blister

Celebrating Back in Brodick

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We did it! On Day 5 we completed the Arran Coastal Way – all 105km according to the guidebook or 133km according to my FitBit!

We started our morning with … you guessed it! A full Scottish Breakfast again that was absolutely amazing. While eating we commiserated over how our feet were doing, and the weather and if we think it would improve at all. We were keen to finish this trail despite a hard, late finish the day before and most of us still with we gear.

So we made a plan to be out the door for 1015am and on our way – rain and blustery winds or not! We ran a little late cause of me, sorry gals. For some reason the outsides of my feet have developed some pretty impressive and very painful bruises (I think from all the bouldering where your feet are never flat and you push off from the outside of your boot). I had to do some first aid intervention if I was gonna get another 20km outta these dogs. Some foam backed moleskin and duct tape ought to do the trick!

We were out the door at 1045 …

We had stayed at the Burlington House which was just so cool. Shar and I were on the top floor where it was like an attic angled roof – I always wanted a room like that as a kid. We also had a heater in our bathroom so we could crank it up to dry our clothes and boots – a totally stinky hot box! Ick!

Our day started our on a pretty crazy, overgrown trail heading straight up out of town. The lady at the Burlington told Rosa and Cheryl that instead of backtracking a couple km to get back on the trail there is a sneaky-sneak straight up to the trail just down the road. Yahoo! We found it! At first a wide track (gravel road) then a cool wee trail that looked more like a creek bed than a path! At times we had to crouch hike the branches and bramble was so low We loved it!

From here we were on a minor road and had to guess a little at where to go next – assuming we continued with the coast to the right, we turned right. Well oopsy daisy! Sure felt like the right way. We even confirmed it with a fisherman! He told us to go up a wee road (massive, long, steep hill) and we would be back with the Way. Well we did that and ended up back where we had already been – hahaha sure let’s add a couple km to our day!

So, we asked another lady who drove by and she told us to head around and back down to the coast – yahoo we found the right way markers. Too bad we climbed a horrendous hill to find out! Looks like the driving lady knows a bit more about the inland paths than the fisher guy – weird?!

Ok back in action we spent the next couple of hours either rock beach walking or on boardwalks just above the beach. We could not believe the amount of work that went into building these amazing boardwalks. At the end of each there was a small sign that said how many meters to the next boardwalk- so you would know how long you had to suffer on the wet boulders before flat ground again. Brilliant!

The tide was still a little high so we had to walk a few steps in the ocean at one point to get around a headland. Cheryl went ahead to check out what was on the other side – making even soggier feet in the process but what a champ! She found our boardwalk on the other side, so we all followed! If your friends walked around a headland with ankle deep ocean, would you? Yup!

From here we soon found our way to Lamlash our mid way point and where we getting a hot lunch. This time we knew the tea house or a hotel would be open and we could not wait! All of us enjoyed a hot tea with Arran Gold (yummy, better than Bailey’s liquor) to warm up and some sandwiches with chips!

We also reconfirmed that yes we wanted to finish walking – even with basically ponds in our boots, and torrential rain and wind. We were gonna finish this thing! So we geared up and stepped outside to … no rain, no joke! The skies had stopped crying down on us and it was actually feeling like it might warm up a little. (insert the sound of the heavens singing).

We started with a 2km easy road walk which turned into gravel track right along the coast where we saw seals! Finally we saw all the seals the guidebook and locals were talking about! My photo below doesn’t do the seals justice – Rosa got some epic photos on her camera though!

From here we rounded a headland and had a couple of kms walking on the grassy knoll right beside the coast – sometimes precariously on the cliff edge in my scaredy-Cat opinion but no one else seemed to mind. Absolutely beautiful!

After this section if was some easy hill, fields and minor road walking into town. Stopping whenever we wanted in the sunshine for photos!

img_3278img_3311Wow, we made it! Strolled into town (and by that I mean hobbled haha) and took a photo back where we started 5 days ago – at the Arran Coastal Way marker. Wow!

We headed over to the Douglas Hotel across the street where we were presented with our completion certificates and felt some serious pride in our accomplishment! There may have been clapping and some fighting tears. A toast with some local lager and a cider on the sunny terrace completed our epic journey!

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Ladies! Wowza! Now shall we really celebrate by climbing a mountain, Goat Fell Mountain to be exact? I think so! Brande

Soggy in Whiting Bay

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Well day 4 over and done! From Lagg to Whiting Bay in 16kms that felt more like double that!

We started our morning with another yummy full Scottish breakfast and some time checking in with our families and catching up on social media in the cute little sun room of the hotel. The forecast was calling for heavy rains and wind and we were looking to put it off as long as possible. Sitting in our little sun room we watched the rain deluge down sideways for a good hour. Ick! But we had some time to kill anyway so why not hope the rain would rain itself out!

This morning’s walk includes bouldering around Brenan Head which is only passable at a lower tide. The guide book says to arrive at the headland at high tide, take a break, and then go around when the tide is passable and we are confident it’s going out. If not confident then to backtrack to the escape root up to the cliff top and take the road.

High tide was forecasted for 1:06pm and we had 4-5km to walk to get to Brenan Head which included a lot of sand, boulder and bog walking – beautiful for sure, but can take some time to cross. So we left the hotel around 1030am and made our way to the headland. We made awesome time after leaving the hotel – likely because it was pouring rain and all you can do is put you hood on, keep your head down and walk. Good conversation and photo montages are a little tough in the blistering rain along the ocean. But we were lucky the rain only lasted about an hour or so – just long enough to soak a few of the crew to the under clothes.

