Postcards from Portugal

This month we’re lacing up our walking shoes and taking a closer look at walking holidays. We’ll explore some of the great walking adventures here in New Zealand and around the world, hear from people who have tackled them, and share practical advice on preparing for your own trip.

First up, Te Atatū Toasted founder Clare Robinson shares her experience of walking 260km of the famous Camino de Santiago trail solo, including the highs, the challenges and her tips for anyone thinking about following in her footsteps.

I wanted to visit my Uncle (who I am very close to) in Wales but from New Zealand, Wales seemed a long way to go for only two weeks. I was chatting to my buddy Grant Caunter (aka State of Play Beer) at Smales Farm Market, where we share a stand, and he suggested I do the Camino Coastal Portugal walk from Porto up to Santiago in Spain. He added that if I walked and carried all my gear, I could eat as many Portuguese tarts as I wanted and would not put on weight – that sealed the deal!

Six months and a whole lot of planning later, on the morning of 14 May, I arrived Porto, Portugal. I had booked a lovely hotel in a leafy part of Porto city to start my adventure. I spent a magical two days wandering the city, eating delicious food and, of course, getting my Pilgrim’s passport (and first stamp) from the info centre, near the cathedral. I got chatting to two other pilgrims — one just starting, one just finishing. The one finishing gave me a sage piece of advice: don't overdo it, she had, and she regretted it.

The history of the pilgrim

Camino walkers are called pilgrims because the Camino de Santiago is historically a religious pilgrimage to the shrine of St James the Apostle in Santiago de Compostel Viana, Spain. Today the Camino is a popular walk for many reasons, including faith, to heal or to slow down and take time out from a demanding lifestyle.

The pilgrim starts

On 16 May, I started my walk, on my own, out of Porto towards Santiago, 260 km away, with all I needed on my back, about 9.5kg all up.

I'd read a guidebook before I left, (Camino Portugues by John Brierley) and it had opinions about how far I should walk each day. But it is a personal journey, and I had been recommended to ease into the walk and make the first day shorter, so I just walked from Porto along the beach to a fishing village, Matosinhos, a two-and-a-half-hour trek, rather than push on to Vila do Conde, as the guidebook suggested in one go. It was a good decision. 

The accommodation was a learning

My accommodation in Matosinhos, turned out to be the worst of my walk, a surfers’ hostel, small, dark, mixed bunk rooms and small shared bathrooms. Good to get the worst over at the start! 

If you do not want to blow your budget on accommodation, there are two types to consider, albergues and very basic hotels. Within the albergues there is a whole range from very basic and cheap (10 euro) muncipal hostels through to delightful family run albergues (20-30 euros). I stayed in them all and I am glad for the experience. My advice for hostels, try to book ones that are single sex not mixed sex in the room and not bunk beds. Top bunk means climbing down in the dark if you need the loo in the night. Bottom bunk means you can barely sit up and it feels quite claustrophobic. For my last few nights, around the Variante Espiritual, I booked basic hotels. They are about twice the price of hostels and it is lovely not to share a bathroom, but you also don’t really meet other like-minded people like you would in a hostel.

Also, travelling outside the busy season meant accommodation was easier to come by and I often only booked a day or two ahead. The benefit of this is you can be more flexible with route and distances you walk. But it can be very busy in the larger cities and after May for the whole of summer.

One more practical one: change any New Zealand dollars into euros before you leave. I got caught out at an albergue that was cash-only, and nobody in Europe, including banks and money exchanges, wants NZD.

You will not be as alone as you think

This was something I loved about the walk; the people I met along the way. I met Sue and Derek from Liverpool on day two, and then Anna from Boston joined us, and we walked and talked, for two hours, stopped for refreshments at a delightful café, then Anna and I somehow lost Sue and Derek and never saw them again. A few days later it was Olga from the Netherlands and her friend Berta from Poland — six hours of conversation! I thought I would not see them again and wished I had got their contact details. Then the next day unbelievably I bumped into them again and we enjoyed a wonderful day in Viana do Castelo together, separated again but came into Santiago together. I walked with an Italian woman named Luana for a full day; she was walking to remember a baby she'd lost. And another day with Greta from Germany and numerous others for shorter periods from all over the world stopping their busy lives for a two-week (or more) walk. Sometimes you walk in silence and other times you chat and find out things on the Camino that you wouldn't in a normal conversation.

Walking alone doesn't mean walking in isolation. It means you get to choose your company, meeting all sorts of interesting people and then parting ways and doing it all again.

The practical stuff that actually matters

Water and toilets are not guaranteed. Some stretches — particularly crossing into Spain near O Pereiro — had five hours of walking with nowhere to fill a bottle or find a loo. I started that day with two litres and nearly ran out. Carry more than you think you'll need.

My pack fitted me well, and was comfortable for the whole journey. A pack is a personal choice and it is worth getting fitted and paying the money. My shoes worked superbly; they were about half a size larger than my usual size which was perfect. I wore toe socks and every morning wore a freshly cleaned pair of socks sprinkled with Gran’s Remedy and had no blisters. Everyone else I met had foot troubles ranging from blisters to foot infections.

As a single woman doing the walk, I felt safe the whole time, May was a great time to walk; there were plenty of other like-minded people doing the walk but it was not overcrowded. That said, I was always mindful of my possessions, and always had my valuables (passport, money and phone) on me, including when I showered and when I slept or I used lockers if available for things like phone charging.

Portugal's Camino signage is patchy, and I got slightly lost a few times, whereas Spain's is much clearer. The app Camino Ninja has a good map to keep you on track. Weather-wise, I had one day of rain in the whole 11 days, which I used to catch a bus. I needed to catch up a day, so that worked well. 

The End

The last day, I started the day with a magical ferry ride from Vilanova de Arousa to Pontecesures to start my walk into Santiago. It was the hardest day, over 30kms , 32 degrees and mostly uphill, but I made it. I met up again with Olga and Berta and we walked in together to the Cathedral in Santiago with literally thousands of other pilgrims.

What an adventure of a lifetime!