We are starting to plan our next Camino this time starting in Porto Portugal, up to Santiago de Compostela. This Camino will be shorter (140 miles) than the 2022 French Way (490 miles). Just as we did in 2022 we have booked all of our rooms and plane tickets. This time however we are considerably more prepared. That is, take less stuff to carry!
There are two or three Camino routes to consider for the Portuguese Camino. We are choosing a hybrid of the coastal and inland routes. We will leave Porto and follow the coastal route and then once we get to Vila Praia, Portugal we will turn inland towards Vila Nova Cerveira, Portugal. From there on to Tui, Spain and the traditional inland route up to Santiago de Compostela. We chose this approach mainly because of the beauty of walking along the ocean and the availability of better rooms.
Weather is always a concern. We chose a time in early fall since historical weather reports show it to be rather dry and not too hot. Remember our 2022 French Way Camino? – it snowed on us twice and rained on us multiple times! Also we expect to be starting near the end of the traditional Camino period and perhaps there will fewer tourists.
Janice is adding the Portuguese badge along side the French Way badge to our backpacks
We wanted to walk the Portuguese Camino in 2023 but we had a couple of health issues. Like meniscus root tear surgery for Janice on her left knee! After surgery recovery and lots of physical therapy Janice is finally ready to go – almost as good as new!
Training started slowly in December 2023 with very short distances of a half a mile twice a week. By April of 2024 we were up to 6 miles a day three days a week and no knee pain. When we prepared for the French Way we learned that we didn’t do enough elevation training. The first week on the 2022 Camino was tough. So now we climb a local trail near our house – 2.2 miles up a 900 feet elevation gain. We our doing this two days a week.
