Portuguese Coast Camino - The Last Long walk?

 

Last week I celebrated my second completion of St. James’ Way from Reading to Southampton. It felt like a real achievement for me. It maybe wasn't so much of an achievement as the first time; primarily because it was really a series of isolated day walks. It was nevertheless a joyous feat for many reasons. 

By contrast, I’m sitting here writing this – the introduction to our forthcoming 8 day walk along the Portuguese Coastal Camino – feeling downbeat, almost wishing I wasn’t bothering. I’ve done a lot of long "day walks" in the past 3 months, and just haven’t felt like I’m ready for an 8-day back-to-back challenge. There have been a few 2-day walks, but all have ended with problems for me. Blisters have been rearing their ugly heads. I seem to get them sorted, and then suddenly a random rotter will appear on my toe or heel. Despite trying numerous types of socks and plasters, I just can’t seem to outrun them. Thin socks, thick socks, two pairs of thin socks, one thick one thin, socks with individual toes – none of them have solved the issue. I’ve tried walking shoes, trail running shoes, walking boots, and expensive trainers with varying success. The trainers have generally been the best, but they’re not waterproof, and I’ve still got blisters wearing them.

The more delicate readers should turn away now. I know it’s a sensitive area, but chafing has also been an issue. It stops, then a few walks later, it comes back despite changes of under-garment styles (I won’t bore you with a list, but I can confirm that I haven’t tried a g-string……yet!).

Then there’s my knee. One day I don’t notice it, the next it gives me grief. All the above have been happening with intermittent walks; surely, it’ll be worse with 8 long days back-to-back? In short, I really don’t feel “match fit” at all, and it’s really impacting my mood towards the holiday. Some holiday? Many might think!

As with our Italian walk last year, we’re cheating, in that we’ve had a company book our accommodation and arrange the schedule. It’s 173 km long over 8 days. For the most part, it’s reasonably flat along the coast of Portugal and Spain from just north of Porto to Vigo. We’ve chosen not to push on through to Santiago this time. Finishing there will always be a good climax, but nothing will beat completing the Camino Frances back in 2022.

So, for many reasons, this trip seems a bit odd. I’m not feeling fit, not ending in Santiago, starting in a non-Spanish speaking country, not walking inland, and having our schedule mapped out for us, all add up to it not feeling comfortable or the “real deal”. Hopefully, my negativity will be completely misplaced, but for the moment I'm some way short of glass half empty.

Our route is pretty simple. Once out beyond Porto Airport we'll follow the coast all the way to Vigo. For 5 days we'll be in Portugal, then we cross the Rio Minho estuary by ferry to arrive in Galicia, Spain. Three days later we arrive in the port city of Vigo, and that will be the end of the Camino for us.

With the route mostly being reasonably flat, in theory it should not be too taxing. However, my old schoolmate, and Camino Legend, Paul Thomas has warned us against complacency. He walked all the way to Santiago along this route in the spring this year and found it tougher than he'd expected. Plenty of cobbled paths, amongst other things. He also remarked that it felt less "camino-like" - the coast is touristy, and standard tourism eclipses the Camino significantly. On the other routes, which are through rural areas, the Camino is massive part of the local economies, so is very much the headline act. On the Portuguese Coastal Camino, it's very much second fiddle apparently.

Of course, the coast of northern Portugal is a far cry from the Algarve in terms of visitor numbers, but seemingly it is reasonably developed, and has some fantastic beaches. Hopefully, there'll be time for a few dips into the Atlantic as we head northwards. Apparently, there's an old wives' tale that says the ocean waters are brilliant for healing blisters. Actually, it's tosh, I just made that up!