A Plan is Hatched...
Happy New Years, y'all! I hope this year sees you hitting the Camino or planning to do so. Me, I'm in the early planning stages of my next camino adventure - The Camino Portugués in May/June 2020. I've decided to start jotting down all my plans, thoughts, sage advice etc. so as to a) help you plan your own camino and b) not drive my girlfriend crazy with endless, one-sided camino chatter. Win win really. So!, let's get started...
OK, so my napkin-sketch plan looks like this: The Camino Portugués from Porto via the Senda Litoral, Central Route & Variante Espiritual to Santiago de Compostela and then out to Muxia and Finisterre. "So what the hell does that all mean?" I hear you say.
So basically you have two main routes, the Coastal or the Central. The Coastal is, rather unsurprisingly, along the coast and the Central is straight up the middle of Portugal. I chose the Central as I prefer mountains and fields over beaches, sunburn and budgie smugglers.
Apparently the two main routes out of Porto are pretty average for the first day, going through some less than inspiring industrial areas. The Senda Litoral out of Porto however follows the coast for a day and is much nicer. The added bonus is that I also get a little beach action so it's kinda the best of both worlds. Day two however will see us switching over to the Central Route, joining it at Arcos.
From Arcos we will keep to the Central Route until Pontevedra, after which we will take the Variante Espiritual, a three day variant that traces the route that the remains of St. James were said to follow on his way to Compostela, and which requires a boat trip that passes "the only maritime Via Crucis in the world where 17 centennial cruceros can be admired". Hell yeah! Sign me up! This route rejoins the Central route once more at Padron and then it's Santiago and the "end of the earth" at Finisterre and Muxia! Phew! I'm tired just typing it.
You'll notice that I've been saying "we"a lot and that's because this time I won't be travelling alone as I'll have my mum, T-Rex as she's affectionately known, tagging along for her first camino. It's going to be an amazing trip and I can't wait to bore the hell...I mean share it with you. Enjoy:)
Useful Links:
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OK, so my napkin-sketch plan looks like this: The Camino Portugués from Porto via the Senda Litoral, Central Route & Variante Espiritual to Santiago de Compostela and then out to Muxia and Finisterre. "So what the hell does that all mean?" I hear you say.
So basically you have two main routes, the Coastal or the Central. The Coastal is, rather unsurprisingly, along the coast and the Central is straight up the middle of Portugal. I chose the Central as I prefer mountains and fields over beaches, sunburn and budgie smugglers.
Apparently the two main routes out of Porto are pretty average for the first day, going through some less than inspiring industrial areas. The Senda Litoral out of Porto however follows the coast for a day and is much nicer. The added bonus is that I also get a little beach action so it's kinda the best of both worlds. Day two however will see us switching over to the Central Route, joining it at Arcos.
From Arcos we will keep to the Central Route until Pontevedra, after which we will take the Variante Espiritual, a three day variant that traces the route that the remains of St. James were said to follow on his way to Compostela, and which requires a boat trip that passes "the only maritime Via Crucis in the world where 17 centennial cruceros can be admired". Hell yeah! Sign me up! This route rejoins the Central route once more at Padron and then it's Santiago and the "end of the earth" at Finisterre and Muxia! Phew! I'm tired just typing it.
You'll notice that I've been saying "we"a lot and that's because this time I won't be travelling alone as I'll have my mum, T-Rex as she's affectionately known, tagging along for her first camino. It's going to be an amazing trip and I can't wait to bore the hell...I mean share it with you. Enjoy:)
Useful Links:
- http://www.osalnes.com/en/discover/activities/spiritual-variant#prettyPhoto
- https://stingynomads.com/camino-portugues-stages/
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| The adventure starts here ~ Porto. |
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