Walking guides for Portugal and Spain
 

I have just finished writing a guide for walking from Lisbon to Porto on the Caminho Portugues. This route is one of the many paths in Europe that lead to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. Santiago is the destination for many long distance walkers who spend weeks, months, or more, walking on well-marked paths that end in Santiago, where the body of St. James the Apostle may or may not be buried, depending on your particular beliefs.

The Confraternity of Saint James, an English organization devoted to all things involving Santiago de Compostela and the routes that lead to it, has begun to publish on-line guides for people who want to walk some of the "less popular" routes to Santiago. They also sell indispensable guides for those who walk on the more heavily traveled routes to Santiago. I wrote the guide for the Lisbon to Porto segment, and there is also a Porto to Santiago onlide guide. Both are available online at the Confraternity website, along with several other walking guides (Santiago to Finisterre, El Ferrol to Santiago, etc.). These guides are written by volunteers who have walked the route; the Confraternity publishes them on their website and asks for a donation from those who download the guide in exchange (The donation goes to the Confraternity, not to the authors; we do it as a labor of love).

I just wanted to post the link here just in case there's anyone who is interested in walking one or more of these routes.

http://www.csj.org.uk/guides-online.htm

And if you have any questions about these routes, I'd be happy to answer. I have to confess, though, that I am a total addict and cannot give an unbiased opinion about these incredible walks! But since I have walked a number of these routes, I can give you advice and/or recommendations.

Bom caminho/buen camino, Laurie

Thank you so much Laurie
The information you are providing is unvaluable for all Fodors readers. I made a very light reading, but I'll go deeper as soon as I can.
One note: - Are you saying there are arrows in Lisbon pointing Santiago?? How is it possible that I've never spoted one? I'll give it more attention next days trying to find one.
KR/Joao

Hi, Robert and lobo,

When I mentioned the part about money, I did it only to make clear up front that these volunteer-created walking guides are available from a non-profit group that asks people to consider making a donation to help keep the service running. I did think about this before posting and decided that it didn't violate any forum rules, but obviously some people disagree. I think that the term "revenue" suggests something very different. There are many commercially produced guides available, and I routinely recommend them as well, but the beauty of these guides is that users contact the authors with updates so they tend to be more up to date.

And Lobo, yes, there are arrows all the way from Lisbon to Santiago. The first one is right at the door of the cathedral. As you're going in the main door, look to your right and down towards the ground and there it is.

Laurie

Dear Laurie
I made a terrible mastike while posting, and a good soul had the kindness of calling my attention privately.
I meant "The information you are providing is invaluable for all Fodors readers" as I hope you extracted from the context.
Please forgive me and keep posting.
KR

"mistake" - I miss a post submission editing option.

Hi, Lobo,

Don't worry, I knew what you meant.

Back to your other point, I have a website with pictures from the route from Lisbon to Porto, and you can see arrows in a lot of these pictures, they are all through the Alfama, along the side of Sta. Apolonia, etc:

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.r...y=F7Dxipep3Vo#

Lots of these stages can be walked in a day trip, using the commuter rail service from Lisbon to Azambuja. For instance, the first day, I walked from Lisbon to Parque das Nacoes, then took the metro home. The second day, I walked from Parque das Nacoes to Alhandra and then took the train back to Lisbon. Third day, the train out to Alhandra, walk to Azambuja, then back to Lisbon.

I actually did this "one day at a time approach" all the way to Tomar. From Tomar, it became too hard to take a train out and back, so I walked from Tomar to Coimbra for a few days, sleeping in small pensoes or residenciais along the way. Then, Coimbra to Porto I did in one four or five day trip.

But the early stages can easily be done in a day trip, and there are lots of train stations paralleling the route, so if 25 km seems like a long way to walk at first, you can easily break it down into shorter segments.

Laurie