Going Out The Door

Just finished day 4. We’ll start chronologically, but the highlight (so far) comes at the end day 3.

The company we used to help book hotels, etc, provided a very helpful “roadbook” detailing each leg of our journey. We quickly discovered the distances were a little misleading and referred to the time spent on the Camino, and didn’t take into account the distance between the Camino and our lodging. The first day was listed at 12 miles, but even though we got a ride from downtown Porto to Matosinhos on the outskirts of town to avoid the industrial section, we still clocked 15 miles for the day.

We made our first Camino friend right away in Ireen, from the  Netherlands – proximity was the proximate cause, and after striking up a casual conversation we ended up walking together for several hours and sharing lunch. A digital nomad, her own travels were wide and varied and she was a delight to travel with. Our conversations made the hours and miles glide by – it wasn’t always the most elevated conversation at times, but even talking about blister relief still passes the time. Eventually though, she diverted to the Central route in mid-afternoon, while we continued on the Coastal ending up in Vila do Conde.

For much of the first day we were just taking it all in, still on the outskirts of Porto with plenty of people along the praia (beach), and still participating (unwillingly) in the Porto scooter death challenge along the boardwalk by the sea. But eventually the pedestrian, car, bike and scooter traffic died down and we were walking along the beautiful coastline. And walking. Then, walking some more.

No surprise there.

But as we neared the end of our first stage, we were flagging a bit – ok, a lot. Turns out, when you decide you’re going to walk for miles upon miles, you need water and nutrition. Who knew?

Well, over beers in Vila do Conde, we made a plan for the following day. Every couple of miles we decided we would take a quick break, eat something and stay hydrated. And also take a lunch break and rest for an hour or so in the middle of the walk.

The next day, on our leg to Apulia, this plan worked. Until it got to be 3pm and the afternoon heat started setting in. We hadn’t accounted for that, and despite being fed and hydrated, the long slog into Apulia (a very pretty town, just see the pics) was, shall we say, a bitch.

Ok, over beers in Apulia we hatched a new plan – start earlier and finish earlier, before the afternoon heat sets in! We are GENIUSES, I tell you. The upsides of finishing earlier were emphasized on our way into Apulia as an afternoon thunderstorm gathered force to our south, each echoing boom a reminder of our tardiness, which hurried us along our way. We were fortunate the storm ended up going northeast, while our path lay northwest, so we missed the showers.

The evening was spent on the balcony of a restaurant overlooking surfers and a beautiful sunset. This is also where we learned that ordering a dish for 2 people really means ordering for 5 people. Terrific monkfish rice with enormous prawns, but way, way too much food for at least these 2 people.

Best laid plans and all of that other nonsense…we got an “earlier” start, but still not especially early the next morning. The landscape was a combination of both beaches and forests with quiet walks and fewer people. Again, by the end of the day when we arrived in Castelo Do Neiva we were wiped out. Until we arrived at our lodging.

Now for the previously mentioned highlight. We are still early on in the trek, but we can’t image we are going have a better place to stay than the Quinta do Monteverde.  Massive wooden doors open to an expanse of gardens and buildings that stopped us in our tracks. Our apartment was one of four in an outbuilding with spectacular views. To get to the main building you pass through trellises laden with ripening kiwi and grapes (which unfortunately were really messy). To put it in the words of a fellow pilgrim, it was a bit posh.

Because breakfast wasn’t served until 8:30 am and we had a relatively short (8 miles) day today, we slept in a bit and took time for an extra coffee as we listened to the bells from the neighboring church.