Greg's Wanderings

Author: Greg H

  • Day 12 – Aguela to Branca

    Day 12 – Aguela to Branca

    Sept 23

    It’s cold outside.   For the first time, the morning temperate is in the single digits (7 C/44 F) with a high expected of only 22 (71 F).

    As I’m typing this, it’s 5 am and I’m trying to be silent so I don’t wake my three bunkmates: Meelis (Estonia), Paul (Germany) & Amelia (Finland).  

    It’s roughly 75km to Porto, the next major city.  It’s the starting point for most people doing the Camino Portuguese and a decision point as the trail splits.  Some, like my friend Meelis will choose the coastal route and stay near the ocean for about a week.  Others, such as the Italians Nicos, Cristiano and Mariana will be going home, as they are only on a two-week holiday.  

    For me, I am choosing the traditional Central Route after an extra rest day in Porto.  

    But before reaching Porto and the crowds that wait beyond, we have two more nights where nearly everyone on the trail is a friendly face. 

    The walk today was a combination of small villages, eucalyptus “forests” (more like recently planted tree farms) and lots of encounters with the N1 Highway – over, under, across and alongside. 

    Tonight I will be having my first experience in a donotivo alberge. It is run by a veteran of many pilgrimages and you pay what you can afford.  Dinner and breakfast are provided. 

    Old elementary school that is no longer in use.
    Descending into a river valley
    Morning reflections
    Through the eucalyptus “forest”
    Friendly goats. They ran over to great me
    Eucalyptus harvest in full swing. Used for paper pulp
    Remnants of a forest fire.
    Watch for pilgrims!
    Our alberge for the night. Post cover shot is another view.
    Donation box to leave or grab things you need

  • Day 11 – Sernadelo to Agueda

    Day 11 – Sernadelo to Agueda

    Sept 21

    Last night was such an enjoyable evening.  A few of us went to the supermarket and each bought a bottle of wine and a snack.  We then went back to the alberge and invited others to join us.  We ended up with 10 people sharing 5 bottles.  Together, we represented nine different countries.

    After our social hour, six of us walked to a nearby restaurant. The town we were staying in, is famous for roasted suckling pig, and several of us decided to try it out. It was quite good. More bottles of wine were had and it was a very, very enjoyable evening.

    This morning the temperature felt markedly cooler and for the first time I hiked wearing a jacket. I was one of the first ones out, although not terribly early since today was only a 25 km hike. 

    The route was somewhat boring today.  Most of it on paved roads going through a combination of industrial zones and residential neighborhoods.  Perhaps because it was Sunday, it was challenging to find a place to stop for coffee and I was 17 km into my walk before I found a place. Before I had finished my coffee, I was joined by Nicos,  Lena and Meelis. All of us were heading to the same alberge in the next town down the road.

    Our alberge this evening is charming. I met a group of bicyclists from Brazil and now have met people from every inhabitanted continent on the planet. 

    Several of us decided to utilize the kitchen in the alberge and as I’m typing this, I am cooking up spaghetti.  All the ingredients for dinner for four, including spaghetti, a loaf of bread a tossed green salad and a bottle of wine came to €12. 

    I made due with a tiny kitchen and spices I had to identify by smell and whipped up the spaghetti.  The ultimate compliment was when Nicos, the Italian, asked for seconds and said it was really good.

    Nations represented: UK, Italy, US, Germany, France, Estonia, New Zealand, Australia, Finland
    After our suckling pig feast
    Fog bank this morning
    Long stretches of pavement was the agenda for today
    Gorgeous estate I passed
    Most of the day was walking through industrial zones. Fortunately, it was Sunday, so it was quiet
    I’ve noticed that many advertisements and company slogans have English taglines.
    Our alberge for the night.
    Shoes and boots left behind
    The official greeting crew for the alberge
    Serving up my spaghetti creation
    Enjoying our spaghetti dinner

  • Day 10 – Coimbra to Sernadelo

    Day 10 – Coimbra to Sernadelo

    Sept 20

    I did end up having a room to myself last night and had a luxurious night of sleep thanks to my eye mask and earplugs, which blocked out the festivities going on outside my window.

