Camino Day 3

June 21

We all woke up a little creaky in Esposende this morning but were eager to walk to Viana do Castelo. The logistics of our Camino are a bit different than that of a traditional Pilgrim. We are all traveling for varying amounts of time and locations in Europe, so we have more possessions than some. Keep in mind, the McLains still pack light. Dave and I have packed for 3 weeks, the girls for at least 6 weeks, and Alastair will live out of his single bag for quite a while.

Adelaide is an amazing concierge. Every night she makes our accommodation reservations for the next night and arranges luggage transport ahead to our next stop. She is 100% tech savvy, fluent in Spanish (which all the Portugues can understand), and exceedingly capable. David and I are more than happy to allow her to oversee these details. Thank you, Adelaide!!!!

Each or our bags is air tagged and we can see them move north up the coast with us. Every night they are exactly as promised by the transport vendor for about $10/bag/day. I am sure you all can do the math on 6 bags/day over two weeks. Trust me, worth every penny. We only carry about 10 pounds on the Camino each day and we are pretty tired by the end of each day. I am so grateful not to have to carry any more and still be able to have pajamas and my toothbrush waiting each night. Our day packs are mostly water, but we also carry a few snacks, sunscreen, hats, rain ponchos (not yet used), passports, Pilgrim credentials (cute little books for stamps along the way to prove you walked the Camino), and a few other items. Today Adelaide, Dagny, and I each carried a second pair of shoes. It helps to switch up halfway through the day. Today I walked my first 8 miles in my Chocos. I will likely do the same tomorrow.

I loved today’s walk which was very different landscape than yesterday. Much more hiking in the mountains and in-land. Not much walking near the ocean. One of my favorite things today were the boxes of plums left near the Camino for Pilgrims to eat for free. They were very small, not much bigger than a large grape, but super delicious. I ate about 6 today.

The Camino is well marked. We have an app which can show us our directions along the way, but we don’t use our phones very much. The yellow arrows point the way, and I love walking without having to think very much. It is very quiet in lots of places and great for enjoying The Way.

Ten miles hiked from 8-noon and then a long lunch with kebab plates, and kebab sandwiches and lots of water and beers. By 3:30pm we finished a total of 15 miles and enjoyed a festival in Viana do Castelo (Market of Discoveries), but it felt a lot like a Renaissance Fair. Fun. Alastair wanted a wooden sword. I said no.

Buen Camino!  Jll

Camino Day 2

June 20

​We woke up this morning in a decently large beach town in Portugal (Póvoa de Varzim). We packed up and then headed out to drop off our bags at a nearby hotel. With only our day packs, we began walking. Today we all started the day walking at our own pace. 

I ended up about a mile ahead of Addie, Maggie, mom, and dad and stopped to have a cappuccino and a pastry at a cafe on the beach while I waited for them to catch up. Alastair was ahead of all of us on the trail. We stopped and took a break before we headed back out and walked together for about two more hours. We walked along the beach, on board walks through farms, and through small towns. 

Around hour four of the day we stopped to have some tapas and took a load off. At this point we only had about an hour left so we stretched, gave ourselves a good pep talk and then began again. 

We found our hostel, checked in, and dropped our bags off before going to the grocery store to buy more supplies for our ever growing number of blisters (11 and counting) and some snacks. Where we are staying is right on the beach so we changed into swimsuits and jumped in the ocean for a swim. The water was so so cold as we are on the Atlantic Ocean so we didn’t swim for too long. After our dip we headed to dinner and then finally back to the hostel where we are all about ready to crash and do it all again tomorrow!

Dagny

Ready, Set, Camino!

​June 19. 

We had a late start this morning, starting with a nice stranger in a taxi picking up our large backpacks to run them up to an albergue in Povoa de Varzim where we planned to stop for the night.  We walked by the pilgrim office near the cathedral in Porto to collect our credentials (needing one stamp per day in Portugal and two per day in Spain) and seashells.  This will allow us to get our certificate at the end. 

We took a subway to the north side of Porto to start our Camino, shaving 5 miles off our walk.  Once we hit the ocean at about 10am, we started walking north. Rule of the day: keep the ocean on your left.  We walked, talked, and sang our way for the next 17 miles. We seemed to be the only pilgrims with a Bose speaker. Though out of place, it served us well. 

By the time we strolled in to Povoa de Varzim, we were all very tired and dragging.  Adelaide found a couple of blisters on her feet, which is not a good start.  We picked up the big bags at the albergue and got lectured by the host for not calling ahead to warn him our bags were being dropped off. A donation seemed to smooth things over. Another 15 minute walk to the AirBNB with all of our bags about did me in. Lesson learned, have your bags dropped off where you will be sleeping. A quick run on the showers and we were off to dinner.  Dagny was supposed to blog tonight, but passed out, dead tired, when we got back to our apartment. 

All in all, it was a good day. Our first taste of the Camino was a long day, but we did it. Only 11 or so miles tomorrow, which we hope to feel much shorter as we get our legs. 

- Dave

Pastel in Porto

June 18

​We started our day with coffee and pastries at a cafe in Porto, Portugal. We then walked to the Porto Cathedral where we listened to organ music in the sanctuary, climbed stairs to the top of the tower, and saw our first Camino trail marker out front. Afterwards we walked across a bridge to the other side of the river which was incredibly beautiful and gave us an amazing view of Porto. On the other side of the river we found a new cafe where we played cards and had some snacks before getting to our cooking class. 

For our cooking class we made pastel de nata which is the most famous dessert in Portugal. We’ve already had several on our trip so far, in fact, it was one of the first things we looked for once arriving in Lisbon. We were very excited to make our own and there were only three other participants, giving us lots of opportunities for involvement. We made the dough and custard from scratch and at them straight out of the oven. It was the best pastel de nata I’ve had and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the baking process and watching them come together. Our instructor was a polish woman, but her historic and culinary insights were very helpful. 

After our class we walked down toward the river to play more cards and try a local wine flight. 

I won our card game and then we walked back across the river for dinner (local dish Francesinha) on an outdoor patio that became far too cold. My dad, Adelaide, and Alastair went back to our Airbnb and Dagny, my mom, and I crossed the bridge and back one more time to watch the sunset over the river. We were joined by no less than 2,000 locals and tourists and even witnessed a marriage proposal! Many people watch the sunset from the very same park the night before they start the Camino so Dagny was very glad that we got to do the same. We walked back to our apartment and my sisters and I ended our night by playing our new favorite board game, “Betrayal at House on the Hill.”

Magnolia