Scotland’s West Highlands are one of the most magical places on the planet. In summer they are umpteen shades of green, pink and purple (heather in flower is so beautiful). As the days grow shorter and the cold sets in, the Highlands become a picture
I love the lane ways of Porto Portugal! So much colour and beautiful decoration. Sadly, due to the poor economic state of Portugal, many buildings are unoccupied and run-down. Note the wall tiles (Azulejo) in the picture below – these are very common in Portugal.
When it comes to travel, I have an underlying fear of missing out. It is such a great big beautiful world, and I wish to see as much of it as possible before my time upon it ends. I want to experience its richness, meet
Camino Portuguese Day 12 – Padrón to Santiago de Compostela – we did it!! Oh My God it hurt like hell, but WE DID IT! Today was supposed to be around 24km, about a third of it on paths through woodland. What the book failed
Camino Portuguese Day 11 – Caldas de Reis to Padron – completed! Woo hoo! Only 24 km left to go to Santiago de Compostela! Today was a relatively short 18km through some spectacular woodland areas. 50% of the Way was on forestry trails, mostly dirt
Camino Portuguese Day 10! There’s only 2 more days to go! Oh thank God for that. Today we had a wonderful walk through some beautiful countryside. The weather was perfect – the morning started crisp and cool and rain-free. The sun poked its head out
Camino Portuguese Day 9 – we’re in Pontevedre for the day! After seeing the forecast for today, we made the decision, correctly as it turns out, to avoid getting thoroughly soaked. There’s nothing more miserable than a sore soggy pilgrim. It has poured rain on
Camino Portuguese Day 8 was going to be Tui to Mos … but we ended up catching a train in Porriño instead! 🙂 The day started off well enough. We spent the night in a very basic and not terribly well designed (hello, group showers)
Camino Portuguese Day 7 – we made it to Spain!! Woo hoo! It was with a fair amount of pride that Dave and I crossed the river Minho from Portugal. We’ve walked roughly 146km so far, and we’ve got about 114 km to go until
Camino Portuguese Day 6 was wonderful and challenging. Our plan was to at least get over the big hill (Portela Grande) to the first main town with accommodation, Rubiães. This is a relatively short part of the trip – 18km by the guidebook. It’s a
Camino Portuguese Day 5! We made it a grand total of 12km today 🙂 Dave and I both agreed this morning that we wanted a ‘day off’ from all this silly walking nonsense. We should have reached Ponte Lima yesterday (according to the guidebook). Being
In trying to catch back up on posts, I’ll keep this one brief! There was a lot less walking today than yesterday. THANK GOD. And much more of it was on unpaved trails which satisfied my feet no end. I awoke with great trepidation as
Camino Portuguese Day 3 was my idea of hell! My feet were hurting so badly by the end of it there were a few moments where tears were a good possibility. This post was not completed yesterday as I crawled into a ball on my
Camino Day 2! We were up early (okay, not that early, 7am) and attempted to be out the door by 8 but Dave took a while to do his hair etc, so it was more like 8.20 by the time we left the hotel. We
We have started our Camino! Day 1 is what I’m calling a ‘soft start’ as we’ve completed 12km along the Portuguese coastal route to Santiago de Compostela. Dave and I were going to start our trek tomorrow but the short walk from Porto to Matosinhos
I am an introvert and I love to travel. The opportunity to see new places, experience new things and try new foods are key factors in a fulfilling life for me. I love exploring and finding quiet spaces to watch the world go by. I
For more photos of the gardens, see Quinta da Regaleira Part 1 Pan’s Labyrinth Timing Your Visit – Quinta da Regaleira The best time to visit Quinta da Regaleira is just as it opens at 10.30 am. It’s not exactly a super early start to
Upon first seeing images of Quinta da Regaleira (Palacio da Regaleira) online, I could only think of the Guillermo del Toro movie Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno). Quinta da Regaleira was the primary reason for my visit to Sintra, Portugal and it did not