We arrived at Brenan Head just after noon so got comfy on the boulders below an awesome waterfall just outside Black Cave (the biggest coastal cave on the walk – massive) and enjoyed our lunch while watching the tide come to high and then go out so we could time our crossing. Well as we sat there it got windier and windier, the waves higher and higher – soon crashing against the rocks! A beautiful sight to see but not as you are waiting for the sea to go out so you can keep moving. We committed to waiting for high tide at 1:06pm and picked a tide pool to watch as our indicator that the tide was going out.

Bundled up in all the clothing we had in our packs – for me this included a short sleep, 2 long sleeves, a fleece, my shell and a toque – we enjoyed the waves, had some good conversations and waited. Every once in a while the sun would peek out and brighten our cold, happy but impatient spirits. At 230pm the water was not visibly retreating, the waves were getting worse by far and there was no way to pass Brenan Head – our gut instinct to not attempt the crossing due to the conditions were later confirmed when we found out all ferry crossings to/from the island were cancelled due to bad seas. Bad sea, bad! A weather warning was issued after we left our hotel in Lagg – missed it! So back to the Escape Route we went … we hadn’t seen the markers for this on our way through so Rosa and I double timed it to see if we could find these while Cheryl and Shar got a few things sorted and followed behind. We found it! Not sure how we missed the marker on the way through the first time. I was a bit ‘grumpy’ about having to take the escape route because we had waited so long for the stubborn tide and the Brenan Head crossing just seemed like the cool coastal thing to do. But the escape route ended up being great – up a steep incline to get the thighs burning, across some fields so we got to walk along with some sheep, and then easy road walking with amazing views of the Prada Island lighthouse! After 4km on the road we had a decision to make – walk another 8km into Whiting Bay our home for the night on roads OR walk 12km through woodland on the actual Arran Coastal Way.

By now the rain was looming again, the wind had picked up big time and it was 430pm – we had lots of time but there is always the concern that you won’t get a meal in the next town if you arrive too late. So Shar chatted with the Burlington Hotel where we were staying and confirmed we could order till 830pm.

So we had just under 4hrs to make 12km, we could get a hot meal at the end, and the path was largely through the woodland which I love – decision made, let’s keep on keeping on! About mid way the storm hit! Big style! Soaking, sideways, heavy, bouncing back up off the ground, rain quickly turning us from chilled hikers to soggy sloggers! Hoods on, heads down, we made our way. Even in the rain it was really pretty! Until we got to town and then it was just rain, rain, rain – running down the streets and overflowing drains kind of rain.

By the time we arrived at our Burlington Hotel for the night it was just before 8pm and we were literally dripping – I had to actually ring out my socks! The hotel lady didn’t care one bit and led us to our rooms and had the chef on standby for food. We toasted the end of a crazy, soggy day at dinner and all of us were keen for a good sleep and a chance for our clothes and boots to dry! Brande

Chilling in Lagg

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Day 3 (the real day 3 – sorry about the typo on yesterday’s post) here on the Arran Coastal Way was amazing. We walked from Machie to Lagg just over 20kms and loved every minute of it. A day full of amazing views, challenging and beautiful trails, and many a quintessential Scottish moment. Cheryl and I couldn’t believe how many Scottish moments we got in before noon!We began our day at 8am with a full blown Scottish breakfast – complete with Black Pudding or Haggis. Shar and I of course took the Haggis, we both love it. Rosa had Haggis too but Cheryl went with Black Pudding. She originally hails from Newfoundland, Canada where Black Pudding is a regular menu item and she wanted to know if it was as good as home. It was!We dallied way too long at breakfast but how could we help ourselves with such an awesome meal, beautiful sunny dining room and all the tea and coffee we could drink. Ok full disclosure here… we were expecting rain and no one was ready to get out there into the potential sogginess.Leaving our B&B, the amazing owner woman lady (I feel so bad I can’t remember her name) knowing our love of Helian Coo’s offered to take us out to her family’s pasture where she raises them for a ‘wee look’ before she drops us off at the start of our day – heck yah!We met Aggie a beautiful brown mom nd her baby, and another black Coo (I don’t remember her name) and her babe – they are absolutely adorable! Standing in a classic scotch mist rain seeing Helian Coo’s – now that’s quintessential!Oh my goodness they even have a Coo named Pippa and she knows her own name. The B&B gal called it out and all the way across the field Pippa raised her head and made to come our way! She is the Coo way way across the field.Once we got our Coo time in, we were dropped off in Machrie (where we were picked up yesterday) to start our day of walking … with standing stones! Oh wow, wow, wow. Sadly, Rosa did not hear the buzzing of bees and find Jamie Fraser but we had an awesome time all the same!Overall I think there was 3 or maybe 4 standing stone circles in that field – some more impressed than others in size but all pretty awesome to see. Our standing stones excursion was a 3km+ detour and worth every blister bandaid step! Just amazing how they have stood the test of time. From the standing stones we made our way the couple of km to King’s Cave. This is the cave where Robert the Bruce hid out and they say spoke to the spider who changed the course of Scotland. I have heard many a cave claim the Robert and spider story so I am not sure about that but it was amazing all the same!The walk to the King’s Cave Park area was 1.6km on the road but once there it was the most amazing path trough the forest and across the hill top then down a rock gulley to the shore – beautiful!From the King’s Cave we continued along the coast on a gassy knoll just above the boulders on the beach heading towards Drumadoon cliffs and Blackwaterfoot town for lunch. This section of trail is so far my favourite! Easy underfoot on the knoll and then entertaining boulder hopping with amazing views of the ocean to the right and imposing beautiful cliffs to the right – wow!We wrapped up this morning with a 1km+ beach walk to bring us into Blackwaterfoot for lunch. We hit the Post Office/Liquor Store/Grocer to refill snacks and suck for our packs and then grabbed some lunch from On A Roll.I had a very tasty Scotch Pie and the rest of the crew enjoyed super fresh sandwiches. Sitting outside at a picnic table we enjoyed our lunch, took care of any feet concerns, and reviewed the trail info for the afternoon.Once back on the path, our next milestone was Preacher’s Cave at about km 1.6 – we found it. It is a massive triangle shaped cave that was used as a church in the early 1800s. Pretty neat to see! From here the guide book describes the path as ‘tortuous’ over boulder fields grown over with vegetation making for difficult and uneasy footing with very few way markers. Bang on!Well the description was correct .. but we loved it! The sun came out, the stepping up and over and across to the different rocks was entertaining, and the conversation was great. For sure our speed slowed right down as every second stone was an ankle breaker but we didn’t care – we were happy as clams out there and we saw a seal!From this tortuous path we made our way up a very steep – outside of my comfort zone – hill to the top of the cliffs where we rejoined the road.Once up the hill, we took in the amazing view and changed from boots to shoes and continued walking. We had 6.8km left to cover on the road to reach our evenings destination, the Lagg Hotel built in 1971.We walk on the side of the road where the traffic is coming at us so we can give them a chance to see us and give us some space or we can jump into the ditch. There is no shoulder on these roads and barely enough room for cars to pass so it’s a little sketchy but easy underfoot.At 3.8km we happened past a bus stop and hmmmm don’t mind if we do! We didn’t come here to walk on roads – we came to walk on paths and when there is no path, we are outta here! Sure it was only a 3.8km trek and only saved us about 30mins but wow did our feet thank us!We made it to the Lagg Hotel at just after 6pm our earliest at night so far! We checked in and even had time to shower and get into clean clothes before dinner, which was booked for 830pm. It was so nice to have our home right in the very place we were enjoying a cold pint and our meal.We even met the hotel owner who lives part-time in the Calgary area, just like 3 of our peeps! Lots of chat about the Calgary area ensued. We finished the night off with a wee dram of Arran Gold Liquor (like a really good and more real Baileys) liberally poured by Peter and then headed to bed – all secretly hoping the rain in the forecast was a bad weatherman’s joke.Brande

