CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

Hitting Our Stride Halfway Along the Camino de Santiago

Are we there yet?

Peregrino reflection — Baiona, Spain —All photos by the author

Darren Weir

Today we would leave Portugal behind as we crossed over into Spain. But we would have to crowd onto a small outboard boat to cross the Minho River, something that was bound to raise my anxiety level.

I had to keep my head down, looking at the floor of the boat, too afraid to look up until we were close to the other side. That’s when the driver told us to remove our life vests.

After five days of struggling along the Camino de Santiago, we were finally getting the hang of it. The spectacular beauty of the Portuguese Atlantic coast helped to take our minds off the journey still ahead of us. Massive waves crashed onto the black rocks and the beige sand reminding me of Hawaii’s North Shore.

Big waves on the beach —

Darren Weir

We followed the highlighted route out of Ancora and through a forested path up the peninsula to the town of Caminha where we would cross the border into Spain. As we got closer to our goal we could see Monte Santa Tecla in…