Short day today. Today was a short day because we had to pick up the rest of our crew (3 family members) at the Porto airport. Tina and I walked from Porto to Matasinhos and then hopped on a train to the airport, then we brought the train back to our accommodations for the night. We walked the streets of Matasinhos, had a great seafood dinner and then it was time for some ice cream. Our family had just endured the long flight from Arizona and Arkansas so it was early to bed. We all got our first stamps in our Camino passports. To certify you’ve done this you need two stamps per day. Tomorrow we have about 15 Mi so we feel this is going to be the official start of our Camino Journey. Here are just a few pics of the day.

We arrived in Porto on September 3rd and I was not going to post until we started our walk on September 6th, but it’s been interesting so far. With 4 flights and hours of layovers, we arrived in Porto about 24 hours after leaving Phoenix. With little to no sleep, sitting for 24 hours (viewer discretion advised) I developed a hemorrhoid the size of Baltimore but we finally made it to our private apartment in Porto city center. After a short nap, I decided it was time for a shower, and while I’m in there, I might as well wash the clothes I have been wearing for the past 24 hours. Needless to say, I was in there for a good 30 minutes or so. I stepped out toweled off, got dressed, and then the apartment phone started to ring. I answered it to a hysterical man speaking to me in some foreign language I did not understand, so I did the reasonable thing and hung up. The phone immediately started to ring again and this time Tina answered it. He now was speaking good English and explained that he was the owner of a gift shop directly below us and that we were flooding his business! He wanted to come up to see if there was a problem. I was leery to let someone in so I headed down stairs to take a look. As I headed down, water was dripping on me from a ceiling light fixture in the hallway, so I knew this must be serious. As I arrived at his shop he had buckets everywhere catching the water. Long story short, he had a plumber come up  and they’re still trying to find the issue. After talking with him there was another water leak from an A/C condensation pipe that dripped right down in front of his store. I found the problem and fixed it for him. He told me he has been asking the building owner for the past 2 years to have this fixed and was very grateful for the assistance. We are now friends.

Next day….September 4th

Today we walked around like most tourists do sampling food, drinking wine and seeing the sights. We visited Sé do Porto, a 12th century cathedral that is simply magnificent. Upon leaving we were walking down a ramp through a courtyard when I missed a step and took a pretty good fall. Scraped up my arm and elbow, and bruised my hip and ego. This cathedral is a pretty big tourist trap so my fall was witnessed by many. Embarrassing is putting it lightly so I just got out of there as fast as I could.

Looks like a good beginning to a fun filled journey. We start the Camino tomorrow.

Enjoy the pics

“Life in a Walk” is a fascinating documentary about a father and son that walked nearly 200 miles along the Camino de Santiago, a well-known pilgrimage route across Portugal and Spain. I really recommend watching it and is available on Amazon Prime and YouTube.

The film inspired us so much that we and three other family members will walk the Camino in early September 2024. Although there are many routes to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, we have chosen the litoral route as depicted in the film from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Arriving in Porto, Portugal, September 3rd, and walking the 1st leg on the 6th

Many miles and 13 days, so come along on our walk as we will post travel summaries and photos.

Buggy day and a rescue mission. We were on the road around 6:45AM. It was a beautiful day but lots of bugs and mosquitoes. I don’t know about Tina but I had them in my mouth and up my nose. We crossed two bridges to and from Grand Island and had to walk the bikes across so that was somewhat of a pain. Made it to Buffalo and had to ride through some sketchy neighborhoods to get to a rental car outlet.  Rented a truck and loaded our bikes. The truck we reserved online was supposed to be a Toyota Tacoma but they gave us a Jeep Gladiator. Now I hope I dont offend anyone here but that vehicle has got to be the ugliest vehicle on the road! It however served its purpose in getting us from Buffalo to Cleveland where Tinas niece lives. Along the way and about 100 miles or more outside of Cleveland we spotted a solo cyclist pushing his bike and hitchhiking. We figured he had had enough of the hills as there were many along this route (part of the reason we bailed) so we stopped to help. The cyclist, a 22 year old that had started in Ottawa, Canada (Nicholas) had a broken front hub on his bike. Nothing to do but make room for him, his bike and all his gear in our ugly truck and get him to a bike shop. There was one 11 miles away in Erie, PA but when I told him we were going to Cleveland and offered to take him all that way he graciously accepted. His bike just so happened to be green in color so from this point forward we are now 3greenbikes. We made it to Tinas nieces house (Caitlin and Dillon) unloaded the ugly truck and re-loaded it with Nicholas’s bike and gear. I drove Nicholas to a bike shop but they could not work on it due to their workload and said it would be a few days. So, we got the parts and in the parking lot him and I (Ron) proceeded to install bearings and fix it and get him back on the road. We, however had some issues with it and at that point the bike shop took a look at our work but could not figure it out as well. Nicholas ended up having to leave the bike and find himself an airbnb. All good as he had a buddy bail on him after a couple days but had another buddy coming down from Canada to Cleveland on Saturday to join him on his journey. They are trying to ride all the way to California. Good luck Nicholas and keep us posted.