Hobbling in Blackwaterfoot

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Day 2 on the Arran Coastal Way proved to be another doozy. A beautiful doozy that has left all of us with a bit of a hobble or a limb tonight- tight muscles, dogs barking, sun burns, and blisters seems to be the order of the body today for our crew.

The day started amazing! We stayed at the Butt Lodge (not a typo) which had the cutest rooms, comfy beds and was so quiet. Except for the temperature of the rooms (too warm) it was a perfect stay. Oh and we had the pleasure of a full Scottish breakfast!

If you don’t know what a full Scottish breakfast is let me tell you! 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausages, baked beans, grilled tomato, potato scone, fried mushrooms, and toast. Most of the time it also comes with Black Pudding. Ours did not but it would have been epic if it did. So yummy!

After breakfast we packed up and heading out the door. Leaving our big bags for Contours Walking Company to carry forward for us, and just taking our daytime backpack.

At 930am we were on the road. We kicked off the day with a visit to the Lochranza Castle built in the 13th century. Robert the Bruce stopped here on his way from Ireland when he returned to claim the throne. Today, it is just some really impressive ruins – in really gold shape!

From there, we started out on the path. This included a short distance on the road around the headland and a steep, long uphill to take us to a fern filled, undulating path on the cliff above the beach.

A few sections of the trail where beyond my ‘fear of heights’ comfort zone – just a foot wide if that with what would be a hard drop off of it wasn’t for the ferns growing out of the hill to give you illusion of solid ground. You can’t fool me. I took the lead and powered through it! I find when spooked on a trail just ‘doing it’ gets me through it!

Following our up on the cliff walk, we then came down a very steep hill to the village of Catacol where we got to step over our first ladder stile.

These are basically two ladders leaned against each other over a fence. They are used to keep the sheep in the pasture but give us humans an easy way up and over without the pain of a gate. Seems sheep don’t know how to climb ladders. I wonder about that!

The village of Catacol is famous for the row of 12 white houses that face the sea. Each has a different shaped window design so the wives of fisherman who lived there could signal their husbands by placing an oil lamp on the sill.

From Catacol we did a bit more road walking (about 4-5km) before making our way back onto the beach for some Coastal hiking. This is such a beautiful way to see the coast but it’s hard work keeping your balance and purchase on the rocks. Worth the work though for the amazing views! Well the view from the road is awesome too but the is just something fun about hiking on the road vs on a path or the beach!

We soon left the beach to walk into Pirnmill where we were excited to have a warm lunch and a pint at the Lighthouse Cafe. I could already taste my cheese and tomato toastie and a cold pint of Tenants lager.

Well hopes dashed, there was a homemade sign on the door announcing it was closed for today and tomorrow. Boo! Well when life serves you lemons you make lemonade.

There was a small village store next to it where we grabbed some Tuc crackers, Island of Arran Brie, a lemon loaf, some candy and bought a can of Tenants. We then grabbed a picnic table and popped all our pack snacks and new purchases into a pretty epic family style lunch.

After our picnic, we had a few more kms of road walking before getting back on the beach. The road walking while flat surfaced and easy is tough on the body and the mind.

There is no shoulder at all so you are have to be hyper vigilant for cars, walk single file (so no chatting), and the hot black tar with the sun makes for warm and very sore feet. We were glad to get back onto more natural surfaces!

Along our travels we came across 2 seaside graveyards. Wow they were pretty old. The stone fence around the outside always falling down in places and all the graves were covered in lichen. I think the oldest grave stone we could read was for a poor soul who died in 1812. What an amazing final resting place.

By mid afternoon we were no longer beach walking but rather rock balancing and hopping – these amazing lava formations stretched for kms of the coast with a few random grassy or beach breaks. The surfaces were very rough making for sticky walking allowing us to easily walk up and over and across, picking the route we wanted so long as the ocean stayed on our right we were heading in the right direction.

