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
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