Day 1: to Caminha

The night before I had looked for the yellow arrow that indicates the Camino. I found this on the side of the lane which an online post said the route ran through.

After breakfast, reasoning that the official route would begin at a well-known landmark, I decided to start from the city's cathedral. Some posts had also mentioned the fountain.

Past this flower bed.

Sure enough, there was this sign nearby.

I'm getting ahead of myself, but I encountered many variants on the Camino symbol in various degrees of formality.

This one was probably installed by the property.

Some were no more than yellow arrows hand painted on walls or rocks by volunteers.

The path took us (there were many other pilgrims, giving me confidence that if I was headed the wrong way, so were they) westwards towards the Atlantic Ocean past a playing field, then crossing the main highway with an underpass, northwards into suburban roads and back lanes east of the main highway. I passed this church which a guide I found in my local library names as the Igreja dos Santos Martires.

I liked this vine with gourd and colourful large flower.

A house with an interesting display of objects. In the distance, the ocean. The path ran north parallel to the main road and the beach.

On a stretch of path outside a village I encountered this cat enjoying attention from a young woman pilgrim.

I tried to converse with her but she said ooh, no English, French or Portuguese. So maybe a French student in Portugal. In the afternoon I bumped into her again, on the final stretch for the day near Caminha, trying to entice some roadside cats who were wary and ran away from her. I mustered enough French to say: Je pense que ce sont des chats sauvages (I think they are feral cats). So another cat lover. I waved goodbye as she walked towards the town's pilgrim hostel, and I to my booked hotel.

At about 1400, I reached Vila Praia de Ancora. Exhausted, I picked a suitable restaurant. I didn't want a heavy meal so I chose the tuna salad. I wanted the fibre from the vegies.

According to the official stages of the travel agency handling all the camino bookings this would have been my official stop for the day, after about 20 km of walking.

However they had informed me that there was no accommodation left in V.P de Ancora so I should walk a further 7 km to Caminha where a good hotel room awaited me. The next day's walk would be 7 km shorter.

So I took a break for a coffee and a gelato at a seaside cafe.

Now the path was in open air and hugged the coast. I was glad of my floppy hat as the sun was strong. Fortunately there were also sea breezes.

The path was paved concrete by the way. I did not have to clamber over rocks.

To the east, the coast and road are backed by hills.

A panorama of the scene.

An attractive house near the beach.

Approaching the next village, probably Moledo do Minho. The hill in the distance is actually on the other side of the Minho River, in Galicia, Spain, another country.

Nice beach but too warm to stop. Ironically on the last few km, it wasn't my feet or legs that were fatigued. It was my lower back, not used to carrying a daypack this distance. I vowed to move unneeded stuff into my suitcase which was being transported between overnight stops by couriers arranged by the travel agency.

The hotel I been booked into was one of the most comfortable on my Camino. It seemed to cater to business training and conference customers. I got this for the prebooked dinner, then I turned in for the night. On the first day I had walked one of the longer stretches of my Camino, 27 km. It could only get easier.