From here the path turned into a very grassy headland with lots of vegetation- mostly some type of tall fern and thistles. At some points we were pushing through shoulder high ferns on the path hoping spiders and tics were in residence on another part of the island today.

Totally worth the vegetation foraging as we got a glimpse of a golden eagle above the cliffs and found some cool caves!

Our beach walking wrapped up around 430pm and a quick look at the map and some math confirmed we still had 8km of road walking left before our day was done. None of us were keen to be back on the road.

Rallying our selves for the next 1.5hrs of a silent, windy, hot, sore slog we tried to think of just how lucky we are to be here and that the road was right beside the sandy beach so we could seal watch while walking! The idea of a spot of tea and a fresh scone at the Machrie Tea Room and Golf Club (our day’s destination) was also a big incentive. Sure glad we didn’t know then it was closed – nooooo! Sad face!

Instead we called our Greannan B&B lady who was picking us up to drive us to the accomodation in Blackwaterfoot as it was far off  today’s walking route. She was lovely and had lots of say about the island so raised our spirits some. Oh and what she couldn’t raise, the beautiful B&B did! A bed has never looked so comfortable!

No time for resting! It was almost 7pm and we still had to walk … hobble, shuffle, wrangle … the 1km down to the Kinloch Hotel for some supper before they stopped serving meals. Our B&B lady was so sweet and called to book us a table to we wouldn’t miss out on getting some eats! We cheered our amazing but tough day and commiserated on our hate for road walking over cold pints!

What an awesome day and fantastic evening meal – now let’s back to our home for the night to tend to the blisters, muscle pain and sun burns!

Brande

Goat Creek to Goat Fell

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Yahoo lassies!

On Monday the crew of us heading to Scotland to complete the Arran Coast Way in July had our one and only chance to train all together and it was awesome!

Shar selected the Goat Creek Trail for us seeing it would mimic much of our path in Scotland. I sure hope so too because the trail was great and I could do that for a week for sure!

The trail starts at the Goat Creek trail head just outside of Canmore and ends 19km later at the Banff Springs outside of Banff (the trail tail / trail butt as Rosa and Shar joked).

The path was undulating for the most part, up away from Goat Creek and then back down again as we left Canmore further behind and gained on approaching Banff. Just a few slogs up overall really – what a treat!!

At the head of the trail there was a big ole sign warning of wolves and grizzly bears in the area. Always a nice ‘welcome to the trail you hikers who may also double dinner’. Ha! Usually I see these signs when I am alone hiking and they freak me out – which 4 of us hiking though it was way less intimidating. Ok maybe not way less but at least a bit less.

Best way to curb the ‘gonna get eaten’ fear is to launch into full ‘don’t eat me’ mode. This includes being generally loud on the trail – holding conversations, hollering out a word or two every 50 feet or when approaching a bend in the path or a creek, and staying together if you have a hiking tribe.

Really you are just hoping to scare any wildlife away before there is any chance of you startling them into eating you. We also did a quick run down of what to do if we do see a bear, cougar or wolf so we were all on the same page. We did this loudly of course as part of our ‘be heard and be seen’ wildlife strategy. (I like to call things strategies so they sound all planned and awesome – even though this this was more of a ‘holy crap, what if’ scenario discussion.)

We had a lot of fun with the calling out a word every 50 feet or so strategy; turning it into a game of sorts. This keeps the bears away, is fun, and seems to eat up the miles quickly! We did the classic name that country sound off starting with A thru to Z, then a round for celebrities and one for names of songs. This last one may have include some short bursts of singing which may have been the best thing for keeping those pack hunting wolves at bay. At least when I was belting out the ole Toy Soldier by Martika! Remember that one?

During our walk we focused on a two things – the beauty of the trail and our gear. Lots of gear talk. Mostly gear talk. We were out there on Monday to test gear. Everything from socks to hats, and from undies to backpacks to see what will make the cut for Scotland.

I discovered my penchant for being cheap has resulted in wearing decade old SmartWools that don’t keep their shape any longer resulting in under the heel blister potential, and that my new hiking capris from Eddie Bauer are great but they are not the replacement for my long standing favourite Nike capris that need to make one final trip me thinks. I also confirmed that after logging probably 1000s of kilometers in my Asolo Backpacking boots across the globe I may need to splurge for some new insoles. I better get on that quick so I can train the next 6 weeks in them before we depart.

Rosa tried the switch from boots to shoes technique to see how that worked for her dogs – a strategy I deploy on 20km+ days with great success especially when it includes compression socks! Cheryl discovered that the pants she thought would be perfect were not and will not be making the cut for the trip’s packing list. Shar confirmed her hiking shorts are perfect for the trip and that the wax from Baby Bel Cheese can be used to prevent sunburns on your the nose if there is ever a shortage of sunscreen.

Overall the trail of 19km took us just over 4 hours at a very easy pace with lots of wee stops to check and test that gear and some snacks mid way too. The weather was overcast with some small breaks of sun – perfect for hiking! Not too hot or cold. Oh and

A little extra time was added to the trip for an extra special reason! We had to make one special pit stop for Rosa to see if Jamie Fraser of Outlander was perhaps at this standing stone – nope, she did not hear bees. Doh! We will try every standing stone in Scotland for you Rosa until we find him.

Oh and we had to stop for Shar and Cheryl to knock off a few yoga moves for those tight ham-dogs and hip-flexors too.

We rolled into Banff arriving at the trail butt by the Banff Springs Hotel of amazingness. But us classy gals didn’t stop there for a cool, fancy drink. No way! We made our way down to Buffalo Bills for a cold pint and some meat!

Then we headed up Banff Main Street to catch the Roam bus for $6bucks back to Canmore where our vehicles were waiting! Lots of peeps bike the trail we walked so there were even some bins strapped to the front or the back of the bus to bead back to Canmore.

