Stapleton Travel Blog

Back in May 2022 we walked 9 days on the Camino Portugues from Lisbon to Cortica and had to return to the US due to a family emergency. We will be headed back to Cortica today to pick up where we left off on the Camino Portugues Central route.

Three weeks before leaving Beth suffered from excruciating sciatica pain. One week before, we got cortisone shots for our foot neuroma and then our feet got worse. Not sure if we are in shape for this now. We’ve bought better fitting backpacks to alleviate back pain that we both have and we also will be walking with two trekking poles as opposed to just one to take some of the pressure off of our lower joints. Our backpacks weigh 14 & 15 pounds with water. We’re just playing the hand we’re dealt now and see how it all comes out.

We like walking the Camino as you get to see a country at a very slow pace. Additionally, we get to meet other “peregrinos” from all over the world. It can be interesting, boring, fun, sad, lonely… It’s like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re going to get.

Our plan for the first day is to take the red eye fight from Newark to Lisbon, metro to the train station, take the 2.5 hr train to Tomar, then half hour taxi ride to Cortica and begin our 6K walk to Alvaiazere. What could possibly go wrong?

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” ……Anthony Bourdain.

Bom Caminho.

Heading home now. My mom is in the hospital. Looks like she had a stroke.

Got out early today (0615) as it will be 26K day with almost 2500 feet of elevation. There aren’t a lot of cafe stops so we are carrying extra food and water just in case.

It turned out to be a nice mix of trails and quiet roads. We even had one local homeowner ask if we needed water. Nice

We met a bunch of new peregrinos Nania and Jessica (Australia), Sonya (Austria) Roy(UK/US) as well as 4 others. The amount of peregrinos traveling each day on these stages does appear to be 10 to 15. We don’t all walk together as we have a different walk pace. Luckily the Aussie peregrinos caught back up to us for our final 3K and made the end of our walk easier with their pleasant conversation.

We arrived at our albergue at 1:30. Quinta da Cortica – Casa da Torre. Later on Mike and David (Ireland) showed up and are our bunk mates. Patrick(UK) also came by to stay here. The place actually has a pool and it felt good to soak our feet in it.

Today was a rest day in Tomar. Beth was feeling better today. We went to visit the Convento de Cristo and Templar castle. These buildings were built from 1200 to 1500 . It is a massive labyrinth of rooms.

We actually caught up with Andy(UK/Austria) and also David and Mike (Ireland) as well. It is one of the nice things about traveling slowly.

Tomar is a pretty town with so much cobblestone. It feels good to just relax for a day. Hopefully Beth has improved enough to make it through the next 2 days as these will be the longest, steepest and most remote days that we will have on the Camino Portuguese.

Just as an side note, if you pull a string coming out of the wall in the shower, it does not operate a shower fan or light. It sets off the hotel alarm for that room.

Because it’s Sunday, most places will be closed which makes it more difficult. We caught a break as there was no rain and the peak temperature was 15 degrees cooler. Max temperature today was 75.

The first half of the day, was a lot of climbs and descents. There never seems to be a place for us to sit down so we can air out our feet. Most times we are just sitting in the dirt

At one point, we were walking down a street and at the other end was this huge dog staring at us with no one around. Luckily he did not show any interest in us as we walked by.

The second half of the day took a turn for the worse. Beth got lightheaded, etc and struggled at the end. We finally got to within a mile of our hotel and I had the hotel call a taxi to bring us in. This is not an easy Camino and we are trying to be smart about it and not walk big miles. Today was around a 24 K day. Luckily we planned a day off tomorrow.

Had a good night sleep in private home stay in Azinhaga. Today was a short 17.6 K walk to river town Vila Nova da Barquinha.

First cafe stop was in Golega. More pasteis da nata with a chocolate eclair chaser. A Macy look-a-like was resting on the cobbles nearby.

We met a friendly local who was walking with his son. He said after Tomar it will be hilly and to watch out for snakes. I said if you make noise don’t the snakes just slither away. His son said “sometimes”. Ugh.

