Lisbon surprised me
A couple of nights in Lisbon were enough for me to fall in love with the city. Once settled into the hotel, I put on my walking shoes prepared to lose myself in the narrow, cobbled streets of Lisbon’s old…
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Walking the Camino Portugues. No easy task
The Portuguese Camino The Portuguese Camino de Santiago is becoming more and more popular. I recently had the luxury of walking this ancient pilgrim path for five weeks through Portugal from Lisbon to Santiago, Spain. It was a challenging experience…
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Lisbon-Sacavem 13.3km
September 10, 2015 Lisbon to Sacavem On arrival at Lisbon airport the immediate challenge was getting to our hotel. After seeing the taxi queue we decided to take the metro. Big mistake! We finally hauled our luggage up the three…
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Sacavem – Verdelha de Baixo 17.8km
September 11, 2015 Things get Complicated Getting the train to where we left off yesterday proved to be quite simple. And then things became complicated. The guide book warned us to take care finding the right path. Unfortunately the guide…
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Verdelha de Baixo-Azambuja 28km
September 12, 2015 The Plan After a good night’s sleep, yesterday’s horrid day seems less so. The plan was to walk about 20km and get a ride to Azambuja, returning the next morning. For some unknown reason we continued the…
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Azambuja – Mugue 17.4km Mugue – Santarem 15.9km
September 13, 2015 (Santarem Hostel 2 nights) Deciding to slow down – Azambuja to Mugue After the horrid day on Friday, we decided to break the next stage into two manageable 15km days. And what pleasurable walks they were. Yesterday…
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Santarem-Azinhaga 24.2km Azinhaga – Atalaia 18.3km
September 16, 2015 (Golega 2 nights) The pick up and drop off service provided by some of the hostels is invaluable to those of us who just can’t manage 30 km stages. It also means that on the second day…
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Atalaia – Tomar 18.8km
September 17, 2015 Starting in Style As usual, we prepared to leave at around 7am. Unusually though, breakfast was a beautifully furnished, massive dining room. Only two of us at a table that could seat twenty. We were staying in…
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Tomar – Cortica 25.4km
September 18, 2015 The usefulness of Walking Poles My arms got a workout on this stage from Tomar to Cortica. The pretty track went up. And up. And up. Using my walking poles as if I were skiing I propelled…
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Cortica – Ansiao 20.1km
September 19, 2015 A special stamp for our Compostela (Alvaiazere Albergue) Last night our host Carlos treated us to a fine performance. He lined all our compostelas up. Then instead of just stamping them with an ink stamp, he got…