Am awesome trial and trail day for all of us! We all loved the trail and each of us figured out something a little more than we knew before about our gear for Scotland.

Eeeek the trip is coming fast!

Brande

Loving Vila Do Conde

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Yesterday was another interesting day on the Portuguese Camino Coastal Route.

We were supposed to walk 25km but a few detours from the hard to find route probably added a few to that number. Good times!

The day started out with a great breakfast from our Albergue, Hostel Eleven, and their much appreciated help sending our bag from Viana to Vila. (Oh and yes that is chocolate cereal you see and absolutely I poured the left over ‘chocolate milk’ into my coffee!)

After breaky, we stepped outside to a beautiful day and our hostel lady smiling, waving and wishing us Buen Camino at about 830am. We knew which direction to start and had a chocolate cereal spring in our step!

A few photos on the way out of town below. The rooster is the symbol of Barcelos, this region of Portugal. He is everywhere, cute as a button with his big heart and I love him! (Is it appropriate to warn my husband via this blog post that I am bringing home some kinda of statue or stuffy of this rooster guy!?)

After a number of kilometres of clear way markers our luck started to run out a wee bit. We had a choice to take a Coastal option or stay on the main Camino path.

Well we chose Coastal of course and that was our demise. We ended up all over hell’s half acre just off the coast in some farm land stretch with markers that made no sense at all! We finally decided to just revert to finding a milestone noted in the guidebook and using Apple Maps to get there. We finally made it back in civilization after walking many roads as designated by Apple Maps but which were actually a sand track with some old tire marks. All in all, we determined we had spent an hour guessing and hoping and walking only to realise that the Camino has white and red markers and the national park in this region has yellow and red markers – we were following both and basically chasing our tails. Insert forehead slapping motion here! When those colours are faded or rusted out they look the darn same!

Any who, we made it to a wee village called Apuila. Once there we stood on a street corner, ironically with a statue of Saint Santiago on it, looking confused again when a local guy drove by in his car and slowed to give us directions. Amazing! We ‘leap of faith’ followed what he said and headed in the direction he pointed. When we tried to take a right where we thought he had indicated, a cafe shop owner came out to give us the X ‘don’t go there’ symbol with his arms and pointed us to keep straight – we were making the right turn too soon it seems. A couple blocks later, the first guy came back around, put on his car’s hazard lights, got out, and showed us personally where the right turn had to be made. And as the sound of angels singing from heaven rang out a Camino shell and arrow appeared on the stone wall to confirm! Wow!

So we were on our way again …

Only to quickly see that the signs were clearly indicating that there had been Camino detour that we never saw one sign for 2 hours ago/ had we saw a sign maybe we could have headed in the right direction.

A detour explains a few things!

Ok so for real back on track and making good time, we hit our next ‘detour’ of the day. A street we needed to walk on was torn up and under construction. Just as we started to wonder where and how do we get around this without getting lost (important point), the construction worker waved us to just walk through. What? I don’t have hard hat or steel toed boots? Where is Worksafe? So we walked through – it was an excellent photo opp!

Ok for real, for real on our way on The Way now, we started to make good time. We were hoofing it through farmland at a great pace and passing loads of pilgrims making their way in the opposite (and usual) direction to Santiago.

Then all of a sudden the pilgrim steam ran out and the Camino markers did too. Crap! But do not worry some Portuguese lady working in the field waved us down and pointed the direction to Porto for us. Yahoo for the locals. We of course turned in the direction she pointed and kept on keeping on. Well oops. At our next intersection kilometres later we couldn’t find a way marker and still hadn’t seen one for a long time. Crap again.

With no idea where we were again, we did the most logical thing and popped into the pastry coffee shop on the corner and had a coffee and a pastry! There is nothing like some caffeine and a donut to get you sorted!

We also again used Apple Maps to find a another milestone from the Guidebook to help us get back on track again. Turns out, thanks to the well intention but not exactly helpful lady, we were (insert groan here) 2.7km off course. No problem. We can knock that off in 20mins and be back to the Way – we had sugar and caffeine fuel now!

We stepped out of the cafe to literally a drastic change in weather, a storm was rolling in. Come on really! Lost and raining – is this a joke? Are we on candid camera or Punked? Ah well nothing to do but get the rain gear on, make some jokes and get back on course. It didn’t take long to be back on track or for the rain to stop. Yah us!


Seems the rain brought out our rain jackets and the snails! They are flowers, decorations for wine bottles, crossing roads, climbing walls and more. Weird and cute and gross really. We took it as a sign that our mascot was cheering for us.

Finally, we were back on the right track again. We were passing pilgrims coming the other direction again, we were spotting Way markers again and having fun. It’s a little stressful being lost and having little knowledge of how to ask for help IF there is even another human around to ask. So you fake it and hope for he best. When the sun came out again we knew (hoped) the rest of the day would be a good one.



We stopped for lunch on the boardwalk after while. Enjoying our pre-made sandwiches which included a little mustard thanks to the couple I scooped from a restaurant – they gave it to us technically but perhaps to use while in the restaurant not days later?!

Well we made it Vila and wow is it lovely! Here are a few pics of our town as we came in last night!

We toasted our crazy day with some vino at Cafe Cacau and had these amazing but a great odd hot dog with special sauce (which was poured on top instead of out inside) sandwiches. Wow delicious – might be something I crave when back home!

Then a glass of wine at a cool little cafe called O Navel which was built out of old doors and neat nautical stuff and there house wine (white and red was super yummy).

We then headed back to our lovely little home for the night called Erva Doca Guest House and got ourselves organised for today’s walk.

We are now off to walk the 33km into Porto, the end of the Fisherman’s or Coastal Route and our last day of walking. Feels weird to stop walking but we are also excited to just be tourists for the last week as we so smartly planned in advance. Yah us!

