I thought my hotel was a B&B but it wasn’t mentioned when I checked in, and this morning when I asked for some milk for my Nespresso machine I was told breakfast wasn’t included. A few moments later the girl knocked on my room and asked if bread, ham & cheese would do? Sure! And look what turned up! Enough for breakfast and a little sandwich to take for the road.

I checked out around 9am and took an Uber to Matoshinos to drop off my big backpack at tonight’s hostel. I’ve a little daypack to walk with as carrying too much weight in training has been bothering my ankle. There are several backpack transport companies that will deliver your bag each day from hostel to hostel so I’ve arranged that for at least the first week of my walk.

Bag-free I took the bus back into Porto as I wanted to start my Camino at the beginning: Sé Cathedral. As soon as the bus hit the beach I saw 4 pilgrims walking towards me, then a dozen more within the first 15 minutes! They’re easily identifiable by their large backpacks and hiking poles. It seems like the Way might be crowded but I t’s unknown how many will be on my particular route as 3 Caminos share the same route the first day or so.

The bus ride was an hour long, stopping at every stop, and it would take me 4 hours to walk the same route back!

I left the bus at the train station São Bento. It’s terribly nondescript outside, but has amazing azulejo tile work inside.

Right next door was the cathedral. I bypassed the line for admission in order to just get a stamp for my credential, or pilgrim’s passport. By having this stamped every day proves that I’m walking a camino and would let me stay in specific pilgrim albergues/hostels if I so choose.

I then walked across the nearby old double-decker metal bridge to take some photos of both sides of the Douro River; left with Sandemans and other port makers’ caves, and the city on the right. Then I toppled down many, many stairs to river level, taking more photos. So many pictures of the bridge! I’ll never get out of Porto!

Time to head west, I’ve already walked 2 miles and I haven’t even started my Camino yet!

It was a glorious day: the sun was warming up as I walked but I soon started to feel a strong cool breeze as I neared the last bridge as it marked where the Douro met the ocean. I walked on a combination of seawall, sidewalk, and beachside promenades with hundreds of Portenõs out enjoying a perfect Sunday afternoon. It ended up feeling like a very long 10 miles but just as I was going to either burst or expire I came across a McDonalds which provided me with the basic necessities: W.C., protein and carbs!