First time in early November.

[jfloyer]

I would love to have any information on the route from Tui: albergues; how well is the route marked; any special expreiences or recommendations.

[Leslie]

Anyone????

I don't know this route, I haven't yet walked it.

[JoanieT]

I walked this route in 2006. I posted a summary on other another board and will post the same here, as I think it will answer some of your questions about this route. Since then, I have walked the last 6 stages of the camino Frances, but because of the heavy foot traffic on it, I found myself missing the Portuguese route. I would walk it again, most definitely! Here goes:
On the morning of July 19th I left Lisbon on the CP train to Famalicao & changed to a regional train to Valenca on the northern Portuguese border. I simply left the train station and started walking through Valenca and over the bridge across the Minho River into Spain. I solicited the help of the good staff at the TI office in Tuy for a B&B to spend the night. I stayed at a beautifully renovated place, a suite with a kitchen and living room. It was called Casa Rural O Rozo and located northwest of Tuy, near Parque Natural Monte Aloia. Cost = about 70 Euros. The hostess pointed out that there was a restaurant and grocery store down the road. I enjoyed a plate of tapas for supper and had a good night?s rest at the B&B.

The next morning I started walking and realized that I was quite a bit off the camino track. I got back on at the ?109 and some km? mark. I was very surprised at the lack of foot traffic on the paths, this being so close to the festival of St. James date. I think that I had just gotten off to a late start since I had to weave my way back onto the camino path from the B&B. The weather was hot and the shade in the wooded area was very welcome. I am a 58 year old woman walking alone and I can truthfully say that I never feared for my own safety, but I was spooked when I saw a dead sheep in the stream just beyond the San Telmo monument. The locals that I encountered along the camino path were mostly elderly women who seemed to appreciate a smile and a ?buenos dias.?
There are several small chapels along this stage of the route & I did take advantage of them to be alone to regroup my thoughts about ?why I am here.? After a bite of lunch, I was on the trek through the area south of O Porrino, which was stressful?lots of big trucks on the road, kicking up lots of dust. But I came across my first fellow pilgrim here by the roundabout, a French woman about my age who was headed south to Fatima. I?ll admit to being tired when I finally entered the city of O Porrino, so I stopped at the albergue there to lighten my load. I had taken way too many toiletries and decided that parting with a few unopened this?s and that?s would be in my best interest. I took an almost two hour nap in that cool albergue, thanks to the most lovely hospitalera running the place. She tried to convince me to stay the night, but I got my second wind and decided to push on. The town of Mos was another 5 km and I decided to try for it. I found a nice caf?, serving a good pasta/beef chunks with vegetables supper. The woman running the caf? entertained me by turning on the TV to a game show. That night it was geography of Spain. I think I amazed her at how many questions I could answer (all fairly easy stuff?I speak a good deal of Spanish, but wouldn?t say that I am fluent). After supper, I decided to push even further?all the way to Redondela. I made it to the albergue by 9:30 p.m. Just enough room!

That albergue was quite lovely with very good facilities. The next morning I got the chance to speak sporadically with several groups of pilgrims. I keep up a slow, but steady pace and was possibly the last straggler on the path. Just short of Pontevedra, I stopped by a wonderful caf?, serving a tuna sandwich with some of those famous Padron pimentos added to it. I sat at a table with a couple from Mallorca whom I had seen earlier in the day. It was a nice break trading information about how disaffected youth are treated in Spain vs the United States. I am a pediatric and family nurse practitioner and am employed by a school district in California. The couple decided to stay in the albergue so I walked with them to it (also looking very nice), then headed into the city where I had pre-reserved a room through centraldereservas.com at Hotel Rias Baias (cost 56 Euros, no breakfast). No frills, but a comfortable place that had a small refrig in the room. I was able to go to the supermarket around the corner and purchase some dinner items and breakfast foods, as well as some liquids to take with me for the road the following day.