Buen Camino!
Brande

Tourists Dressed as Pilgrims

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Well yesterday was a tourist day! While we still had the pilgrim shuffle, clothes and packs; we decided to take the day and be tourists.

We didn’t get to see any of Viana de Costa after coming in so late and tired the day prior. Sad thing. We had heard from many pilgrims that it is one of the nicest cities on the Portuguese Coastal Route. So we decided to strap our hiking shoes to our packs and instead venture around the city of Viana in sandals before making our way by bus to Esponsende. Our new home for the night and the start of today’s walk.

Wow are we sure glad we did!

Our day started with breakfast and a reminder of how wonderful the people of Portugal are. We were invited into this tiny cafe by the most sweet little old grandma for breakfast. They really only eat pastries for breakfast here and we were looking for something beyond a sweet. She personally made us coffee and a ham and cheese bun sandwich (so fresh and good) and then also gave us some traditional pastries to try as dessert. Ironically she gave the very pastry we were talking about wanting to try just minutes before. Custard / creek brûlée in a puffy yet chewy pastry shell. Mmm We were the only ones in the cafe and she was so sweet!

Next, we took the cool little elevator trolley car thing up the huge hill in the middle of the city center to see the city from and coast line from a birds eye view and check out this massive church.

Funny as we made our way up in a normal elevator to get to the street that has this trolley elevator an old wee man joined us. He simply rode up with us to ask if we are pilgrims,how far we are walking, where we are from, etc. we assumed he was just in the elevator by chance. Nope when we got off he took it back down and wished is a good journey. He simply wanted to know more about us and say good luck.


The church at the top was a temple and monument to Santa Luzia and it was very impressive! We could see it for a long long time in the distance as we walked into Viana the day prior, so it was neat to check it out!




Before we went into the church, Lana was held up by some wee grandma who was rubbing her arm talking about the Camino and pilgrim and her poor feet. All in Portuguese so only a few words were understood.

Next we ventured though the small, winding, character streets of the city center that have all these little shops and cafes, amazing tiles and iron work, and just feel so different than our streets back home in Canada.

We enjoyed a super yummy lunch sitting at a wee baby table on one of these side streets. We don’t understand all the words on a menu so find something we think we know and get that. Today we got ‘pork meat’ and it came with salad and chips and rice and a bun. I appreciate how seriously these great people take their carbs and starches!

Then made our way to the bus station behind the below gorgeous old train station for a 3pm bus to Esponsende. Prior to boarding the bus, the very nice man who gave us the bus timetable earlier that day came to the platform to confirm for us that we were getting on the right bus!

By 4pm we were in our new city of Esponsende checking into the really great Hostel Eleven.

We dropped our packs, checked in with the family on our arrival then headed out to see what this city has to offer.

Before leaving we asked the hostel guy to help us arrange bag transport for us, from Esponsende to Vila do Conde. It’s been tough every day to get someone to move our extra bag. Yesterday we couldn’t final a single company or person willing which was a big part of our decision not to walk. Well Hostel Elevan was amazing and they worked our a deal with a local transport company to move our pack for us as an exception to the services they provide for just 10 euros. Deal. What was so easy to arrange on the St James Camino is a real struggle here on the Portugal Coastal away, especially walking backwards!

That done and dealt with, we ventured out into the central city of Esponsende.

We wrapped our day up with some red wine and homemade pasta in our hostel kitchen. I hate cooking usually but when you have been eating out all meals on most days it feels so good to prepare what you eat! Also all this for 7 Euros plus an apple and cookies for a trail side snack tomorrow is a price we can’t resist!

By the way – that big plate of cheese and bread and chorizo isn to make sandwiches for it walk today.

Just prior to making this meal, we saw the three pilgrims we crossed the ferry into Caminha with a couple days again show up in a taxi. We weren’t the only ones who suffered the day before and had to skip some or all of yesterday’s walk as a result. Ouch!

We are heading out now to walk 25km to our next home, Vila do Conde.

Buen Camino!
Brande

Finding Viana de Costelo

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Yesterday was a tough day on the Camino Portuguese Coastal Route. Perhaps tough is not a strong enough word to be honest. Many challenges for the patience, a happy outlook, desire to keep walking, find the way, and overall for the body!

We started the day without any idea of how we would get our extra bag forward to Viana de Costelo our new home for the night. Sending ahead our heaviest stuff had turned the days into walks from slogs on the uphill, hard downhill and rough terrain. Further it had made a huge difference in the what could have been a Camino ending blister situation for Lana. So we were keen to keep what was working for us, working for us!

Santiago Backpacker Express advised late the evening prior they couldn’t find anyone at all to move our bag and had been trying all avenues, all day. They suggested we ask reception in our hostel. So we did but the guy was new and didn’t know about transport. He said I could ask the guy that comes on at midnight. Well I haven’t seen midnight for weeks so I though I could just ask in the morning. Oops. In the morning no one spoke any English and we couldn’t communicate effectively in my bare minimum unpracticed Portuguese. So we instead went to Tourist Info when it opened. Turns out they can not help at all with Camino stuff (very different than our experience in Spain) and suggested a travel agency. If we couldn’t get help at the agency, we were staring down the barrel of a 30 Euro taxi for our bag.

Well the Camino provides again! We walked across to the travel agent. Turns out that guy has a friend who could help – he called the friend right then and there, and made arrangements for us for 7 Euros. He actually asked if 7 Euros was ok as if it was too steep – we were like totally ok! We had been paying 15-20 Euros each day since the Portuguese route began. In Spain it was only 3 or 4 Euros so this was requiring some budget adjustment.

With a bounce in our step, we returned to our home Arca Nova to pack and mark the transport bag then get going on our 30km route to Viana. The friend would pick it up from Arca Novel Hostel and deliver it to our new home Zimbrio Guest House. Yahoo!

