Bike Gaspe

Brockville to Valleyfield. After a decent breakfast at the Super 8, we started pedaling east on Hy 2. It was perfect for cycling- warm but not hot, no rain and a tail wind. We were in Cornwall just after noon so we decided to try for Valleyfield. We arrived at about 4 pm. To ensure that we had a place to rest our 6èßheads, I booked a room from just over an hour away. Our distance covered today was just under 170 km. This was primarily dictated by the availability of motels.  Tomorrow we should be able to do a little less distance.

Bike Gaspe

We started our bike trip by leaving the house at about 8h30 and made our way via the walk ways to the Y, Princess, Queen and the causeway. We decided to stop in Gananoque for coffee at St Timothy ' s which was quite fortunate because the spitting rain turned into real rain. While we were enjoying coffee,  we talked with Terry and Matt who couldn't do their work in Gananoque because of the rain. Eventually we stayed long enough to have lunch after which the rain let up. Biking along the parkway was great because the bike path is away from the cars and is smooth. About a half hour from Gananoque the sun came out and we took off our wind breakers. About 30 km from Brockville, I started to get slow and pedaling got harder. I thought that perhaps my body wasn't ready for this bike trip. About 5 km later the explanation became obvious; I had a flat rear tire. After installing a new inner tube, riding returned to normal and we rode into Brockville and checked into the Super 8 motel. I had booked it last night to make sure that we weren't tempted to overdo it the first day.

Portugal & Canada Day 38

Porto to Kingston. Our flight was at 13h05 so we spent a bit of time re-visiting Porto city center. Mainly it was to see the Market again. At 10h00 we left our hotel and went to the Metro. The ticket machine wasn't working so by the time we found another one and figured out how to buy tickets , a half hour went by. Then we waited quite a while for the train. Nevertheless the everything worked out well and we got to the airport for the princely sum of  €2.5. Canada could use a lesson therein. At the airport we bought Megabus tickets online  for the ride home .
The flight was on time and we had ample time to catch the bus at Pearson. It was fortunate that we had our tickets because the bus was full. Four others going to Kingston had to wait for next bus two hours later. Susie insisted on walking home although Hans was all set to pick us up. So we made it safe and sound. I lost 10 lbs this time; I haven't been this small (148 lbs ) since I was 15.

Portugal Day 37

Just to make sure that our legs don't forget,  we took a walking tour of Porto. We walked through the town and made our way to the waterfront via the cathedral. Then we walked along the Douro River and Atlantic beaches to Matosinhos.  The beaches were alive with people involved in all sorts of activities including surfing and board paddling. On the way back to the hotel we stopped to buy a souvenir for myself. Then it was back to the hotel for tea, beer and nibblies.  And of course showers because it was well into the 20s today. After going out to get a few groceries,  we managed to chalk up over 26 km today. Tomorrow we fly home. 

Spain and Portugal Day 36

Today we made our way to the bus station at 9h00 only to be told that the 10h00 bus was full and we could take the 12h00 bus. So we walked back to the hotel and asked them keep our backpacks while we went to the cathedral area for more shopping. At noon we were on the bus to Porto and by 14h30 local time we were walking to our hotel. Since I didn't have internet access because we were in Portugal,  we just went to the hotel/guest house and fortunately our host was available.  The room is perfect except for the lack of an en suite bathroom. It is very modern,  clean and has great views. We walked downtown and completed our souvenir shopping. The guest house had a full kitchen, dining area and living room. So we went to Pingo Doce and bought a chicken and other things. This was a very good meal and it has given me some strength. After supper we sat on our balcony enjoying the views.

Spain Day 35

We DID NOT have to pack up this morning. That was so nice. The day was spent getting our Compostela certificates and buying a few souvenirs. I left my walking stick at Compostela office with a bunch of others. It had served me well all the way from Oviedo. Unfortunately I ate or did something else to upset the GI tract. That cost me a lot of sleep.

Spain Day 35

Boimorto to Santiago 42+ km. Our plan for today was to walk around 28 km and stop around Pedrouzo or somewhere near there. That would leave about 20 km for the last day. This changed soon after we left Boimorto because there was an option to stay on the old route or take the alternative route.  According to the guidebook the alternative was a bit shorter and joined the Camino Frances around Rua. So we took the alternative only to find that it did not join the Camino Frances until much later almost at Lavacola. This meant no place to eat for a long time. Since the route was so different, we decided to walk all the way to our hotel in Santiago de Compostela. We sent them a message and changed our booking to 2 days. The new plan called for us to walk further and longer but we can stay in one place for two nights. It's really nice knowing that we don't have to pack up tomorrow morning. All we will do is visit the Compostela office,  buy a few souvenirs, eat and rest.  The weather conditions today really helped us walk this distance. We started in single digit temperatures and were never too warm all day.