Continued as "Part 2"

[JoanieT]

I followed Brierley?s guide to the Camino Portugues and thought I?d find very little luck in the way of cafes on the way to Caldas. However, there was a rather new place right on the route, a bit past the midway mark and featuring very nice roasted pork sandwiches. I found the albergue in Caldas, but it had been closed for some time, according to some of the locals. I booked into Casa Leirero, due west from Caldas along N640 almost to AP 9. I was tired so I indulged in a short taxi ride from Caldas to the B&B. Now, I?ll explain that I am a frequent user of the ?gites-de-france? system of Chambres D?Hotes in France and usually book those that offer repas (supper). This B&B near Caldas was very similar to some of the nicest facilities that I had stayed at while in the Auvergne and surrounding areas of central and southwest France. This being a Saturday night, July 22nd, it was a full house, including a Spanish couple who were now living in Los Angeles, California and were visiting ?back home.? Conversation flowed easily and they wanted me to regale them of my adventures on the camino. They were also curious about why I would be doing the camino in the first place and why I was alone, all 5 foot of me. Dinner was a multi-course feast. The main course was a seafood bouillabaisse. All very delicious! The next morning we were served fresh baked croissants. The host drove me back to Caldas and put me back on track so that I could attend Sunday Mass at the Iglesia and continue on schedule. He sent me off with a large bottle of water and some snacks for along the way. Very lovely hosts! I will come back one day and bring my husband to this place.

Sunday was a full-sun day, not that much shade, but there were livestock to commune with along the route. Horses, goats and a sheep or two today. Much is said of barking dogs along the camino route. They were either on a long chain or well fenced in. It began to make sense to me as to why there would be large dogs in the first place. Much of the camino course appeared to run over or adjacent to private property. Owning a large dog myself and partly for security reasons, it was nice to see so many fine dogs. I sort of smiled at them and told them what good pooches they were for doing their job well.

I walked through Padron and onward to Pazos where I had reserved a room before I left for Europe, again through centraldereservas.com. The Hotel Scala?s staff was wonderful. The gal at the desk oriented me to my room herself & pointed out their pool and bid me to take advantage of having a dip there. The grounds were very well manicured. Trellises with kiwi fruit set off a nice outdoor area. Cost = 52 Euros including a nice breakfast. The hotel has two fine restaurants attached. I was the first customer. My first try of gallego soup?loved it! Ordered an entr?e of roasted chicken and some vinho tinto (I honestly did not know that glasses of wine are not sold. So I was presented with a full bottle. No, I didn?t drink it all! This was my first time in Europe alone. I had at least the company of my husband on other journeys there (sometimes in addition to one or both of our adult children and their friends)

My last day! Basically a bit overcast, even some sprinkles as I approached Santiago. The books all say that you will fell some exhilaration at the sight of the spires. Yes, I felt the classic symptoms, to my own surprise! There were very short lines at the Office of Peregrinos. Maybe it was because I was one of the slower hikers that day. I managed to check out a couple of gift shops after I got my certificate and ran into Jeff and his girlfriend, a young couple from England. God love them! I also ran into Paula and her husband, the couple from Mallorca. Several hugs went with the feeling of exhilaration. I think everyone was concerned for me, since I was clearly ?the old lady? on the trail, and alone at that.

I checked into my hotel in SDC, Husa Universal Compostela-- very adequate lodging that I booked for 2 nights months in advance for the price of 68 Euros, including breakfast. This was great considering it was festival time. Location was good, not great, but at least it was only a short walk from both the train station and the bus station. Fireworks and other festivities that evening were great. I sat near some young local women and also an older couple from Belgium. I felt like I had become a citizen of the world! The 10:30 a.m. Mass on the 25th was a packed standing-room-only event. I was standing close to where about 6 men were working the ropes to swing the botafumeiro. A sight to behold! Many dignitaries were present with seating reserved for them. I stayed for the following Mass also and took the time afterwards to tour the cathedral and the tomb of St. James. I had with me a stone from home wrapped with a paper listing my intentions. I placed it inside the grid covering the resting-place for the silver chest with the remains of St. James. I spent the rest of the day taking in this wonderful historical city.

