Completing the Camino Frances and then carrying on into Portugal??

[JackRabbitSlims]

Hello.

I am planning to walk the Camino Frances starting in SJPDP in early June.

Just a thought: - if I carry on and head south into Portugal, will it be a problem walking against the flow of other walkers coming from Portugal??

Is the route easy to follow? and where does it officially start from in Portugal??

I am just trying to get a time frame in place and some travel logistics....how many more days should I factor in for the Portuguese section (approx)

Thanks if you can help me out.

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The forward direction markings from the Portugal/Spain border are complex. Walking the reverse will be very difficult. I suggest you get a map for when you become lost!

 

[peregrino_tom]

Jack
It's definitely do-able and there won't be anything like the streams of people on the Frances. I met a few people happily 'going the other way' in 2012. I think the hardest part will be finding your way out of Santiago - it's very tricky finding your way in! So a map or GPS and some planning would be a good idea. After that you've about five days walking to the Portuguese border at Valenca/Tui and then another five days to Porto. Quite a lot of this (and also three quarters of the route after Porto going south towards Lisbon - another two weeks) has blue markers, showing the way to Fatima, so you can follow these as you'll be going in that direction too. The other bonus is the special kindness of the Portuguese people. I doubt you'll meet anyone is not enthusiastic about helping you find your way, police included.

 

[mspath]

JackRabbitSlims,

In December 2011 after finishing the Camino Frances I continued to Finisterre, per usual, and then walked down to the Portuguese border at Tui/Valenca de Minho. This involved going " backward " along the Camino Portuguese from Santiago. To go backward is more complicated than you might think; since this path is hardly well marked, searching for the famous yellow arrows pointing opposite my direction wasn't easy. Viewed backwards the arrows resembled anchors. Thus it all was a bit of a treasure hunt!

The weather was cold and very WET. The Galician albergues were great and generally well heated; often I was the only pilgrim. I particularly enjoyed walking across the river Minho from Tui on the 19th century bridge designed by Eiffel of tower fame to Valenca de Minho and its Vauban fortress.

Perhaps some of these other web sites will help with your planning.
http://camino.xacobeo.es/en/routes/portuguese-way
http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es./lo ... portugues/

Be sure to read this earlier Forum thread on walking the Camino Portuguese in reverse/

Happy planning,

Margaret Meredith

 

[jmcarp]

Why not take a bus or train down to Porto and walk back to Santiago in the same direction as everyone else? You would avoid the reverse waymarking dilemma, plus you could even pick up another Compostela if you did that.

 

[Diogo92]

No problem with that!

You just have to follow the blue arrows that go from Santiago to Fatima.

Some say that the route starts in Lisbon, others that it starts in Porto and there are people who say that it starts in the south of Portugal, in Algarve. You have a Santiago church in Lisbon that has some advertising saying that "The Caminho starts in here".

I would do the Porto to Santiago. At least you can reach there through one way (the Fatima way goes to different places sometimes), and come back to Santiago following the yellow arrows

Best Regards
Diogo

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

Thanks for the great responses.

It's easy to be sitting here in India (Goa) and thinking that I will keep walking once I complete Camino Frances - nothing solid in terms of definite decisions, I just want to start making a few loose plans for my travel later in the year.

Thanks once again - I think we can all agree then that it is doable, if perhaps a little difficult at times.....all the more inviting

Cheers.

 

[mikevasey]

If you are walking south, you could turn right at either Redondela or Valenca and walk the coastal route in reverse, the advantage of doing that is as along as you know where the Albergue de Peregrinos and the other recomended acommodation is you can just follow the coast- the Redondela turn off will be tricky until you get past Vigo. You can do that all the way to Porto, then the blue arrows to Fatima can guide you as far as Ansiao on the Caminho de Santiago and its up to you from there if you follow them further or follow the yellow arrows in reverse.