    I woke up about 6 AM feeling refreshed and very slowly started getting ready for the day.  I realized I had less than 130 km to get to Porto. The next major city along the route. Most of the travel guides had that broken into five segments averaging roughly 25 km a day I thought about trying to do it in four days (33 kilometers a day), but the locations of accommodations didn’t align.  So today I started off for Sernadelo. 

    I have to admit I was very tired yesterday on my Uber ride into town and wasn’t paying great attention. In the morning, I looked at the map and it looked as if I needed to cross the river to head out of town. I started down the hill in a foggy mist and started off across the bridge. About mid span a guy with hiking poles and a white ball cap was heading the other way. It was Meelis!  He said “do you know you’re going the wrong way?“

    Sure enough in my foggy state the day before I hadn’t realized that I’d already crossed the river and needed to be heading in the opposite direction. The Camino does provide and in this case it was a friendly face to point me in the right direction before I had gone too far out of my way.

    We walked along the river walk for a cup of kilometers and the city quickly gave way to cornfields.  Harvest was beginning and lots of people were pulling over to the side of the road with big bushel baskets to pick the corn.

    We caught up with Dan who stayed at the monastery with Melis the night before.

    The hike today was uneventful. Lots of small villages to pass through interspersed with service roads through agricultural land and forests.

    Tonight’s accommodation is the pilgrim-only alberge Residencial Hilario. I’m staying in the 12-bed dormitory.

    The dormitory is beginning to fill up with guests from France, Australia, Estonia, UK, Slovenia and me as the only Yank so far.

    Not a photo heavy day today…

    Typical trail today
    Talk about targeted marketing: this flyer was in a forest miles from anything except pilgrims
    Outside of the alberge
    Inside the dormitory

  • A night in Coimbra

    A night in Coimbra

    With the help of my Uber driver, Fernando, I made it to Coimbra, the fourth largest city in Portugal. At first, I was a little overwhelmed because of so many days in the countryside walking through small villages.

    My hostel was on a street that was closed to vehicles, so I was dropped off about 200m away. I arrived a half an hour before check-in and wondered where I would wait until I could check in. Not to fear I counted at least 15 bars within 50 m of my hostile.

    The street outside my hostel
    My luxury accommodations
    Monastery of Santa Cruz
    Inside the monastery
    A busy shopping and dining district a couple blocks away
    Getting set up for live music on a Friday night.
    Talk about a narrow building!
    11 pilgrims: me, Barney, Jennifer, Mariana, Aldo, Sherry, John, Johnny, Cristiano, Myrco

    I had a lovely glass of Port directly across the street and at 3 o’clock checked in to the Change the World hostile. It’s part of a chain of hostels that use the proceeds to fund projects to help the underserved in Third World countries. 

    I sprang for the “luxury” accommodations a two bunk/4 bed unit with a private bath (€24).  As I write this, it’s nearing 10 PM and I’m the only one occupying the room.  

    After a shower, laundry, and a quick nap I hit the streets and quickly discovered that this “big“ city was extremely walkable and had plenty of interesting things to see nearby.

    I got a text from my friends John and Sherry asking if I wanted to join them for dinner. I wandered down to their hotel and we had a drink together before a Rick Steves-recommended restaurant opened for dinner at 7 PM. We had an incredible meal.  Sherry and I both had grilled salmon steaks while John had seared tuna.

    As we were leaving, we bumped into Barney from Australia and a couple of Italian pilgrims right outside the door. We were quickly joined by Cristiano and Mariana, who had stayed at the hostel with us last night. John went back into the restaurant to find someone to take a photo of the group And came out with Jennifer from Tennessee who is also dating there. 

    Most of the group is going to stay another night here. Both Mariana and Sherry are nursing injured legs 

    I on the other hand, will be moving on in an attempt to gain some additional days so at the end of my trip, I can do both a side trip to Finisterra and go to Morocco.