Porto – Vila do Conde (35 km)

I left home with the whole trip plan nicely worked out, and right on the first stage everything went the opposite way to what was planned.

Leaving Porto Cathedral went as planned, at 7 am, which promised an easy first stage for me and for João.

Right from the start a group of pilgrims who were at the Cathedral began to form and we set off together for the first stop in Matosinhos, where some stopped for breakfast.

Then we crossed the bridge to Leça da Palmeira, where I got my first stamp and did the first of three rituals of the day: 3 laps around the Boa Nova chapel with a stone in my hand, which is then left there to represent a sin. I've already left 3 sins along the way today.

But I've been collecting others with the temptations that kept turning up along the way.

Along the way I also stopped to soak my feet in the sea, and how good that felt.

It was already 1 pm and there were 3 km left to the Vila Chã hostel, where I had planned to spend the first night, when I decided to stop for lunch.

I was counting on the dish of the day, but by then it had run out, so I had to go for a second choice of spaghetti carbonara, which I ate nice and slowly, in a 2-hour stop in which sluggishness took over.

Result... When I got to the Vila Chã hostel it was full, which forced me to walk another 8 km to Vila do Conde.

Mariola, from Sweden, stayed at that hostel. I'd met her on the way, she hadn't stopped for lunch, and I had given her a spare pilgrim passport I had, since she didn't have one yet.

The walk went along the coast on the wooden boardwalks. In some parts the boardwalk had already disappeared, taken by the sea, in others it was buried under the dune sand and in others we had to walk carefully to avoid holes and loose planks.

As if that weren't enough, the wind blew hard and lifted the sand into the air, it almost felt like being lost in a sandstorm in the desert.

I finally reached Vila do Conde and, after still trying my luck at the youth hostel, which was full, I went to the pilgrim hostel, which was also full.

They only had the “penthouse” on the top floor free, with glass walls, 360 views and a terrace... That would have been nice, wouldn't it, but it didn't happen.

The ladies at reception managed to find me a mattress, which I carried up the stairs, and I set myself up on the dining hall floor.

After a shower, I went for dinner with João and my friend Acácio, who came to visit us: the “Badalhoca”, an alheira sausage and egg sandwich, and an extra-hot samosa that looked like it was spitting flames and that only the Espadal wine managed to keep from spreading the fire.

But to make sure the fire was properly put out, I went to “Bar Encanas” for a big litre bottle of beer to sleep more peacefully.

Now I'm ready to go and rest, because tomorrow I have to get up early to reach the hostel early and not go through the same as today. Lesson learned 😁

Luckily my natural alarm clock will wake me early: there are no blinds in the penthouse and the daylight will get me out of bed early.

I was going to leave the sleeping bag at home, thinking I wouldn't need it, and in the end I needed it on the very first night.

As for my feet, they took a bit of a battering today on the 35 km walk, but they're still attached to my legs, let's see tomorrow.

And so my adventure began, with a first day that was full-on.