My Camino adventure – Part 2 – Porto to Pedro Furada

My Camino adventure really began when I left the cathedral with the first stamp in my credencial. As I wrote in part one of my Camino de Santiago story, I got there with the kind assistance of the American couple.

With my credencial stamped, I had a coffee under the umbrella of an outside cafe, watched people going by and took stock of my situation. I was in an unfamiliar city, unsure of where I would find a bed that night. I could not speak the language and I was not sure where I should start walking. Although I was fit and healthy, as a 69-year-old heart attack survivor, I had some concerns about my ability to walk the 250 km. Despite my experiences in Africa, I found the prospect of my Camino adventure a little daunting. The strong coffee helped me regain my equilibrium.

The narrow streets, heavy traffic and unfamiliar “feel” of a continental European city felt strange. I managed to get lost twice, headed in the wrong direction a few times and got good value from my metro pass by inadvertently travelling many unnecessary kilometres.

Time To Get Going on My Camino Adventure

After a few hours of sightseeing, I thought I should start walking and find a hostel for the first night. The guide book warned that finding yellow marker arrows in the city centre was challenging. The directions in the book were difficult to follow. As I was nervous of the traffic and cobblestone streets I decided to get back on the metro and head to a stop about 6 km away.

A few more changes and wrong trains got me past my intended stop to Vilar de Pinheiro about 11 km from the city centre. The guide book instructions were to turn right after leaving the station and look for route markers. I didn’t find any so followed my nose in what I thought was the general direction. An hour later with the sun getting lower in the sky and still with no markers to follow I resorted to Google maps on my phone. To my relief, I had been heading in the right direction. Soon after, the very welcome sight of my first yellow arrow route marker confirmed I was on the path of my Camino adventure.

The First Night

The guide book suggested ending the first stage at Vilarinho where there was a hostel. Due to my late afternoon start, I was not going to complete the remaining 6km before nightfall. I knew that there was alternative accommodation before the town so I walked on into the dusk and eventually well after dark, arrived at a Monastery. The Mostairo de Vairaio is an old monastery that provides beds, bathrooms and kitchen facilities to pilgrims.

Pepe from Spain was volunteering as the hospitalero at the monastery. He did not speak English, I did not speak Spanish. But we could both speak enough French to understand each other. It was late by the time I was shown my room and I didn’t want to walk to the village to find something to eat. Other pilgrims offered me some leftover stew with tasty meat of indeterminate origin, bread and a cup of coffee. Payment to the monastery was by donation with a suggestion of between 8 and 12 euros

I shared a room with three men and one woman, a Portuguese cyclist, a walker and a couple from France. Beds were clean, bathrooms old but clean and with plenty of hot water. After the stress of navigating the metro, the traffic and walking nearly 20 km for the day, I slept well.

Albergue or municipal hostels on the Camino route are reserved for pilgrims. Payment for a bed is between 8 and 12 euros. To prevent locals and casual tourists taking advantage of the low rates, only pilgrims with official credencials are able to use the facilities and only for one night at each hostel. Private hostels are more flexible – and also more expensive.

Day 2 of the Camino

I intended walking 27 km to Pedro Furada on my second day. I waited till the sun was up and set off at 8:30. The first part of the route was through narrow cobblestone streets with high walls on either side. In many places, there were no sidewalks. Cars whizzed by in both directions. The feeling of the wind from side mirrors passing inches from my arm was enough to make me glad I had taken good travel insurance. When trucks approached, I turned sideways and flattened my self against the wall.

Walking on cobblestones was hard on the feet and the weight of my pack altered my centre of gravity. I was glad I had bought good walking poles and trained with them. A slip or stumble could have resulted in a fall in front of a car with painful consequences. The poles made walking on rough surfaces much safer.

Gratifyingly, after a few kilometres, I was out of the town and on quieter country roads with less traffic. I soon got into a rythm of walking at about 4.3 km per hour. That was my average for most of the journey. Minor adjustments to the straps on my pack and I was comfortable.

Pilgrims on bicycles sometimes waited till the last minute before alerting walkers to their presence. They travelled fast and were difficult to hear on the smoother roads. Most were careful but a few caused some near misses and anxious moments.

On the early stages of the journey there was a lot of corn (maize). While I was there, farmers were cutting it for silage. There were many very large tractors, bulk fodder wagons and forage harvesters on the narrow roads.

I missed 2 markers on the road and walked some distance before turning back bringing my total for the day to 29km, the longest I walked.

The Second Night of The Camino Adventure

That night I stopped at Casa Maria a private hostel which was a little more comfortable than the monastery. At 15 euros for the night, not expensive. I was fortunate to be the only guest in a 6 bed dormitory. Which meant I had a modern bathroom all to myself and a quiet night.

When paying for my second night’s accommodation and an evening meal, I discovered that hostels and restaurants in the rural areas operated on a strictly cash basis. Cards were not accepted. There were very few ATMs on the route and I could not use them without a pin for my card. I realised that I would run out of cash, be sleeping in a field and be very hungry in three days time. Certainly not what I hoped for my Camino adventure

The evening was spent with frantic calls to Visa – who suggested unhelpfully that I go to my bank to get a new pin. Then I realised why the tele and email scammers ask for payment via Western Union. It’s quick, anonymous and its fees are relatively low. My son Shaun discovered an agent in the next city that would be open on a Saturday. We organised a cash transfer so I slept a little easier that night.

A good lesson in the importance of good preparation before leaving.

To be continued.

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