The day started out great. We had a good idea of where the path was and the guide book we had seemed it might be relatively helpful this morning. This sadly has not really been the case on this Camino, especially following it backwards. We are walking away from Santiago not to it as most pilgrims do and the guidebook and way markers are designed for walking to Santiago.

We had to largely guessing how to make it through the above forest path due to some really confusing way markers and no clear path. The pine needles cover any path that might have been obvious but they are so spongey and nice walk on you forgive them. Well this ‘largely guessing’ concept became the theme of the walk from there on in …. mixed in with very few but welcome moments of path clarity.

Soon, fog rolled in big style and for the following few hours we couldn’t see far enough ahead to know what we were aiming for, see any markers, sometimes see any humans at all. Further they were doing these what will be updates to the waterfront infrastructure – and seems they may have been replacing many of the posts and structures that used to have way markers!

At many points we had to simply walk the beach and search for the next place we could get on solid ground, beach boardwalk, or even some kind of path. What’s the problem, that sounds glorious right? The idea is better than the reality. The sand here is thick, thick, thick. Every step was tough especially in shoes (which you have to keep on as you have blister bandaids on your feet) and with a pack of 15lbs or so. We didn’t have any water fill up opportunities yesterday so we were carrying the max we could – that means heavy.

Add to the fact that you had no idea if you were walking to something or would have to turn back and Retrace those hard earned steps. It was beautiful in an eerie, desolate way to be honest but starting to get on our confidence. You couldn’t see the water most of the time, just hear it crashing.


(I have a short video up on my Instagram account @brandedavison if you want to see the fog and water as we saw it.)

After a couple hours of this pea soup, guessing game intermixed with some weird forest paths which maybe weren’t even paths of the Camino but rather some random dirt roads filled with flies buzzing about and all over our faces – we were done. We headed absolutely perpendicular from the beach inland to just find a damn road to walk on. Done! Done! Done!

Well again the Camino provides. As we were walking away from the coast walk to find a new way, we came across some very old markers and again found our Way. No joke! And the fog started to clear making it possible to see the ocean and find the next marker with a heck of a lot more ease.

Our afternoon ….

Wow what a night and day difference or should I say morning and afternoon difference!

At about the 30km mark we came into Viana waterfront area. We were up against the clock a little now as we needed to meet the reception person at our place to stay at 5pm and it was after 4. We still had 3+ km to cover, hadn’t seen a way marker in ages and again the map in the guidebook was not helpful. We thought we could cover the distance in the time and set out following the coast as best as the book suggested. Well turns out we walked a dead end, break water. There is another 2+km we didn’t need to walk. Doh!

So back to where we first came into Viana, a quick call to the reception lady to say we would be a little late, and we literally followed Apple Map Directions to find our home for the night. Still a couple of kilometers away but that’s nothing compared to the 30+ we clocked already. Also, who cares if I was eating our international data plan up to use Maps – we needed to get there before the smiles on our faces were totally gone for the day!

We got close. I ended up having to ask a wee grandpa for help. Now here is amazing …instead of giving us directions, he closed his shop (literally locked the front door) and walked us the block to the Zimborio Guest House. Wow! He did make a comment about it taking more time to explain the directions than to walk us. Ha ha. Maybe it was my Portuguese or maybe he sensed we had been directionally challenged all day!?

Finally in our new home for the night, we were greeted by the most lovely lady and shown around. There were other rooms for rent but no one else had rented – so we had this amazing little home to ourselves for the night! It was across from cafes and a plaza and more. Also within 20mins of arriving the ‘friend of the travel agent’ dropped off or bag so we got to thank him personally for the favour.

We took a couple hours to have showers, put our aching feet up, enjoy not having to walk or be lost, and overall recover from a tough day physically and mentally.

We then headed out to grab some much needed eats (we didn’t have lunch today – just an apple and some candy as we walked). Directly across the wee skinny European style street from us we found Caffe Liz which had amazing wine and sangria and these so tasty open toasted sandwiches and fries. Wow!!

An awesome finish to a hard won day! We talked though the challenges of the day with some laughs and the start of being able to laugh at what a gong show it was.

Now what do we do today after yesterday’s challenges? So we walk the 24km that is all inland and not on the coast at all to Esponsende our next destination? Or give these feet and our brains a break and enjoy this amazing Viana city we didn’t even get to see yesterday and then bus to Esponsende? Hmmm

Buen Camino!
Brande

Sunset of Villadesuso

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Yesterday was day 2 of the Camino Portuguese – Coastal Way for us. We walked about 23kms from Nigran to Villadesuso (33,370 FitBit steps).

We started our day with a special treat – we met the awesome lady who had been making all the arrangements to have our extra bag transported forward. Sometimes she even does the transporting herself. Teresa of Santiago Backpacker Express. She is so helpful and just really such a nice person, it was great to put a face to the WhatsApp account I have been working with for the last few days.

After meeting Teresa, we left our hostel Pazo Pias in Nigran around 9am. The detail on the maps and online about were to walk on this route is pretty limited and so are the way markers. So we had peppered Maria with a few questions when we met her. We knew we had to cross this bridge …

Then keep the ocean on our right again all day. That seemed to work and there was even an awesome bike and walking path all along the coast for us to follow into the next two of Baiona.

We were held up a few minutes taking silly pics using a mirror on the trail. I think the locals walking by though we were nuts.

Anywho back to walking. We had ourselves some yummy eggs and bacon breakfast in Baiona and spent some time taking photos of the original fort they had reconstructed while we waited for the Tourist Info Office to open.

Tourist Info opened at 1030am! The map books we had said we had to use the inland route to make it to the next coastal section. What? We were sure we could stick to the coast the whole time. We wanted to ask Tourist Info if this was true and how. Why waste coast time walking inland! Tourist Info advised we could walk on a path beside the highway which runs along the coast the whole way to our next destination. Great news! Walking on a highway for 20km is tough on the feet it’s such a hard surface but also easy as it’s flat and even. So here we go.

