Walking the Camino de Santiago

August 20-

I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred nights
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world. – Music Travel Love

Hit the trail in the dark this morning wearing my handy dandy headlamp to guide the way. Given that my accommodations were on the Camino trail, I simply had to pack up, put on my backpack, and walk outside and I was immediately on the path. One of the things I love about these morning is the stillness in the air and the impending sunrise that will follow. This morning did not disappoint.

This morning, there were not many clouds and the forecast is for it to hit 102 in Santarem (my destination today). It was important I started early and stuck to my plan to arrive in Santarem before it heated up at 11am.

Todays trail leads into the wine region and almost immediately I was on dirt trails walking through vineyards. Before those vineyards appeared, I was greeted by several little cats, hanging out at the trail.

Todays trail diverted rather quickly into the edge of the wine region in Western Portugal. Santarem (todays destination) is in the Ribatejo region. They produce several red and white varieties of wine that are specific to this region.. which I can’t wait to try. What you see in the photo above is the vineyards as well as Santarem (my first hill town) in the distance.

Today I’ll need the aid of Harry and Larry (my hiking poles) as there is a significant climb ahead to get up to Santarem. While the trail is rather long, so far it’s not difficult, and I look forward to seeing Santarem as it has some significant history. So climb I must.

And now for my nerdy history lesson: Santarem was inhabited, first by the Lusitanians and then by the Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and later Portuguese. Of the various legends related to the foundation of Santarém, the most famous tells of the Visigoth Saint Iria (or Irene), who was martyred in the nearby city of Tomar and whose uncorrupted body reached Santarém. In her honour, the name of the town (then known by its Latin name Scalabis) would later be changed to Sancta Irene, from which Santarém would eventually be derived.

The foundation of the city is attributed to the Romans, who occupied the region in the 2nd century BC and named the city Scalabis. During the Roman period Scalabis was an important commercial post in the mid-Tagus region and was the administrative capital of one of the regions of Lusitania. Julius Caesar ordered the creation of a military camp in Santarém in 61 BC. One of the sites I am excited to see is Portos dol Sol (doors of the sun). The views from there are supposed to be amazing.

As I exited the vineyards, a steady climb upward toward Santarem began to take place. It was time for Harry and Larry (my hiking poles) to do some work, so out they came as I walked up some steep roads to reach the city.

The blessing of starting early in the morning is the ability to make some good headway without direct heat. This also means arriving pretty early to my destination! Today I arrived in Santarem at 10:30! No sooner did I find a nice bench to sit on and cool my heels, but here came my pilgrim buddy from Quebec, Christopher “Briggs”. I thought he was at least a day ahead of me, but he decided it was wise to slow down and take care of his blisters on his feet. He is one of the men I met a few days ago who didn’t want to follow me back and find the trail. We chatted for a time and then off he went to find an open pharmacy. We agreed to meet up later as I was staying at the same Albergue.

Given I had ample time before I could check in to my accommodations at 3pm, I decided to do some site seeing. I walked through town and then headed to Porto Do Sol to see what all the fuss was about. Boy were they right. Not only does Porto do Sol have amazing views, but they have turned it into a beautiful, shaded park. My resting place for the next couple of hours.

Finally today I’m staying in a true a Albergue. Briggs is staying there, as well as a couple guys from Italy and Brazil. Dorm room style. Feels familiar. …. Hopefully no one snores. 😉

Now off to find me some dinner. As I approached my chosen restaurant for dinner, who do I see but Briggs. Briggs, as he likes to be called, is 68, speaks broken English as French-Canadian is his first language, has a long white beard, tattoos everywhere, and is definitely missing most of his front teeth. He’s a pleasant and kind man. We both sat and chatted for a while over our dinner about the Camino.

About an hour into our conversation a young man in his mid 20’s sat next to us in the restaurant. Briggs introduced us. “Remi” is a young, skinny guy from just outside of Paris. He had walked from outside of Paris, France, then onto the Camino Norte route and then down to the Camino Frances to Santiago. From Santiago he had walked the Camino Portugal in the opposite direction to Fatima and then where we met him in Santarem. From Santarem, he was heading to Lisbon to spend a couple of days with new friends he met while walking the Camino, and then to Morocco before finally heading back home to France. All of this by foot! Given how long he has been walking, he’s now walking 25-30 miles each day. A very interesting guy just exploring the world. To top this off, Remi does not stay in hostels (except on occasion) or hotels. He finds places he can sleep like churches, abandoned castles, homes, or he pitches his tent in a wooded area. This gives him the freedom to come and go as he pleases (oftentimes early in the morning or late at night) and he is able to manage his money and use it toward food, showers, etc. I spent three hours talking with Remi and I wished I had more. He was also very helpful in giving me insight into the costal trails ahead, which sounds amazing. Ultimately, it was time for me to get to bed so I could get up super early tomorrow. Temps are expected to rise from 103-107 in the next three days so that means very early mornings to make this work. I bid Remi Au Revoir, and off I went.

My thoughts: What a great day! I really like Santarem and if I had the time, I might spend a couple days here. My goal is to take my first rest day in the town of Tomar though, which I should reach in a couple of days. Feeling so incredibly blessed. I’m happy I had the opportunity to meet some new pilgrim buddies. Even if I never see them again. My Dad instincts can’t help to kick in with Remi and I wonder if he’s okay and hope he makes his journey to Morocco as he planned. Such a cool guy.