lovely lady named Fernanda. She cooked us a lovely lunch and we had dinner in her house which was also cooked by her and her husband. It had a lovely atmosphere and we only had to pay what we thought was fair. And only two more days to Spain