The Peripatetic Coyote

Someone told us before we started our walk that the journey was: first third physical, 2nd third mental, final third spiritual.  I found that virtually every day had all three elements.  Every day was physically challenging.  Some days you were just “good tired,” others you were spent.  Particularly trying were the days when you reached your destination town but still had miles to go to reach your accommodations.  Each day you had to will yourself through certain sections - getting sand-blasted on the beach, endless cobblestones in Portugal or hills near the end.  Getting immersed in the legend of Saint James and realizing you were walking in the footsteps of literally millions of pilgrims over the last 1000 years has been amazing.  Things can get pretty emotional when you finally reach the cathedral plaza on Santiago. Some statistics: - 13 days (walking) - 175 miles  - 400,000 steps - 0 inches of rain - 6 or 8 languages spoken - oodles of friendly people - lots of octopus/mussels/long

But first…took yesterday off in Pontevedra and found our way to Combarro, a fascinating little fishing/marina/beach town nearby.  Among the most fascinating elements of the town were the hundreds of years old granaries that look like micro-chapels on stilts.  Apparently they’ve been used to dry all sorts of things, including fish, and the mushroom shaped stone supports prevent mice and rats from getting in and spoiling the grain.  Now tourists invade daily by the bus-load and we were fortunate enough to get a look around before they all showed up. Today, we moved on to the next small town on our itinerary and somehow the walking of the last two weeks all caught up with us - we were simply worn out.  (Maybe the moral is to never take a day off!). Along the way we took a side trip to a wonderful national park with waterfalls, shade, restrooms and ice cream.  Hard to beat.  We had the usual breaks at bars and homes turned into pilgrim watering holes. Our hotel this evening included two th

(Some random pics…) In a flourish of English vocabulary prowess, our Portuguese outfitter described the finish to yesterday’s (5/20) walk as a slog.  There was a bit of uphill near the end, but we think that description best fits our tramp on Friday (5/19) through the city of Vigo (a half-million strong) after a pretty strenuous hike: over nine hours on the trail.  We have definitely enjoyed the small towns and the simple hotels best of all. Today (Sunday, 5/21) was a bit of a shock.  The trail was quite lovely (after the first 4 km SLOG) but the change in the number of pilgrims on the trail was dramatic.  Buses were disgorging hordes (Hordes you say?  Yes, hordes!) of pilgrims onto the trail to begin their walk at this late stage.  After 10 days of seeing only the occasional other hiker, this was a whole new experience.  Various entrepreneurs had driven near the trail to layout snacks, souvenirs, food and drink to offer their captive audience as they plodded by. We have given ourselve

Q. So, where are you anyway? A. Thanx for asking.  We started in Porto, Portugal.  Porto is in the north of Portugal on the Atlantic coast and at the mouth of the Douro River.   It is a port and it is the home of port wine.  We hike north into northwest Spain and finish at Santiago de Compostela in the province of Galicia. Q. Is that THE Camino de Santiago? A. Actually, there are a number of them, all considered authentic.  Some of the very earliest - in the 8th and 9th century - were within Spain.  The long route which starts in St. Jean de Port in France is one of the longest and most popular.  We are on one of three “Portuguese” Caminos, all with a common starting point in Lisbon. Q. So, I’m confused.  Which Camino are you on exactly?   A, We are on the Portuguese Coastal Camino, which stays on or near the coast in Portugal and is often within view of the water in Spain.  (The other Portuguese Caminos are the Littoral - right on the coast whenever possible, and the Central.) Q. How

Full day and evening today, so…the stories and pix may have to wait until tomorrow.  In the meantime, here’s a tool that we found most helpful when trying to find our way on the Camino:

Today’s walk was one of the shorter ones and after six days of tramping up the Portuguese coast and entering the region of Galicia in Spain, our legs are tired and really appreciated a little break The coastal views were flat out gorgeous today.  We were up a bit from the water - there’s no sand beach here so getting out of the sand blasting of the previous days and the little change of just enjoying the scenery was welcome - and for some reason the sky and ocean blues were at their deepest today. The little bar/cafe on a point of the coast was the perfect break for most of the pilgrims walking by today.  Stopped in a couple little chapels during the walk that provided stamps for our “credential,” which is a passport of sorts on which we collect stamps along the route as a justification for our final “compostela” when we reach Santiago. The little encounters with familiar faces along The Way are always interesting and fun.  We are already losing some friends who are moving ahead a

Today was a relatively short walk along the coast of Portugal up the Atlantic coast and through a pine forest in NW Portugal to the town of Caminha. We needed to cross the Minho River to get to Spain (!), found a boat taxi service since the ferry was not running (?) a got a quick ride in a little rubber boat.  Our clocks moved ahead an hour and we took off through two more woods, one hardwood and one eucalyptus to reach Guarda, home of langostinos and Celtic (?) tapas. Switching from Bom Caminho to Buen Camino and obrigado to gracias. Tomorrow’s another day. 

You’re probably all aware of that big steel tourist-attraction thingy in Paris that Gustave Eiffel built.  Well, it turns out that in addition to making substantial contributions in the areas of aerodynamics, meteorology, chemistry and architecture, he was a pretty handy bridge builder as well.  One of his most famous is the Maria Pia Bridge in Porto which we took a quick pic of while we were there a few days ago. He also built one in Viana do Castelo where we stayed a couple nights ago.  It’s fairly plain looking but boasts tremendous winds from the ocean that are pretty good at blowing pedestrians into traffic!  Hope you enjoyed this little side trip into Eiffel’s day job.  See you again soon.

Most of today was familiar but new.  Familiar because we’re (reluctantly) getting used to pretty endless cobblestones, strong winds, and near ideal temperatures.  What was new was narrow country lanes with high stone walls of various ages… …plus a number of micro-farms with cattle, hogs, sheep and whatnot sidling up to the stone walls to say “hi.”  The dog component was represented by yappy little things, big protector guys and a the stealth attack of a solid chunk of brown muscle and jaw aimed at Dave’s neck.  Happily, a protective fence had been constructed to prevent any contact. There were crazily decorated yards and vineyards. Our first pilgrimage blessing - other than great weather and great hiking companions, occurred at this rather bucolic scene where Dave took an unintended dive into the creek.  Some bruises and wet clothing later, he emerged relatively unscathed.   We arrived in Viana do Castelo grateful for all the good stuff and excited to enter Spain tomorrow, 

We’re only three days in, but it’s been beach boardwalks and cobblestone streets until today.  Today we saw plenty of cobblestones, but we also saw a trail! Real dirt - not to mention rivers, waterfalls, forests and hills really improved our mood, and also our experience. Already, we are getting to know people the we see on the trail.  One of the day’s highlights was clumping up with a number of them at a “take what you need / leave what you can” stop in a shady place along the trail.  Sodas, beers, snacks, sandwiches, potato chips, purses, …, were available and everyone left some cash to help replenish the treasure chest.  And yes, brownie filled Oreos is a thing. There were plenty of churches, many dedicated to St. James (Santiago) . Staying in Viana do Castello where a delightful Mother’s Day dinner was enjoyed by both the Mother”s in our little group. Tomorrow, back into the woods. (Monkey Puzzle Tree) Catch you tomorrow!