We stopped on a bench in front of a closed albergue in Sao Caetano to air out our feet and have an apple. The albergue owner was cleaning up inside and then came out and asked if we needed to use the restroom and opened the door for us. Nice.

We came off the Camino for about a mile to stay at the Riverhouse Hotel since accommodations are not great on these stages. Feeling spoiled but that will change soon.

For lunch we had a great meal at Reiberinho restaurant. We both had a delicious seafood lunch. We had a traditional Portuguese bread soup type of side dish called Acorda. Not bad.

Decided to visit a Templar castle (Almourol) on the river. Originally built in 1200s.

Tomorrow the heat wave ends and it’s supposed to rain. Big day heading to Tomar and our first rest day.

Following the way marks out Santarem was a little difficult so we used the Camino Ninja app to make sure we were not off course.

Later on that day we were on a small road with a lot of cars wizzing close by us and it was several miles before we realized that we were not on the Camino. We eventually picked up the camino but not sure how both of us missed the waymark for that.

We finished the day again where it was over 90 degrees. Normal weather in May for Portugal is around 75. Beth is struggling with blisters on her toes each day.

We made it to Azinhaga and went to the only restaurant in town. It was over 90 degrees…..I’m talking inside the restaurant. The waitress couldn’t speak English and we don’t know Portuguese so she started to Google translate when the customer behind her said something to her in Portuguese. She picks his plate up and shows us….yes, we’ll have two of those please.

As we come out of the restaurant we met this Irish guy who struck up a conversation with us about the Camino. I then realized it was John Brierley who writes the guide books for the Caminos…..so cool. To me it was like meeting one of the Beatles.

Today we did another 20K day. Only one coffee stop at 3K mark then nothing but farmland until we hit the final 2K climb into Santarem.

We met up with Andy (UK/Austria) and walked with him and his 8 pound lighter backpack. Still huge.

I’ve got to work on my selfie face

Starting to get pretty funky. We try to avoid making eye contact with mirrors now.

Interesting night at the albergue last night. 16 of us in the bunk room, 1 camping in the garden and another sleeping on a cot in the kitchen.

Most of these peregrinos will be moving onto 32K walk to Santarem tomorrow so this may be the last time we see them since we are not ready for those big walks yet. Still working through foot issues.

The bunk mates included Craig(Scotland), Andy(UK), Owen & Dan (Ireland & UK), Leon (Germany) , a few French guys walking around in their underwear (come on man put some clothes on!), and then right at the end we got swamped by our remaining bunk mates – a group of Portuguese peregrinos headed to Fatima (the yellow jackets).

We had a goodbye dinner with Craig and Andy. Andy is on his first Camino and has a 45 pound backpack with a tent, stove, multiple changes of clothes…..Insane. He is going to ship stuff home once he gets to Santarem.

We are taking a short 13 K walk today to Valada since the accommodations on this stretch are very limited. Having lunch next to the river. Nice

Staying at Dois Caminho albergue that sleeps 7. Beth and I are in a private room with a bunk bed. They even had a washing machine. Feels like luxury.

Andy (UK) is one of the peregrinos here. He is mailing stuff back to lighten up his backpack.

We went back to the river cafe with Andy and end up meeting some Irish couples that were hysterical. Looking forward to another 20K walk.

The day after that we have to put our “big boy” pants on and do a 25.5 K walk in the heat. Ugh.

Bom Caminho

Leaving VFdX as the sun was coming up was pretty. Its one of the nicest towns around so far.

The walk today was another almost 20K. The weather gets hot fast here. We walked mostly on either side of the railroad. By the time we finished and had lunch the temperature had reached 91 degrees.

Our albergue in Azambuja was right on the street that they will have their “running of the bulls” in a couple weeks. So cool seeing all the preparations they need to make. These 20K walks should not be that hard but the hot weather does a number on your feet. Spirits still high and tomorrow is a short day for us. The rest of the people we met will be going for a longer 33K walk which we are not ready for yet.