Portuguese Coastal Camino - day 2 - Porto to Povoa da Varzim

Thursday 4 September 2025 – Porto to Povoa da Varzim

Alarm went off at 7 am. Ouch

I woke after sleeping badly – primarily worrying about whether I had forgotten my med’s, and if so, what could I do about it? Plus, I’d had too much to drink – way more than I’m used to these days.

However, a message from home sent at 1am saying “we’ve just signed”. This was from a friend who’d been in a horrible legal case that went for mediation the day we flew out. I was delighted; and couldn’t believe there hadn’t been a positive outcome from the mediation.

Then there was the in depth search for the BP med’s. Shit, I’d forgotten them! After much debate and searching on the internet I found a company that could provide a prescription. All I had to do was pay €30 and prove that I was being prescribed the drugs. Thank heavens for the NHS App. A couple of screen shots from that, and within 10 minutes I had confirmation from the Hungarian Company of a prescription I could use in Portugal. All I had to do now was find a pharmacy, get their email address, and the company would email them the prescription. Wow! The wonders of the Interweb.

With the medication seemingly averted I spoke to my friend about the mediation. Wonderful news. All signed and sealed at 1am. She and her brother can now start looking forward positively, unencumbered by weight of this horrible case.

Then it was out to find a pharmacy. Just 5 minutes’ walk away was a place.  They spoke great English, gave me their email address and within 10 minutes I was walking out the door with 2 of my prescription drugs. They hadn’t got the 3rd one, but with a printed prescription in my hand I could try another pharmacy. They gave the impression that such things were almost routine. Stressful, but a great learning experience that we need to share with people.

 

The schedule from Mac’s was to get the metro to Matosinhos and then walk 17 miles to Povoa da Varzim. We’d already decided that weren’t going to walk that distance on day one in any case, but the pills saga had set us back even further. Eventually we decided to get the metro to Mindelo. From there it was a 1.5 mile walk to the coast to pick up the route, then a further 10 miles to the end for the day. Or so we thought!

 

From Mindelo down to the sea, it rained initially, but stopped before we hit the coast. Marvellous, what a start!

 

The Atlantic was really wild. Huge breakers, and red flags flying on all the beaches. We opted for a coffee at Praia de Mindelo before setting off in earnest.


A lot of the route was along board walks and through sand dunes – not as easy as you might imagine.


 

We met a nice Canadian lady in Azurara, whose birthday it was. She offered us bracelets as a gift to celebrate her day. Welcome to the Camino spirit! Shortly after, we came upon some local teenage girls selling bracelet’s too. Cate bought one for Eliza, and it proved to be good English practice for their main saleswoman!

We crossed the bridge into Vila do Conde, then climbed the hill to look at the large Monastery of Santa Clara, but it was closed. However, we did see the impressive Aqueduto de Santa Clara, which used to provide water to the Monastery

 

Not long after we stopped for lunch. The staff were unfriendly, but the Bruschetta was lovely, and most welcome.

Then it really was just a long slog along the coast, and past the castle at Vila do Condo. By now it was really hot. The chafing started, the aching started and the rest of the walk was less than pleasant. Numerous stops were required.

 

Vila do Conde

Eventually we got to the end of the walk at a big modern pink church in Povoa da Varzim. Except it wasn’t! Bugger, bollocks and other associated swear words. This was the end of the defined camino route set by Mac’s, however our hotel was a further 3km further on. This was something we’d need to be acutely aware of in the coming days. Their walking distances were not to be trusted!

 

Povoa da Varzim - a study in mediocrity!

Hot, knackered and pissed off, we trudged those last 3km to Hotel Varzim, where we arrived at gone 5pm. Not our normal Camino routine.

This was not a good first day at all. It had done absolutely nothing to quell my pre-camino doubts about my ability to do this bloody walk.

Dinner was had nearby Chelsea restaurant. It was run by friendly Africans, and simply did the job of filling us up. We simply couldn’t be arsed to walk any further to find anything to eat

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