Becoming a Pilgrim
We were met with two different responses when we told people we were walking the Camino de Santiago, a 260km pilgrimage from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. The most common was, ‘Are you crazy?’, and the second was, ‘That’s on my bucket list’. During our journey, we also asked ourselves if we were crazy, but very quickly remembered that this was an adventure we had willingly, if not excitedly, signed ourselves up for!
It’s not very often that two mid-twenty-year-olds decide to undertake a religious pilgrimage that follows the journey of Saint James’s body. The inspiration came from Kate, who, while in a year 13 religious education class, watched The Way by Emilio Estevez. While neither of us are particularly religiously inclined, we were curious as to what draws over half a million people a year to walk one of the almost 240 routes to Santiago de Compostela.
With that in mind, we needed to determine which route was right for us. With work commitments and other wild adventures ahead, we could only allocate 2 weeks to our pilgrimage, which ruled out the French Way (over 800km), narrowing it down to one of the Portuguese routes for us. Now, at this time, we were only really aware of the Coastal route and the Central route. The decision was easy, as soon as the word Coastal was mentioned, we knew that was the one for us. Starting from Porto, Portugal, we signed ourselves up for 260km along the coast (or so we thought) while basking in the sun. However, we couldn’t set off on this journey without one extra person, Toby’s mum, Jane. We knew that she was one of those people who had walking the Camino underlined on her bucket list, so all it took was one quick phone call, and the flights were booked from New Zealand.
Our journey from Porto to Santiago de Compostela
No walk in the park
Like many of the 190,000 people who walk the Portuguese routes, we started our journey from Porto. We only gave ourselves one night before we began, as we had all had the pleasure of visiting before. This gave us enough time to collect our credentials from the Porto Cathedral and get into the headspace of three people about to walk the furthest they had ever walked before!
We set off on day one from our Airbnb, bursting with anticipation and countless questions circling through our minds. Topped off by the fact that the forecast for the first couple of days was rain…something we had only thought was a possibility just a day or two before. With the sound of our waterproof pants swishing together, raincoat hoods pulled tight, and the threat of slipping on Porto’s wet cobblestones, we began our descent along the Douro River. We had a plan of 27km to reach Vila de Conde, which was a bold start to our journey, but we had blind faith that we would make it. We walked along promenades, beaches, and on boardwalks for a good 25km before we checked our maps, and at this point, we realised somehow we had made a fatal mistake in our distance calculations as we still had 9km to go. Between us, we didn’t know how we could tell Jane this, as we were all walking with the mantra of ‘just one foot in front of the other’. All we can say is that by the time we were 500m away from our guest house, we were close to crawling! At dinner, we met a lovely American woman called Shelly who was walking the Litoral route. We had no idea what she was talking about at first. She quickly explained that the Litoral route hugged the coastline and had been the route we had taken that morning. Instead of walking the Coastal route (which was slightly inland), we thought we would walk along the river and beaches…well, this is where we went wrong and ended up walking an extra 9km…we vowed to never make the same mistake again.
Kilometres walked - 34
Steps walked - 50,030
Stamps collected - 5
Day two was a bit different; we already started sore, as our feet and legs were in shock from the day before. Luckily, we only had 12km this day (which ended up being more like 14km…). Again, this day followed the promenades and beaches until we hit Aguçadoura, a tiny coastal village consisting of one row of 2 shops and 2 restaurants. We were met with a brilliant albergue right on the beach where we parked ourselves up for the afternoon. Still sore from the day before, we were grateful for a few hours of stretching, journalling and soaking up the sun after a couple of dreary days. Little did we know that these cooler days were actually a dream to walk in!
Kilometres walked - 14.3
Steps walked - 20,833
Stamps collected - 2
Our plan for day three was very simple…you guessed it…wake up and walk! We had 18km planned to reach Marinhas, which was a slight change up from walking along the coastline as we meandered our way through small villages and farmland. Kate quickly learned that she preferred the villages to the coastline. She said something along the lines of ‘we’ve got waves at home’ (she must have been referring to Piha because the UK is a disappointment on that front). We stayed at another albergue this night in a shared dorm where we encountered our first snorers of the trip. Needless to say, we were all slightly jaded on the morning of day four.
Kilometres walked - 18.4
Steps walked - 25,930
Stamps collected - 6
Now, history has a way of repeating itself, even though we thought we had learned from our day-one mistakes. Oh boy, how wrong we were about day four’s distance! We decided to walk the Litoral route as it had a lower elevation and was the same planned distance of 29km (yikes) to Carreço. Anyway, about 1km in, we realised that the path had us trudging through sand dunes and pebbled beaches, which was slowing us down and killing our bodies. Once we came across a fork in the path where we could either cross the river at the beach or walk inland to cross over a stone bridge and join the Coastal path, we decided that the elevation was no longer an issue for us. But, by doing this, we unknowingly added on another 5km… blissfully unaware at this stage, we powered up a hill towards a beautiful big church in the sun. Before we knew it, we were making our way along cobblestones through charming hillside villages, when we realised our day was going to entail more like 34km of walking. This was all made worth it as we arrived at our albergue for the night, which turned out to be our favourite one of our whole trip.
