My diary of walking c154km of the Camino de Santiago (Portuguese Way). You can find out more about the Camino Portuguese here.
We actually had a lie in! The alarm was set for 8ish as opposed to the 6ish of the last week. Another hot day beckoned and whilst we weren’t walking we had some things to do.
First up was to head to the Pilgrim’s Reception Office to get our compostela (certificate of completion) and store our bags for the day. Once done we headed back to the old town for a mooch and a coffee prior to entering the cathedral to witness the Pilgrim’s Mass.
The cathedral is immense and breathtaking in equal measure. Not being particularly religious, nor catholic, the mass didn’t make much sense but just sat there in that magnificent structure brought closure to the last few days.
After the mass, lunch beckoned in one of the many restaurants around the cathedral then more mooching about before our bus back to Porto in the evening. We even had time to try the local sangria and buy some tasteful souvenirs.
Before too long it was all over and we needed to walk to the bus station to get our bus back to Porto aiport. Alsa bus to the rescue again and a journey of just over 3 hours saw us checked in to the bland, functional airport hotel at Porto airport. Just for old time’s sake we had a couple more beers to round off the trip before hitting the sack.
A 0855 flight the next morning saw us land at Gatwick at 1130ish and home by 1400. What an experience, what a trip, what a walk. I can see why it gets under people’s skin and they do more than one Camino, but I’ll leave my thoughts for another post in a few days.
Thanks Portugal and Spain, apart from the first day you were kind with the weather, even if you went a little overboard with the temperature!
