Day 15 & 16 29 & 30 September 2025 Camino Portuguese

 

 

Day 15 29 September 2025

Today is day 15,  Um today, unfortunately, I made a mistake of booking an accommodation 3 miles from my actual end destination town that I wanted to be in. So, unfortunately, I'm going to be about 5 km off. Not much, but means starting early tomorrow and today might be a very short  walk, but Those are the planning issues that come with the Camino.  There are a lot more pilgrims. Not so talkative, which is fine. I met a lady this morning who's done four and basically wished me well and said  to enjoy  the walk, which I am. It's been pretty good. The weather looks pretty good today. So, I think this will be a really good day. It's a short day. So, I'll try and rest up for a much longer day tomorrow. May not make any bookings so that I can go as far as I can and see how far I can go. But aside from that, um, everything seems going well. No injuries and my packs a lot lighter. So that's pretty good.The weather was a little windy and wild. Slight drizzle but nothing much. Pretty much the coastal route was along the coast. 

 I did Villa do Condo to Espondende. It was pretty much hugging the coastline. turned out to be a much shorter trip. I got to my hotel at Apulia which is 6 kilometers from Esponde at about 12 and done only about 18 kilometers. So I left my bag there and walked to Esponde, had lunch and then Ubered back to the hotel. , which was was quite cheap, €7. I had a fish meal for lunch, which was quite good. Tried to avoid fish, but had no choice, not too many options, particularly with a Portuguese menu, but it was enjoyable.  Then spent a quiet afternoon in the hotel it was good for €44 . 

Day 16 30 September 2025

I then Ubered back in the morning which was day 16 of the trip which was from Espondse   to V I A N A Do Castello and  it's about 26 kilometers away and then it's just the last coastal section to  Caminha which is about 30ks. I  then head in to Tui which is the first Spanish city or town. So just another day of walking on the coast. ,which has been good because it's relatively flat. Uh the weather's been great. And they've been shorter trips. So Not sure about the measurements because they were all going to be closer to 30 km. It turns out there's a slight variation. A huge number of  trails on the apps and the signage is not that great.  But anyway, I'm not hopelessly lost and it's been a great journey. I've learned a new word Bondia here which I think is   hello or good morning. So I've been saying that and people have been responding rather than Hola. So and Abigabro is thank you. The two main words I've been using and " tudoben" is everything all right another word but I've not used that much. The other pilgrims that I met up with before Porto are about two days behind because they took a break. But I  will probably be there when they get to Santiago. 

Enjoyed the town of Viana Do Costelo and walking around. I started off to Caminha early again before sunrise and had to walk the quiet streets of the town and hills into the suburb before the roads and open fields and quiet villages with the coastline now in the distance ,Again lovely churches and small cafes and restaurants along the way . Saw a few more pilgrims .This section was far more inland then right on the coastline. Had a lemonade at a small cafe next to a stream and a lovely church . Fair bit of elevation as well before coming back onto the coast for the last several kms into Caminha and the majestic scenery .

 I had a good day at Caminha walking around and enjoying the small town on the border with Spain and the main crossing for pilgrims continuing on the coastal route to Santiago. I decided to walk inland.