My plan for today was to do another stretch of the coastal Camino Portugues route, essentially picking up from where I stopped yesterday. I did entertain the idea that I could do 22km and get to Vila Do Conde, which is also still on the Porto tram network, meaning I could start from there easily tomorrow (Monday).
I had to wait until 09:00 as that was when the Porto Cathedral Office opened. I needed to pick up my ‘Pilgrim’s Passport’ (known in Spain as your ‘credenciales’, not sure what they call it here). I could have gotten it yesterday, but I hesitated. I have found myself being quite anxious about getting into the position where I might be meeting other people also doing the Camino. I’ve always been shy, but the extra layer here is that I have been even more withdrawn recently. I think the anxious thoughts centre around getting into conversation with other ‘pilgrims’ and then feeling trapped in having to be sociable.
I was expecting there would be quite a few Camino-people at the Cathedral, but I was surprised that there were more than I had anticipated. Just in the span of the 10 mins when I queued up to get into the office and then bought my credenciales, I think I counted maybe 10.
Once I had got my passport I headed for the tram station. I was back at Matosinhos by just after 10:00. I had already seen that the forecast was for a very sunny and hot day, so I knew that I’d have to see how I went. The worst thing to do would be to overcook out in the heat, so I resolved to just walk until I felt I needed to get in the shade.
After clearing Matosinhos itself, the path became a series of boardwalks. At some point the local authorities had invested in building these, and they were clearly being fully utilised by the locals and some pilgrims like me. Here and there I came to nice looking beach front cafes and bars. It seemed like you could do a very pleasant ‘crawl’, stopping at each one for a beverage, if you were so inclined.
My legs as well as my feet felt a bit heavy and sore today. I was still thinking that making it all the way up to Vila Do Conde could be doable…until it got to about 12:00 and I realised that it would be too hot to carry on walking. It would of course get cooler later in the afternoon, but waiting for a few hours for the temperature to drop to then walk another 10km wasn’t on my agenda for today. The scenery wasn’t going to change in the intervening stretch to Vila Do Conde, so I decided to head back into Porto via a Bolt ride ( there was the possibility to get a bus connecting to the tram, but would have taken a lot longer and I was keen to get the next part of the day’s tasks sorted). The lesson here was that rising early and getting the walking done before mid afternoon is the way to go.
Once back in Porto I went to a big Decathlon to get some last bits of gear, namely hiking poles, a ‘bladder’ for my backpack and some light weight clothes.
On making it back to my hotel room, I inspected my feet. My little toes had felt as though they were getting blisters as I was walking, but as it turned out I had a pair of very big ones! I had a couple of other blisters that didn’t need much attention, but the ones on the underside of each of my little toes would have to be treated to a tactical popping, which I duly did. I like to think I have a fair amount of blister care experience now, and I have kept off of my feet completely this evening in an effort to let the now drained blisters ‘dry out’ as much as possible before trying to walk on them again tomorrow.
I’m not sure where exactly my head is at this evening. It’s almost time to leave the safety and privacy of this hotel. My anxiety about having to interact with other pilgrims is at odds with the fact that I met so many friendly and easy going people when I did my walk in 2015. I remember being anxious at the beginning of that Camino too. I find it hard to feel confident about meeting new people, even now as a 37 year old. At work I find tit pretty easy to introduce myself to someone new, but in the context of this type of trip I don’t have my work persona and dynamic to structure things. I’m just me; a lonely, often depressed guy who is ashamed of how much I have physically and mentally let myself go. I worry, simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically, that the people I might meet along this journey will a) pity me and b) look to me to keep them company.
One Step Bey0nd 