Kilometres walked - 34
Steps walked - 47,000
Stamps collected - 4
Waking up on day 5 was extra special for Kate as it was her 26th birthday, another deciding factor as to why we were walking at this time (did someone say birthday hiking trip?). Spirits were high as we headed out with 20km to go, as the next day was actually a zero day* for us, giving us an extra pep in our step as we made our way through forests, across streams and up through the hillside villages. Once we reached Caminha after 20km, we took a water taxi to A Guarda, which was actually in Spain. This was on route for walking the Litoral, but we decided it was a nice place to spend a zero day and celebrate my birthday. We caught a taxi on the other side to our Airbnb right on the waterfront. Our feet and legs were grateful for the ride, even though we felt like we were cheating. Technically, this is allowed as we weren’t counting this day as part of our pilgrimage, so as long as we returned to the point on the trail we stopped at, we could keep going.
*A zero day is when you purposefully take time off trail to rest, recover and refuel
Kilometres walked - 20
Steps walked - 30,431
Stamps collected - 3
Spending day 6 as our first zero day in A Guarda was a treat! We had a lazy morning watching the WSL Raglan Pro from back home, and eating baguettes lathered in Nutella. Because we are all slightly crazy, we decided we wanted to visit Monte de Santa Tecla, which is a beautiful mountain that overlooks Portugal and Spain, dotted with Celtic settlements. It was a 3km hike uphill and back down again, so we thought we should at least get a taxi to the top, and then we could meander back down while exploring the hill fort. The view from the top was incredible! We were lucky to have clear blue skies, which meant we could see for miles in either direction. Allowing ourselves two zero days meant we could explore along the route and make the most of our time in these new places.
Kilometres walked - 5.9
Steps walked - 10,051
Stamps collected - 4
Day 7 started in Spain, but we had to make our way back to Caminha in Portugal to rejoin our Coastal Trail. We took the water taxi back over before beginning our 20km day to Vila Nova de Cerveira. We were met with two different paths on this day, one was the ‘Green Path’ that followed the Minho River, and the other was the route we chose that headed into the hills. We spent our day winding through forests and over cobblestone villages. It was a rather simple day that ended at another charming albergue situated in the hills. This marked the halfway point of our journey, with only 7 more days to go. By this stage, our legs and feet would bounce back within 30 minutes of stopping for the day, which was a big relief.
Kilometres walked - 19.2
Steps walked - 27,586
Stamps collected - 2
Our journey on day 8 from Vila Nove de Cerveira to Os Edios was another bigger distance with approximately 25km in mind when we set off. We concluded that we should always add at least 2km onto any given distance, although this sometimes looked more like 10km! This morning, we weren’t overly prepared; the forecast did not account for rain, but within 5 minutes of setting off, the black clouds began rolling in. Jane was the only one prepared with her wet weather gear, so Toby and I scrambled under his umbrella and walked as if we were in a 3-legged race for a good 5km! This was a significant day on the trail as we officially crossed from Valença, Portugal, into Tui, Spain. As we entered Galacia, it was a strange realisation for 3 kiwis that you could just walk across a bridge and be in another country, a very foreign feeling! We were then met with one of our biggest challenges on the trail, our bag transfer company could only send our large pack so far. Causing us to all carry significantly heavier bags for the last 7 km. This was a great reminder to be grateful for the luxuries of modern-day services, as the original pilgrims would have been walking in far tougher conditions.
Kilometres walked - 27.9
Steps walked - 38,640
Stamps collected - 3
Day 9 started slightly differently from many of our other days. Picture this: it’s dark, you’ve had a rather sleepless night thanks to the German snorer, and suddenly Ava Maria is blasting through the albergue. I was transported straight back to high school assembly, where my friends and I would pretend to sing. Anyhow, instead of an alarm clock, this was the method of choice for our host; we were luckily then greeted by wafts of fresh bread being baked. Unfortunately, this rough awakening was matched with an equally ugly walk through 18km of industrial areas until we hit a beautiful forest as we descended into Redondela for the evening. We ended our evening with our daily Monopoly Deal tournaments, a glass of cold Coke, and a plate of steak and chips.