Spain Day 34

Miraz to Boimil 36 km+. After having our laundry dry quickly yesterday afternoon, I anticipated warm and dry weather  today.  But after seeing the wet roofs this morning a reevaluation was in order.  We left the albergue with our pack covers on and our umbrellas up as it was sprinkling rain. In fact it sprinkled then quit throughput the day. When we stopped to eat around noon,  we looked over the route and considered walking further. The waitress and another man then told us that we would have to go on to Boimil to find a hotel; this was 11 km further than our original plan. When we arrived in Boimil, we learned that the hotel was closed. Tonight we are in an albergue, which happens to be new and very nice. When we asked about dinner he suggested a cafe-bar about half a km. It was great with the green salad being the best that we have ever had in Spain. In centre were two rounds of hot cheese. Our entrées were presented professionally; my fish was stacked on potatoes under a pile red and green vegetables. When we couldn't understand our choices of dessert our host brought out one with chocolate cake topped with a scoop of orange sherbet with 4 pieces of fruit in the corners. As we left the restaurant we got them to come outside for pictures.
The walk today was through a variety of terrain, which took us up to 700 m. This was above the elevation at which eucalyptus can grow. They can grow at a fantastic rate;we saw growth rings up to 1 inch. I assume that this reflects a long growing season and lots of rain.

Spain Day 33

Vilalba to Miraz 33 km. Today we left our hotel around 7:30 am and walked through typical Galecian countryside for the morning. As usual it was beautiful but not photogenic in that any pictures would look like yesterday's. The farms here are small with only a few cattle or sheep in small pastures. We have seen a number of horses that come to the fence when they see us; I like to pick a handful of grass to feed them.  There were a number of other peregrinos but it was not crowded. We saw only a few peregrinos on the Camino; most often we saw them at refreshment stops.  Interestingly we are known as the Canadian couple because of the flag on my backpack. I'm really happy that I brought the flag because it has been a great icebreaker. When we arrived in Miraz, we went directly to the Albergue O Abrigo and got the only double room in the establishment. It is new and beautiful with granite stairs and everything shiny and clean. We plan to have the peregrino menu tonight.
We have only three more days and then we will be in Santiago de Compostela again. The time seems to be flying by. If we arrive in Santiago de Compostela on Friday, we will travel to Porto on Saturday,  spend Sunday there and fly home on Monday the 22nd.

Spain Day 32

Abadin to Vilalba. Today is a rest day in that we can only walk 20 km and have to stop or go on to 40 km. As a result we ate breakfast late and  didn't hustle for any reason today. The walk was mostly through farmland on dirt paths with just a bit of rolling up and down. As this is Galecia, it is green and lush just like the attached picture shows. Not long after we started walking,  a peregrina noticed my Canadian flag and told me that she was from Montreal. She walked with us for a while until her pulled hamstring forced her to stop at the next bar. We walked until brunch time when we got two large cheese and ham bocadillos. Susie could eat only half of hers. We walked into Vilalba and got a hotel room by 2 pm. As our diets have not been balanced,  we decided to select our food at a supermercado for supper and got salads, meat and bread. We have been short on vegetables. 

Spain Day 31

Villamartin Grande to Abadin. The weather conditions today were perfect for walking, 20C some wind and no rain. We had a Spanish breakfast provided by our pensione and walked easily to Lourenza where we stopped at a bank machine and picked up some Euros. By the time we got to Mondoneda the bars were just starting to open around 11:30 am.  We needed some food with staying power and so we tried a couple of bars that  couldn't make food because the cook was not available and the bread had not been delivered. Finally we found a restaurant and had a large brunch of eggs,  pork cutlet, Russian salad and chips. We needed the calories for the afternoon because we walked about 36 km after missing a turn. The morning's walk through the woodsand farmland was so nice being surrounded by the Galician greenery. Most of the afternoon was spent on roads albeit quiet ones. Tonight we are in a pensione along with other peregrinos from Madrid and the Netherlands. Tomorrow will be a short day of 20 km simply because we don't want to walk 40 km at once.

