Peter is walking the Portuguese Camino: Day 17 Porto to Povoa da Varzim

Alarm went off at 0520 and we went downstairs to meet Martin for a quick breakfast and were on the road by 0550, Matt took this photo looking up at the stairwell of our hotel.

We decided to start at the cathedral; our plan was to walk the coastal route rather than the main Camino.

Sadly within minutes of starting we missed one of the yellow arrows resulting in us making heavy weather getting out of the city.

Then there were four.

Dog on a blog.

We eventually arrived at the sea at Matosinos, it was a huge landmark for Yotty and myself.

Love this picture

We crossed over the bridge and started the coast route proper.

It was great to be walking with my old Camino friend Martin again. We stopped for the second time after 10 miles and just took in the view, the weather was glorious.

Much to our horror Martin is not going to eat any tarts, so we just settled for three today.

We continued walking along the promenade which then progressed onto a boardwalk.

Cannot believe a bird has just had a crap on me and my iPad whilst writing the blog, I am sitting outside a bar, so open to the elements.

The Obelisk is where King Pedro IV landed in 1832 with 7500 men to liberate Portugal.

Below are Roman fish drying beds.

We then made our second mistake; we followed signs directing us inland away from the coastal route.

Thankfully we found our way back but it put a lot of extra distance onto our walk.

We eventually arrived at Povoa then it was the usual routine of check in clothes off, wash them then out for a drink.

For those who did not see my blog last year when I walked the Frances, we have a very limited wardrobe we carry on our backs, three pairs of socks and pants, one pair of shorts, three T shirts, one pair of trousers, one fleece and that is it, so we have to keep on top of our laundry. Back in my hotel room all that I have worn today is dangling out of the window drying. This is not for the fashion conscious.