Kilometres walked - 22.4
Steps walked - 31,713
Stamps collected - 4
Before we knew it, we were heading into day 10, and what a day we were in for. The forecast was showing torrential rain overnight, which lasted until 12 pm, so we knew we had no option but to suck it up and get on with it. We were at the stage in the trail where all three routes began joining the same path north, meaning we were met with a pilgrim traffic jam. To top it off, this was going to be our highest elevation day with three large climbs ahead of us. We powered on, knowing the only way was through, and with the reminder that we had under 100km left of our journey. We wanted to enjoy every moment, as we weaved our way through the hordes of 100km pilgrims and those from the Litoral and Central route. We actually really enjoyed the majority of this day; spirits were high as we recounted endless viral TikTok quotes and practised our accents. We decided our technique for the day was to just get through it without stopping until the rain subsided. However, this meant we powered through 24km before arriving in Pontevedra. Hobbling our way through the outskirts of town, we found a gorgeous Japanese restaurant, and it was as if the universe had answered our prayers. We were also getting comfortable as we had another zero day the next day, yay, this called for an Airbnb with a washing machine and a beach day…
Kilometres walked - 28
Steps walked - 39,058
Stamps collected - 5
Waking up on day 11 was a stark contrast to the day before; we were met with blue skies and a forecast of 26 °C. Before we knew it, we were boarding a local bus to visit a beach 20 minutes away. As we walked down to the coast, the water began sparkling in the sun, as if it was waving at us, calling us to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean. And we did just that, for the next 5 hours we flitted between basking in the sun and floating amongst the waves. Before we knew it, our saltwater levels had been restored, and we found ourselves questioning why we had endured 13 months of ocean drought in the UK. We topped off our epic day by having dinner with our wonderful new friend Sara from Turin, Italy. We couldn’t have asked for a better zero day, well and truly resting and restoring our souls.
Kilometres walked - 4
Steps walked - 5,500
Stamps collected - 0
We set off on day 12 with only 3 walking days ahead, and we were all asking ourselves, ‘How did we end up here so quickly?’ For Kate, it felt as if she had only just begun researching the Camino and all of a sudden, we were only 3 days away from reaching Santiago de Compostela. We had approximately 23km today to reach Caldas de Reis, which began exposed to the morning sun, packing quite the punch, before we eventually reached the forest and endless rows of grape vines. This was one of our most beautiful days, nothing quite compares to the feeling of walking through ancient forests, then into cobblestone villages lined with grapevine pergolas. The scenery serves as a wonderful distraction from the aching legs and inevitable blisters. We even had an average pace of 5km per hour this day, which was a record for us!
Kilometres walked - 24.2
Steps walked - 32,679
Stamps collected - 6
We savoured every step of day 13, knowing that the next day would be our last, as we set off through forests, farmlands and then eventually into quaint villages. Our hottest day yet with 26 °C and 26km, ruthless. We even treated ourselves to two stops this day to slow the day down, but in usual Toby & Kate fashion, we arrived well before opening time for our albergue. The wait was well worth it as we sat poolside sipping ice-cold cans of Coke. To celebrate our last evening on the trail, we went out for dinner with another of our new friends, Axel from Denmark. Tucked into bed by 9 pm, we reluctantly said goodbye to the last 13 days.
Kilometres walked - 26.3
Steps walked - 36,223
Stamps collected - 4
Waking up on day 14 was a bittersweet feeling; we were so excited to reach Santiago de Compostela for the sense of achievement, but we were mourning the loss of the experience already. With this in mind, we slowly began our last 19km, documenting our highlights of the trip and snapping every photo we could. Spirits were high amongst other pilgrims as we passed each other, calling out ‘Buen Camino’. The overall walk for the day wasn’t very interesting, but it allowed us to self-reflect on the journey we had almost completed. As the km’s dropped lower and lower every time we passed one of the Mojones, the sense of anticipation increased. We had no idea how we were going to feel when we entered the square at the foot of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral; until now, our focus had simply been on how many kilometres we were walking each day.
Kilometres walked - 25.1
Steps walked - 35,298
Stamps collected - 2
The feeling of walking through the streets of Santiago and catching glimpses of the Cathedral spire was indescribable; the significance of the pilgrimage slowly descended and settled upon our shoulders. Nothing could beat that feeling of walking in, staring up at this grand building and thinking of all the hundreds of thousands of people that have come before us. As we sat and took a moment to process our emotions, the streaks of salt hitting our smiles were a subtle reminder of the accomplishment we had just achieved.
288km later, we had made it to Santiago de Compostela, across 14 days, two countries, two water taxis, countless bridges, and way too many boardwalks. We had done it, we had become Pilgrims.
Total kilometres walked - 288
Total steps walked - 433,500
Total stamps collected - 50
