Porto Cathedral to Vila Chã
Starting km: 0
Finishing km: 26.3
Distance walked: 26.3km
Took the metro from our hostel to Porto Cathedral only to discover it didn't open til 09:00 (twenty eight minutes after arrival). But I wanted a selo (stamp) from our official starting point, so we waited. All along the caminos, churches, pilgrims hostels, hotels, bars, everywhere really offer to stamp your pilgrim's credencial. Partly these are to prove the length and route you walked when collecting your Compostela (certificate) in Santiago, but they're also just fun memories.
About eight other pilgrims were waiting around with us. Started to rain and even hail.
The forecast called for rain all day, 29mm worth, but there was actually a lot of sun. Got dampened and wind-blown a few more times, but the outside the cathedral was actually as bad as it got.
Walked down the river to the Atlantic, then turned right and spent the day on the coast.
Passed a roundabout labelled on the map as Casa del Quiejo. Sarah was disappointed. Not only was there nothing at all resembling a cheese castle, but there was an equestrian statue in the middle!
Stopped to pick up lunch at the Mercado Municipal in Matosinhos. The urban are of Porto seemed to end just past here.
From here on in it was Holiday suburbs, fishing villages and really wild beautiful coastline. The beaches and surf are reminiscent of the wild west coast of NZ's South Island. Saw lots of other pilgrims (twenty? Thirty? Thirty five?) and were a bit worried about the accommodation situation at our end point.
Sarah and I had been talking about how this was a very approachable walk and likely comfortable for many women to walk on their own. Shortly after this we were paused and were caught up by Stephanie who was happy to join us as she'd been harassed by single men sitting in empty parking lots along the trail, with one of them exposing himself to her. Yuck and boo to those horrid creeps!
Walked the rest of the way to Vila Chã with Stephanie. Stayed at the municipal albergue there (municipals are inexpensive, non-profit pilgrim's accommodation, usually first come, first served, generally run by volunteers). Don't know what we were expecting, but WOW! It was lovely! Spotlessly clean. Bright and airy inside. Eighteen bunk beds, each with a curtain around it for privacy if you want. Two hot showers, a kitchen, even WiFi for goodness sake! This one was by donativo (donation). When we were welcomed and had our pligrims’ credentials looked at and stamped by the volunteer woman I'd offered the minimum suggested donation, but on seeing how lovely the place was I went back and bumped it up by 50%.
Sarah and I made and ate dinner with Stephanie and a young Danish woman.
Today's wine: DOC tinto Verde (young red). Unexpectedly petillant (lightly fizzy)! But dry and pretty good tasting.
Also: I walked the whole day in jandals. Let's see if my feet get enough of a rest tonight to keep that up tomorrow…
(Most of the photos for this day are on my old, now broken phone. So photos for days 1 and 2 will be kind of limited, which is sad because they were two of the most different and prettiest days of the walk :-( )
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