Breakfast at hotel and then we walked over to Canada. Rode the skywheel and then walked down to Horseshoe Falls. Walked back to USA Side and rode the Maid of the Mist. Great timing as it was warming up and we got cooled off. It was awesome!

Our itinerary for tomorrow was to ride beyond Buffalo to Evangola campground along Lake Erie. It would be almost 60 miles and the next day around 68. Since the weather is hot and there is some expected winds we have made the decision to terminate the trip in Buffalo. We are disappointed but the heat is a killer and not enjoyable. We gave it our best shot. Only cutting out a few days and we did the Erie Canal which was our main objective. Thanks to all for your comments as we enjoyed the feedback. Hope you enjoyed the pics. Now, go out and ride!

Pat at the B&B had breakfast for us on the table at 5AM so we did not get on the road until sometime after 6AM. If you’re ever passing through Medina, NY I highly recommend the Garden View Bed and Breakfast, it was fabulous and we feel we made new friends with the owners Pat & Bob. A truly wonderful stay! We were back on the canal trail within 5 minutes after leaving the B&B as it was pretty much right on the canal. Trail was the same as yesterday and somewhat monotonous. We did leave the trail after the town of Lockport and was on roads and highways the rest of the way to Niagra. Tina has not fallen this trip and has on all our other trips so she is doing good. Oops, as we were crossing an intersection in Lockport I heard a scream or squel, I’m not sure which but when I turned around to see what happened Tina was off her bike and on the ground. Way to go Tina, your batting 1000! She is fine, just hurt her hip a bit. It got really warm before we arrived in Niagra and the heat from the road was brutal. We arrived in town and went straight to the falls as neither one of us have been here. The falls are beautiful. We did not get many pics today but I have posted what we have. We have a rest day tomorrow to do the tourist thing and I will post pics of our day tomorrow.

Flat. Thats what we imagined the terrain to be when we laid out our plans. However when on a bike there is no such thing. Yes, we did have hills today. Nothing to drastic but nothing we expected. The days are warming up so the heat we are feeling. Had more road riding today which was kind of nice to be on asphalt and off the bumpy gravely trails but roads come with cars so there is a trade off. Saw more cyclists today going in both directions. One cyclist we met at our hotel this morning was headed to Macedon as well and told us off a hotel he was staying at. Since we have a long day tomorrow Tina thought it a good idea to get a room instead of camping. This saves us some time in the morning since we dont have to break camp and the hotel was 3 miles further today so that is 3 miles less tomorrow. Thank you Mike for the suggestion and safe travels. Tomorrow will be our longest day, about 66 miles. If we make it through tomorrow we will make it through the week, well thats what I keep telling myself. We love the comments so those that have sent them, thank you. It is encouraging and helps us to keep moving. Here are some pics of today

Woke up to a chilly morning but a tad warmer than yesterday. Lots of condensation on the tent so had to pack it away wet. Got an early start, around 6:15 AM since we had 60+ miles and we are slow. Ride was the easiest so far for both of us but still didn’t get to hotel until 4:00 PM so about a 10 hour day. Both of us are tired but sleep has been good and we are revived by morning. We saw the most people so far on the trails as it is Saturday and the locals are all out riding their bikes and fishing. Had conversations with a lot of people today and it helps as they all encourage us on our journey. Speaking of encouragement, met two men at our hotel (father and son) that are riding their Harleys from Indiana to New York to a motorcycle rally. The father is 97 years old and rides his own bike!! The father has been going to the rally since 1995 and has won the oldest rider trophy 6 times. They were both amazing to talk to and they both had great sense of humor and attitude. You can do just about anything if you put your mind to it. I’m glad we met them. Yes, we have a hotel tonight so was able to shower two days of stink away and washed some clothes. Have shorter day tomorrow of about 47 miles to Lock 30 in Macedon, NY. and will be camping. I’m writing this from under the sheets so goodnight!

This is a delayed post because we arrived in camp late yesterday and probably couldn’t post anyway as we had very sketchy internet. Woke up in Fort plain to a pretty brisk morning about thirty eight degrees. We were greeted by a visitor, a bald eagle. The day was long as we ran into several trail closures and had to do some backtracking and detouring. Got to camp late, early evening, lock 21 outside of Rome, NY. Had the place to ourselves, just one other cyclist. Once we had camp setup it was off to bed