I guess I should explain why I did this hike in the first place. It was really all about family?my own family, my extended family, my human family. I learned about the camino in a 5th grade reader (I attended a Catholic parochial school). On and off over the years, I came across articles about it and thought, someday I?ll do this myself! So here I was doing it for myself. My fears, frustrations, sweat and toil doing this were offered for a brother who disappeared 40 years ago on one crisp October Saturday. He was an 8th grade student who had just finished delivering papers on his newspaper route, stopped by home briefly and then went out again on his bike a 3:30 p.m. to meet his best friend. He never arrived. He and his belongings were never found. A proper police investigation was not done because two days later, some classmates told the police they saw my brother and ran after him ?but couldn?t catch him.? It was a story that would ring out a grain of truth because the whole school knew that my brother was the fastest runner. Twenty-some years later, one of the classmates confessed that they had made up the whole story to cover for the fact that they were late getting back to class because they were smoking and needed a story to account for the time. So the case was tightly shut and he was simply listed as a runaway. This was something he would not have done?he would not have run out on the family or his best friend. He was my good buddy as well. I was about 5 years older than he and had a minor surgery a few weeks before he disappeared. He would get ice packs for me, take my mail up to me and that sort of stuff. Like I said, he would have never run out on us like that. I knew from the start that this was foul play. The laws regarding responsibilities of the police for a missing child were very weak at the time, something that has since been partially corrected, although the handling of such cases in the United States has yet to be standardized. Several attempts were made to get the police to look at this case again, but the police would not budge. So thirty some years later, I was able to get the police to reopen this case and their efforts led to him to finally be listed with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. Although I have little hope that this case will be ?solved,? at least I know that stones are being unturned with ruling out that he survived whatever happened to him and DNA matches on remains that crop up and that sort of thing. Good investigators are working on this and their personal causes were added to my list of intentions that were placed at the tomb of St. James. My list from friends, neighbors, and co-workers was a rather long typed list. I hand wrote wishes to extend blessings to people that I met along the way, genuine people who cared. Service workers and locals alike.

[JoanieT]

Was wondering how you fared doing your camino in November. I too will do an early Nov camino this year. I will try it from Ourense, but since not that far apart, I'd like to hear your comments on the weather and general conditions/problems you found on the trail.

[jfloyer]

Hi,
In the end I did the Camino Frances from Sarria. It was wonderful - pretty quiet. There was lots of room in the albergues and Iet some marvellous people. I had been concerned that I might be arriving a little late in the day for many of the pilgrims and that I would feel a bit of an outsider. But none of it actually. Everyone was so welcoming.
My final concern with the Camino Portugues was that it might be awfully lonely on November. I was very happy with the balance between the relatively quiet walking pace and the companionship. Also there were lots of choices of places to stay open.
Weather was wet. Dry shoes and a poncho dealt with that! Dry out all your Clothes whenever you get the chance. The dripping green countryside is georgeous!
Feel free to ask more. Bien Camino!
Jim.

[JoanieT]

Thanks for your report--

I, too, walked the Camino Frances from Sarria in May 2008. It was lovely and it was a good experience. The Portuguese route was just as lovely and a little less challenging physically, plus no airport area to deal with-- the only part of the Frances that was sort of dismal to me.
I'm going to try the approach from the southeasterly and see how that works. I am actually going to be a hospitalera alone the Via de la Plata, so it's fitting that I try a walk along that route. I already made plans to do the Camino Portuguese again in 2010. It will be a "Holy Year" and the Frances might be much too crowded!

I was glad to hear that your experience was good!

[sckchi@aol.com]

Hi - A friend and I ae also hiking from Tui in September and I'm very curious about the terrain. Will we need hiking boots or will good walking shoes be OK?
-susan in the US Ozarks

[JoanieT]

I used hiking boots and was fine. Everyone I saw had on their hiking boots. There are certain portions of the route that are rocky. Some parts are rutted, but not severely. There is a spot before Pontevedra that involves climbing up some rocks and it tends to be muddy. Boots provide the extra stability and prevents ankle sprains and I personally think in the long run the extra support saves your knees. That said, I've heard of people doing the various routes with sandals, tennis shoes and even barefooted. I guess the question is: How have you done before with anything remotely similar?
The terrain is less intense that the last section of the Frances, but I'm an older woman and felt better with boots and a hiking stick. I recommend boots with Gortex-- they will dry quickly and makes it easy to get cow dung and the like off, although less of that on the Portuguese route, compared to the Frances and the Sanabres extension of the Via De La Plata which I walked in Nov 09. The Portuguese had far more vineyard lands than the dairy lands a bit more inland.
Good luck and write again if you need more specific info.