Camino Journal
37 days across Ireland, Spain, and Portugal
Dublin, Day 1
It’s hard to believe, but we did not take any pictures during our first day in Dublin. With that said, our first day only lasted a few short, slightly hallucinatory, hours. We stepped off of the airpl...
Dublin, Day 2
It is all at once freeing and intimidating to be able to do anything today. We started out researching the areas of Ireland and got some pro tips from our AirBnb host, Miriam. As we planned our day in...
Galway, Day 3
The Cliffs of Moher being as big an icon of Ireland as they are, we figured we ought to make our way out to that side of the island. In attempting to do so, we realized the biggest downside of our tim...
Malahide, Day 4
Day four was quiet. We stayed inside to sip espresso and work on our blog. It was raining outside and we started to get excited about the next leg of our adventure only a few short days away. Because...
Howth, Day 5
We returned to Howth to spend our last day in Ireland. This time, we had the fortune of walking through town with fresh eyes to watch a bustling coastal-tourist town. We made our way straight down the...
St. Jean Pied de Port, Day 6
Phew, what a long travel day it was! We spent the majority of the day on plane or bus and discovered that there are two types of stenches: the stench of being outside and hiking without showering, and...
Roncesvalles, Day 7
Wow, a day as physically demanding as was today makes me wish I was still cooped up on an airplane. There was an air of excitement flowing through the street in St. Jean Pied de Port, as everyone fin...
Larrasoaña, Day 8
It did not rain, but it was cloudy this morning and we spent the day walking steeply down the mountains. The views were wonderful, but the pain from walking across jagged stones on a steep slope made...
Cizur Menor, Day 9
This was the first sunny day from beginning to end. We walked toward Pamplona with high hopes that today would be flatter than the two days prior. This was not the case-- or at least it sure didn’t se...
Puente La Reina, Day 10
Today was short. We woke up early from our beds in Cizur Menor, and began to walk before sunrise. This was very peaceful, and something that we will definitely do again. One person put it so well: “.....
Villamayor de Monjardin, Day 11
We woke up at 5:30 in our shoddy bunks in <i>Refugio Pellegrinos Reparadores</i> and stuffed our bags with our bed sheets and yesterday’s clothes. We walked out onto the dimly lit streets of <i>Puente...
Torres del Rio, Day 12
This morning was rough. Beginning our walk, my legs felt as they had at the beginning of day three. We walked along a gorgeous gravel path, tired and sore from the day before. We walked 8 kilometers t...
Navarette, Day 13
May 17th, what a great day! Speaking from an unbiased opinion of course. We began our walk in the morning twilight, feeling ready for the longer day ahead of us (we planned to walk 33km to Navarette)....
Azofra, Day 14
I awoke multiple times in the early morning, for some reason thinking it was time to go. Then of course, as it often goes, when the multitude of alarms went off, I was not quite ready to get out of be...
Castildelgado, Day 15
We woke up to a much quieter room this morning. We slowly gathered our belongings and prepared for the rain to come. The morning mist that welcomed our faces as we began the day’s trek was reminiscent...
Villafranca Montes de Oca, Day 16
It was tough to say farewell to the lovely little albergue we stayed in last night. Dinner was absolutely delicious and we had the place all to ourselves. We took the extra blankets from the other bun...
Cardeñuela Riopico, Day 17
We needed no alarm this morning. I awoke to the sound of early risers rustling through their bags. It was 5:00, forty-five minutes earlier than my watch was set to alarm, but there was no point in try...
Tardajos, Day 18
We slept until a ripe 6:30 this morning as we had stayed at a quiet alburgue. When we awoke, all but one other person had left. It was nice to “sleep in” for a morning and get some good rest. We set...
Castrojeriz, Day 19
The morning started off beautifully. We woke before sunrise and put on our packs and socks and shoes, and marched toward Castrojeriz. In the beginning, the path was not hard, and not soft. The air out...
Fromista, Day 20
We started the day off a little bit later than normal because we decided to join our bunkmates for breakfast, and sit down for a hearty meal of jam and toast. The coffee provided was not very strong,...
Calzadilla de la Cueza, Day 21
What a day this was! We woke up undecided on our final destination for the day, and so we agreed to see how we felt once we reached the town of <i>Carrion de los Condes</i> (about a 20 km walk). We a...
Sahagun, Day 22
Today was a much shorter day, yay! We slept in and had breakfast at the cafe downstairs. As we looked at the map for the day ahead, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of towns we got to walk t...
Reliegos, Day 23
Today was long, flat and next to the road. We left the municipal albergue at around 6 am, and set off into the cool morning. To be honest there is not much else to write about the walk. It was long, I...
Leon, Day 24
We were excited to begin walking this morning, knowing that we would be staying in a nicer room in a bigger city. We decided to get a hotel style, private room in a hostel in the towncenter of Leon. L...
Hospital de Orbigo, Day 25
Today we learned that you don’t always trust the internet or apps. Thus far, we have been using an app called Guthook to judge our distances and sleeping arrangements. No problems or complaints up unt...
Astorga, Day 26
We planned for a short day today. This was nice, following the 39 km we walked yesterday. There were a few small hills that we walked over in the morning, but still, the path was mostly flat. Astorga...
Foncebadon, Day 27
We woke up early to get a few miles in before it got hot. We made our way through town, setting a rhythm with our trekking poles, and deep in concentration. We decided to walk 5 km to the next town fo...
Ponferrada, Day 28
We woke up early to catch the sunrise at a cross at the top of a mountain today. At 5:50 alarms went off and people began to sort their belongings and pack up for the day. We walked quickly through t...
Trabadelo, Day 29
We woke up early today. Partly because we wanted to beat the heat and partly because we had a roommate of whom sounded not unlike a chainsaw when snoring. We had packed up the night before, so we slid...
Fonfria, Day 30
We slept in today, as we were not sleeping in bunk beds and our roommates were nice and quiet. Around 7:30 am we left the albergue and mentally prepared ourselves for a day of climbing. As we walked...
Barbadelo, Day 31
We woke up and had a quick breakfast served by the same woman who ran the dance party last night. She is a woman of many talents. After we thanked her for such a memorable evening, we were on our way....
Ligonde, Day 32
We woke up and walked to the restaurant outside of our alburgue and had a great breakfast of bacon and eggs. Our friend who had stayed the night in Sarria caught up with us for breakfast as well. We a...
Arzúa, Day 33
We awoke very early this morning, in hopes that we might be able to outrun the rain. We had no such luck. Well, I shouldn’t say that, it did not rain for about the first hour, and then the sky’s unlea...
Arca (O Pedrouzo), Day 34
The second to last day was a short one, just as we planned it. We started in the morning in our regular groove, quiet and thoughtful, and stopped for breakfast and <i>sellos</i> in a town about 10 km...
Santiago, Day 35
We awoke with excitement. It was sort of like waking up on Christmas day as a child. We had set our alarms early in order to get to Santiago earlier in the day, but the time didn’t seem to matter, we...
Finisterre, Day 36
This morning we awoke far too early, as our bodies are still on Camino schedule. We met up with our friends for breakfast, and then said a sad goodbye, or as we liked to call it, a “see you later”. At...
Porto, Day 37
Today we traveled from <i>Finisterre</i> to <i>Porto, Portugal</i>. Although that drive shouldn’t take much longer than a few hours (maybe four of them?), it took us all day. We dropped our friend off...