Camino Portugese!!

Friday 25th April 2025

We are off! The start of our Camino Portuguese! We set of early which is why we got the stamp from the cathedral beforehand. We decided to take the tram from the middle of Porto out to Foz do Douro. Partly because we wanted to go on the lovely tram and also because that way we missed 5km of walking out of Porto on pavements with not much to see. Foz was great, as you can see the sea is pretty fierce and just a short walk down the coast we got to the surfing beach. Lots of surfers and surf schools, the waves weren’t too high and the beach was huge, so pretty good for beginners.

Round the corner and the waves weren’t too high much higher, lots of people and cameras were out. It was a surf competition! They were very good! We stopped at a cafe nearby and I decided that I had better start using the poles. I am hoping they will help me with the walk, my hip hurts sometimes and the plantar fasciitis is a worry! I have watched a few videos on how to use them properly, so off I went, I found it quite hard to be coordinated to be honest, but by the end of the day I had the hang of it. I was definitely doing better than a lot of people I saw!!

About half way through the day we reached the series of boardwalks that stretch for miles along the coast. They are actually quite good to walk in as they have a bit of give. Every 500m they had placed some gym equipment so we tried done of them. All pretty good, we should have more of this sort of thing in the uk.

There is a large Petrogral plant by the shore and we could see it for most of the day. Finally rounded the corner into Lavra and our first planned stop for the day. When we did the Camino Français I ended up booking the full trip because I was so worried about not having somewhere to stay. This time we are not planning so much, so we walked up to the campsite to see if they had a chalet for us. Which they did for 30euros. It was a lovely place as well. We had the pilgrims dinner, soup, bread, this chicken and half a bottle of wine for 10 euros, bargain!! Our plan is to walk about 18 to 20km a day, which we did today so I looked up the next likely place to stay. Not much accommodation there do I emailed them to see if I could book 2 beds, it’s a hostel. All ok, so we are good for tomorrow!!