I’m sitting in Santiago writing this introduction.
This is a map of the Portuguese Camino. There are three distinct Camino paths from Porto Portugal. There is the Litoral (Spanish for coast) yellow line, the coastal route red line and central route blue line. At Redondela they all converge and become one. I am going to walk the litoral/coastal route which is yellow. I know it’s confusing. I have to walk about 175 miles and do it in 12 days with the final day being short since I need to catch a late afternoon train to Madrid. I have reservations in 9 towns and waiting to finish as I determine where I’ll be by day 9.
On June 17 I take a bus from Santiago to Porto and spend the night at a hostel in the city. Not knowing what to expect I will likely begin walking at 6:30-7:00 am. There’s rain in the forecast in the afternoon so I want to avoid that and get as many miles in as I can before any rain may hit.
My first day is about 18-20 miles to Vila do Conde but the good news is that along the coast it’s obviously very flat unlike the first day last year when I had a comparable distance and 4200 foot rise in elevation. Much of it will be road and boardwalk which I really dislike.
What am I expecting from this camino? The easy answer is that I have no preconceived expectations but as I told Dee, I am anxious to meet people and talk to them. I also know that long distance walking allows me to get into my own head unlike any other activity. I want to walk and talk to Jesus and think about life. I’ll be 70 years old in January and I have to believe that a part of me wants to prove to myself that I’ve still got it.