Yesterday, for the first time, Lana and I both had our head phones in. She was music and I was some music and then my audio book. It was safest to walk single file close to the outside edge of the path as there were many other walkers and cyclists using this same path. And the noise of the highway made it a little hard to chat anyway. So that was a fun little change for us.

By 2pm we saw our hotel for the night in the distance, we thought we had about another 6km to go still so this was such a treat!

Yes that is a pool. But don’t get too excited – the pool also has a siesta from 1 to 5pm. So it was closed when we would have gone in. Doh! These siesta’s here are killing us. Nothing is open in the afternoon – not the markets, food in restaurants and apparently pools from about 2 in the afternoon till 8 at night. I am going to come home and expect to be off work and doing nothing for hours everyday after this trip!

We had a nice evening of drinks at the local pub, some beach time taking pictures of the sunset – which was amazing:

After the sunset we tried to find a place to eat – one restaurant had no one in it at all, another had no kitchen, and or own hotel restaurant also had no one in it. No other options in town. Weird! Clearly there are not enough hungry pilgrims in this town! So we had a private dining experience in our hotel’s restaurant – one table among 40. The service was excellent!

Today we get to walk into Portugal – yup we go to a new country today, how exciting!

But first we need to walk 24kms and find the brother of a guy named Mario who has a red boat and will take us across the water crossing into Portugal for 5euros. Sounds suspect right!? Well all the pilgrims on the Camino forums are doing it this way on Monday’s when the ferry service is closed or during low tide. So we are sure it’s a good plan. Yikes! Adventure here we come.

Buen Camino!
Brande

Camino Portugal Coastal Route Begins

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Yesterday was a horrible, no good, very bad day … we had to walk along beach after beautiful beach and enjoy endless sunshine here on the west coast of Spain. Tough, right?

We started what could be considered our fourth Camino yesterday, the Portuguese Way. We are not doing to full route which is from Lisbon to Santiago. But rather the costal portion only and in reverse. Walking from Vigo to Porto. As we get closer to Porto the weather will get warmer making our post Camino tourists days in Portugal that much better. We will be celebrating our Camino adventures with some days in Porto, Lagos and Lisbon before heading home to reality at the end of the month. Again, tough right?

The morning starting as usual – up around 7 and out the door of our home, Hotel Aquila, around 8. Leaving our extra duffel of the heavy stuff for transport. On this Camino we will be using Santiago Backpack Express and so far the owner of the company has just been so great helping is out!

Our Hotel was a real gem – super old but clean and had all the amazing original features. Check it out:

For breakfast we stopped at the Hotel Bafia Cafe right on the waterfront where the Camino begins. They didn’t really offer a hot breakfast but the waiter asked what we would want and said he could try and make it happen. He did! Cafe con leche; bacon and eggs and bread; and for breakfast dessert (yes that is a thing) chocolate and churros. This has been on my list to try while here in Spain – it’s a pretty standard breakfast here and I can see why. Delicious! Too much chocolate and not enough sugar and cinnamon, if you can believe that! I was pumped with sugar and ready to walk!

Oddly, once we did start out at around 10am, we couldn’t find any way markers for the route We decided we will just keep the water to our right side and stay as close to it as possible and eventually we will find the Camino arrows. We knew the little towns and milestones we needed to hit as per our very high level guide book, so that helped give us something to aim for. We are walking in reverse so do have to look back to find arrows and then do the opposite thing – but there was not an arrow to be found in The city of Vigo.

Our first hour was spent walking through the industrial, port area of Vigo which left much to be desired really. We powered through it as quick as we could to get it over with. Thumbs down for this section.

At about the 6th kilometer we came out of Vigo and into a little town called Bouzas and that is where the beauty of the Coastal route started to really show it self. Thumbs up!

Here are some highlights of our amazing, sunny, beachside or directly on the beach walk yesterday. I would say 15 of the 22kms was basically a dream!

We took a brief break mid-afternoon for some fruit and nuts from our pack. But by about 3pm a craving for a sea side cold one overcame us. You can only walk by that much beauty on your right and amazing cafes on your left before you give in to a ‘sit and sip by the sea’ moment.

That out of our system (for the day anyway), we made our way the final 4-5km into Nigran our new village for the night.

We are staying at the Albergue Pazo Pias which is an 1600s monastery of sorts refurbished into a type of hostel. Wow, amazing, maybe it’s haunted, how awesome, and cool! Check out the hallway and all me the first two words that come to mind? Starts with a colour and ends with an alcohol. Ha ha

We did our usual feet up for a bit and check in with the family on our safe arrival. Then out for a couple of drinks and some eats. Here in Spain during certain hours of the day, you get a wee tapa when you order a drink. Yesterday’s were super yummy!

We were back at the room for 900 to journal, social media and wind down for the night. Oh and full disclosure – this is a bit of a confessional. We were (ok I was) too hungry for the kitchens to open to get dinner. Here in Spain you cannot get a cooked meal between usually 3 and 8 sometimes even 9pm. The kitchen staff are off on siesta. So you either eat early or wait, which after walking all day can be tough to do. So we, no joke, had a pizza from Pizza Hut – yup Pizza Hut in Spain, first one we ever saw. It was so good! The crust and sauce are very different than home and way yummier (more fluffy and way more oregano and the cheese is so good). If it makes it any better, I did wash it down with a a Spanish red wine!?

Well that was yesterday and we loved it. Today we are up and at it for a 20km day walking from Nigran to Villadesuso. It is not as sunny today but this blondie is secretly happy for a little cloud cover once in a while (don’t tell Lana – she loves all out, hot hot hot sun).

Buen Camino!
Brande

PS We finally found some way marker arrows about 15km into our 22km day – let’s see if today is a little better!