By David McGonigal
Viana do Castelo, Portugal, with Basilica Santa Luzia ChurchCredit: Shutterstock.com
The rain lifts and we walk into a glimmer of afternoon sunlight as we leave Anha for Viana do Castelo, about six kilometres away. Our pilgrim's lunch and accompanying wine are a distant memory. This is our longest day of walking the Portuguese Camino de Santiago. Covering 26 kilometres in one day had seemed challenging but not insurmountable back home in Sydney, but as we look at the hill ahead, it has become a slog.
"Why would a heathen like you wish to walk a religious pilgrimage?" is a common question from friends who know we are tracing the Way of St James. My answer: on the Camino, all you have to do each day is walk. This indeed becomes a simple spiritual journey as days shrink to the world around us: the cobbled path, the waves on the beach and the fellowship of other pilgrims.
At the Catedral de Santiago, the Pilgrim's Office examines the stamps in your pilgrim's passport or "Credencial del Peregrino" before granting your pilgrim's certificate. They want to establish that you've walked at least the last 100 kilometres into town (or 200 kilometres on a bicycle). You are asked if your walk was for religious, spiritual or exercise purposes. Many who set off for some exercise declare that the walk became spiritual.
Our Camino is not some kind of ethereal wafting towards enlightenment – it's more in the earthy spirit of Chaucer's pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. There's generally good phone signal so one morning one of our group conducts a dial-in board meeting and the footy scores back home are followed with almost religious fervour. Most restaurants and workers' cafes offer a pilgrim's lunch with wine or beer. After a long day of walking, evening meals are boisterous affairs with more wine before heading for bed and a sound sleep.
The scallop shell has been associated with the Camino since at least the 12th century and adorns just about every pilgrim's backpack. Throughout the walk, universal greetings of "Bom Camino" in Portugal switch to "Buen Camino" in Spain. The apparent sincerity of the greeting remains unchanged.
The scallop symbol and arrow on signposts, tiles and walls at every junction is a useful and reassuring sign that you're on the right path. They are ubiquitous so if you walk a couple of hundred metres without seeing one there's a good chance you're lost.
Our journey is the 15-day Portuguese Coastal Camino from Porto as an escorted group with Australia's Wandering the World. We are fortunate in that our leader is a founder of the company, Glenyce Johnson, who previously ran Peregrine Adventures before deciding to lace up her hiking boots almost full time.
While it's possible to simply throw on a backpack and walk any of the many Caminos that converge on Santiago de Compostela, that's the hard option. Walking with Wandering the World we simply have to arrive in Porto fairly fit and with the right equipment. Our bags (20 kilograms maximum) are collected each morning and transported to that night's accommodation – often right to our room.
Our rooms along the route have been pre-booked, along with our evening meals. While there are inexpensive dormitories in pilgrim hostels called "Albergues", we stay in comfortable double rooms in three- and four-star hotels. At the end of one hard day of walking we find we're booked for a well-appreciated massage.
Guide and interpreter Horacio, a Melbournite who moved back to Portugal a decade ago, is also on hand to advise us on everything Portuguese, from the best coffee to history to meal choices.
While there are 11 in our group, it's far from a group walk. Rather, we're a microcosm of life, a mix of chargers and cruisers. Some love to be the first to the next town while others soak up the picturesque villages, chat to locals, are charmed by goat herders and their flock or simply delight in the unfolding scenes of everyday life at walking pace. Communication is through WhatsApp and we often meet only for lunch or dinner. As the days unfold, so too do the conversations and life's triumphs and tribulations are revealed amidst much hilarity. Frequently, however, we start the day as a chatty group and end it with one companion or alone with our thoughts.
Wherever possible, the Camino avoids following roads. Rather, we spend a lot of time on boardwalks over coastal sand dunes between seaside towns or on tracks through parks and wilderness areas. Even in towns and villages we often meander around back lanes and only see the main road when we cross it.
Perversely, cobbled city streets prove to be more of a challenge to our feet than muddy bush tracks. We alternate between well-worn hiking boots and comfortable runners, and our experienced guides change their socks several times each day.
"I've never really done any walking before," a middle-aged man from Adelaide confides to me as we watch surfers catch waves. "I guess my shoes were a bit tight so, after the first day, my big toes were black and blistered. It's uncomfortable but I'll push on." As indeed he does – we see him again several days later. Another in our group has such bad blisters at the end of the first day that she has to catch cabs for the next two days while her feet heal, but she then completes the walk to Santiago de Compostela.
Despite such stories, the number of pilgrims receiving the Compostela each year has risen dramatically from about 1245 in 1985 to more than 200,000 in 2013 and 301,036 in 2017. About 55 per cent of pilgrims are aged between 30 and 60, and about 60 per cent walk the French route.
The finale of the Camino is walking into Santiago de Compostela and up the final hill of many to the cathedral reputed to be the tomb of the apostle St James. It's a heady moment, walking up the restaurant-lined Rua do Franco to Kilometre Zero in the Praza do Obradoiro.
Santiago de Compostela is a university city of about 100,000 residents and some 40,000 students. Even if it wasn't a place of pilgrimage it's worth visiting for its beauty alone. A visit to the Museum of Pilgrimage is worthwhile, if only for its honesty in revealing that secular rulers and popes have used the Camino for their own political purposes over the ages.
With formalities concluded and Compostela issued, many are drawn to a service within the ancient cathedral. Towards the end of the ceremonies there's a frisson of anticipation to see how it concludes. We're lucky. Today, the Botafumeiro takes flight. The giant swinging incense burner dates back to the 12th century, when pilgrims slept and cooked inside the cathedral. It is 1½ metres long, weighs 53 kilograms and requires eight men, known as "tiraboleros", to keep it moving. In full flight, swinging through an 82-degree arc and 63 metres it's either an exhilarating or terrifying sight, depending on whether you're seated immediately below its trajectory or not.
We're due to leave after just one night in Santiago de Compostela. On that last night we're envious of a young Canadian girl we meet in a bar who walked the Camino almost by mistake but who didn't want to stop so walked six days further to Cape Fisterra, where St James was brought ashore, then walked back again. At the next table were Australians whose Camino had covered 600 kilometres over 80 days.
There are many Caminos so you don't have to finish after one. There's even a Camino from Dublin to Santiago de Compostela where you can get the first stamp in your pilgrim's passport at Guinness Storehouse at St James's Gate. That's tempting.
TRIP NOTES
David McGonigal was a guest of Wandering the World.
MORE
The Pilgrim's Office, see oficinadelperegrino.com
Australian Friends of the Camino, see afotc.org
The UK's Confaternity of Saint James. See csj.org.uk
FLY
Etihad flies daily from Sydney and Melbourne to Porto in Portugal with stops in Abu Dhabi then elsewhere in Europe (typically Amsterdam or Zurich) to join a code-share connecting flight to Porto with TAP Air. See etihad.com
WANDER
Wandering the World's 15 day/14 night Portuguese Coastal Way escorted tours operate in May, June, September and October. Its self-guided walks can begin on any date that suits you. The price, twin share is from €2290 escorted or €1750 self guided. Dinners can be included for €1485 See wanderingtheworld.com.au
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