Spain Day 30

Tapia to Villamartin Grande. When we were leaving our hotel, our host insisted that I have a cup of coffee and he gave us detailed information on the Camino to Ribadeo. Of the various options that he provided we ended up following the Camino signs all the way into Figueras where the variant and the official Camino rejoin. The guidebook had said that the way was poorly marked but we found that it is now well marked. The walk along the coast was everything that we had hoped for with lots of great views. Moreover the total distance was about a km shorter than we anticipated. Asturias is joined to Galecia at Ribadeo by km-long bridge. Today the wind blew from the south so fiercely that we walked like a couple of drunken sailors, probably gusts up to 80 kph. After Ribadeo we had a nice walk into the hills. With all the rain, Galicia is so lush and people have planted so many flowers. By 3 pm we arrived at our destination of Villamartin Grande and arrange to stay at the B&B.  It's really nice with a large bedroom, common bathroom, parlour and kitchen for  €30. We went to the cafe for supper at 7 pm. For the next 3 hours, it rained quite hard. We felt sorry for the 3 peregrinos who still had 2 km to walk to the albergue.

Spain Day 29

Villapedre to Tapia de Casariego.  While the room last night was phenomenal, their breakfast was too late for us so we ate at the cafe, which was open at 6. We started with rain covers on our backpacks and umbrellas in hand because it looked like rain. It didn't disappoint as it spitted for much of the morning. We got to  La Caridad after 11 went to a couple of bars for food.  Unfortunately they were not ready to serve so we went to the grocery store and picked up an empenada and some pastries, which we ate on some public benches. We had views of the Atlantic Ocean but they weren't as good as earlier. In the afternoon we took the alternative route to the beaches shortly after Porcia. That's why we are in Tapia rather than Tol. After getting our hotel we walked down to the beach and put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean. The beaches here are very nice but not warm enough for swimming yet.

Spain Day 28

Cadavedo to Villapedre. After yesterday's great hiking, we couldn't expect such views today. Actually today was very nice, just not like yesterday. We walked through woods most of the day and had lots of good ocean views. The best views were right in Luarca where the city lies by a natural harbour and river valley. The weather forecast for today called for some thunderstorms but luckily they bypassed us. We left our hotel late this morning because breakfast wasn't until 8:30; it was served in a beautiful setting. Nevertheless we still arrived at our destination before 4 pm and got a great room at a great peregrino price of  €30.

Spain Day 26

Aviles to El Pito. Today was another great day of walking with temperatures reaching about 18C and the sky overcast with sunny breaks. The walk was mostly on paths through the woods with a bit walking on backroads and only a few minutes beside busy roads.  Yesterday on the link from The Primitivo to the Del Norte we didn't see any other peregrinos but today was a more normal Camino day. We saw a number from Germany and met a retired couple from Montreal. We stopped at 28 km because of the distances between towns even though it was only 2  pm. We are staying in a hotel that provides dinner and breakfast so we don't have to run around looking for food tonight

Spain Day 27

El Pito to Cadavedo. We started the day well with a better than anticipated breakfast at Casa Vitorio in El Pito. Particularly nice were the freshly squeezed orange juice with refill and the cake. Then we had a nice walk to the valley with Concha de Artado beach, where I got to take more pictures than I took the previous day. For starters the valley was spanned by a 15-pier highway bridge with a curve. Then we visited the beach where Susie spent some time collecting rocks. After 3 hours we had bocadillos in Loco de Luinea after which we had to choose between the high route and highway route. We chose the high route and were rewarded with fabulous views of the ocean from the ridge. As a result of the route we arrived back at road level about 2 km beyond Cadavedo and had angle back to find a hotel. Although we had to hike up some 1500 ft, this was our most enjoyable day of walking on this trip.

Spain Day 25

Today the weather was perfect for walking. It was sunny and reached a high of about 19C and the wind was moderate.  The walk out of Oviedo was straight forward and we were out of the city in no time.  We were up high enough to get a nice overview of the city and see both the old cathedral and the new convention centre. The last half of the walk was not as good because it was all next to roads. The only bad part of the day was supper at Pizzeria La Competencia. I got a pathetically small bowl of spaghetti with a bit of cod and shrimp for  €9.50. In retrospect, I should have sent it back and left. I blew off a bit of steam by writing them up on Trip Advisor.

Spain Day 24

Last night we stayed in Santiago de Compostela at a nice little hotel near the bus station. We asked where to go for a supermercado and restaurant and were told just go to the shopping center nearby. We did and found the largest grocery store come other stores that we have ever seen. It was easily triple the size of our Costco store. We boarded a bus to Oviedo at 9 am and arrived at 2:15 pm. After dropping our packs at our 4 star hotel, we walked 2 blocks to the cathedral with the intention of buying our credentiales for this Camino. Unfortunately it was closed so we walked to the tourist information office nearby to ask where we could buy them. It turned out that they had them and provided them free. All that is left to do is take a few pictures, check out the route,  eat and sleep. When we sat down in a restaurant, we were right next to a local couple in the restaurant business. The man was really helpful as he explained the entire menu to us including a description of the dishes that were typical of Asturias. As a result we sampled two interesting dishes.

Spain Day 23

When we started off this morning, we thought that we might stop and stay a few km out of Santiago de Compostela so that we could make the 9 am bus to Oviedo the next morning. As it turned out,  the walking conditions were ideal so we changed our target to the bus station at 4 pm. We were close arriving at about 4:15 after some 38 km. The next bus would have reached Oviedo at 15 minutes after midnight so we stayed in Santiago de Compostela. Today the Camino was mostly through woods on sand and gravel paths. They have done a good job on the paths as there was no mud in spite of ample rainfall the past 2 days. In Padrón we visited the church that is built over the mooring post that St James used and got picture of the famous mooring post.

Spain Day 22

We anticipated today with some trepidation because two websites predicted a lot of rain. We saw predictions of up to 50 mm of rain. The thunderstorms overnight confirmed that we were in for a very wet day. By daybreak the forecast was for showers so we were hopeful that there would be less rain. Our hopes came through as the day was a mixture of everything including a bit of sunshine. About 12:30 it started to rain quite hard but we lucked out by finding an unoccupied shelter in a vending machine area with tables and chairs. That became our lunch spot. After that we walked to Caldas de Reis where the rain stopped completely so we walked on to Carracedo where we checked into a nice hostal,  Parrilada Antonio. The walking today was excellent as we spent a lot of time on sandy paths in quiet little valleys. There was only one section of about half a km where we were on the shoulder of a busy road

Spain Day 21

Today was predicted to be hot at 27C and it was in the afternoon. Tomorrow is predicted to rain a lot, up to 50 mm; we are hoping that the forecast is wrong. With this in mind, we planned to go asfar as is reasonable today. One place that is a bit on the short side was Arcade at around 24 km. Today's walk was nice with a good amount on paths through the woods. We arrived in Arcade about 12:30 so we pushed on to Pontevedra, which is a sign town about 36 km from Porriño where we stayed last night. Much of the walk today was through eucalyptus groves and small villages with tons of flowers. There were also some beautiful centuries old bridges. We got to see how they build stone walls these days; they use a Cat to lift rocks and power drills to cut them to size. As we were entering Pontevedra around 3:45 pm we booked a room in a 3 star hotel on line. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were ready for showers.  The next item on our agenda was supper; we cannot eat like last because a heavy Russian salad followed by half of a chicken with roasted vegetables and fries was too much. We just got back from supper where I tried to get salmon, which came as pork loin. Nevertheless it was good and this time they left the wine bottle at the table. 

Portugal - Spain Day 20

Today was another wonderful day of walking the Camino. It was clear jacket weather for the first half hour and then warmer the rest of the way. Although we passed through two large towns, the walking wasn't onerous at all. In fact one of the nicest parts of the day was at the old fort in Valenca that overlooks the river dividing Portugal and Spain. Once we were in Spain, we had to pickup a SIM card for the Spanish system. We ended the day in Porriño after walking on shady woodland paths for the afternoon.

Portugal Day 19

This was perhaps the best day of walking yet. When we arrived in Ponte de Lima, we were told that breakfast would be served at 8:30 am , which was much too late for us. Then they said that we could have a modest breakfast much earlier if we wished. We accepted that and were pleasantly surprised by the food they put out for us and all the other peregrinos. We walked to the Camino and into town where we took pictures and got euros. Then we spent the rest of the morning walking over a hill, 470 metres, to Rubiaes. Even though Susie was tired due to lack of sleep, she was given a caffeine beverage by mistake, we decided to carry on. When we arrived at our potential hotel, some 11 km further, no host was available.  So carried on another km to a place that wasn't even in the guidebook and checked into a great double room for an excellent price.
Today's walk was great because it was mostly through the woods and it took us high enough to have some excellent views. There were many peregrinos on the Camino until noon; many probably stopped at Rubiaes because it was the end of the stage in the guidebook. Tonight we plan to have a pilgrim meal at the restaurant

Portugal Day 18

It's May 1st and we left Barcelos and walked to Ponte de Lima. This was probably the best day of walking on the Camino Portugues as it took us on backroads and dirt paths for much of the way. We really noticed an increase in the number of peregrinos after Porto. In many ways it has made it more fun because we encountered the same people several times and have extended our conversations. Thus, we had a pilgrim meal with Ambrose, a Canadian, Carlo, an Italian and Nora, a German. We had lots of laughs. Although the walk was over 34 km it was not particularly taxing and we were checked in,  showers and laundered by 5 pm. Today we saw lots of flowers, grape vines with fruit just set and granite fence posts