• June 11th, 2014
• Vilafranca de Xira: Pensao Ribatejana (€10 for a 4 bed dorm)
• Weather: Hot, 29 degrees 

2017 – There is now an Albergue in Alpriate, 20km from Lisbon making a nice easy first stage.

I left the hostel at 6:30am and made my way through the quiet streets of Lisbon. The arrows were hard to see and a lot of them were hidden behind the festival stands that had been set up but I knew I basically had to walk north a long way.

The first arrow you’ll see outside the cathedral on your left (with your back to the cathedral)

very discreet arrows

very discreet arrows

very discreet arrows

very discreet arrows

After an hour or so, I still hadn’t seen any arrows but I stuck to the river Tejo waterfront esplanade (built for the 1998 Expo). I was surprised that it was already very hot by 7:30am and this didn’t bode well for the long day ahead.

2017 – Arrows are much better!

River Tejo waterfront… I’m not sure if I was supposed to be here yet

Torre Vasco de Gama, built for the 1998 Expo

Ponte Vasco de Gama

Eventually I found a camino sign (happy moment) and it was the blue and yellow signage; the blue points the way to Fatima and the yellow to Santiago. The route is the same before splitting off in Santarem and I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to take the detour out to Fatima or not.

(I did the pilgrimage to Fatima in 2016: two days from Santarem to Fatima, then one day from Fatima to Tomar – it was a stunning mountainous Camino. My one piece of advice would be to carry enough food and water as there are limited services)

The path went from a lovely jogging track along the river then abruptly stopped at an intersection where I had to walk along a busy road and then onto a very narrow overgrown dirt track. Maybe if the track wasn’t so overgrown it might have afforded lovely views of the river to my left or flowers… or something, but the only views I had were the occasional crumbling ‘quintas’ (old country estates) which were unfortunately vandalised and gave the area a slight seedy feeling.

Sometimes it was easier to find the x’s than it was to find the arrows!

4 hours after setting off I came across a sign showing a small detour to a cafe. I was hot, hungry, thirsty and dripping with sweat when I stumbled into the cafe and ordered a toastie and 2 cans of iced tea for lunch. (I was carrying 1.5l of water in my pack but it had already started to boil about 1hr into the walk!)

This cafe was worth the detour

After lunch I was back out on the open track, walking past factories and then a few industrial zones. One of the industrial zones was completely abandoned with falling down buildings and one of them was actually industrial. I got lost and walked about a kilometre the wrong way which wasn’t so much fun in the heat… it appears that there’s a relatively new board walk across a wetland, but a little lacking in how to get onto it… The board walk lasted forever with no shade and not a bird in sight because they were all hiding somewhere from the heat. Even the brown snake I saw was in the river, and not basking in the sun where you would expect!

2017 – the arrows are much better, the boardwalks across the wetlands are really nice (unless it’s a 40C day!) and the Camino has been moved off most of these busy roads onto quieter back roads.

Love the arrow telling you to go across the roundabout – no footpath of course!

This boardwalk was unrelenting in the heat

These ribbons were for the camino

The board walk was relentless but safer than the next part walking along a busy road with no footpath and crossing numerous roundabouts with no path.

I could have made it a 30km day but the reports of the accommodation available in an industrial zone wasn’t so inviting and included a detour off the camino so this is why I had decided to push onto a friendly albergue in Vila Franca de Xira.

It feels a little cruel describing today’s walk as ugly, so maybe it’s just the heat stroke and long day confusing me… There was a lovely esplanade to walk along in Lisbon, there was a boardwalk through the wetlands, there were fields, but there was also a lot of industrial zones and dilapidated buildings…

2017 – having re-walked this numerous times since the Camino has been re-routed off the busy roads, it’s a much more pleasant walk (especially breaking this into two 20km stages), albeit still through a couple of industrial zones.

The highlight however was arriving in Vilafranca de Xira and finding a bed at Pensao Ribatejana (€10 for a 4 bed dorm) run by the wonderfully friendly Mariano. He showed me to the dorm but I was the only pilgrim to have arrived and it was after 5pm so I was safe to assume I had the room to myself. He did my washing, took me to a local restaurant and translated the menu then invited me to have wine with his family after dinner. He has just taken over the pension and I wish him all the best.

Apparently Portugal is going through a heat wave. It was certainly a surprise to me as the highs all last week were 23 degrees (perfect for walking) and this week they are 36 degrees (not ideal). I think I’m in for some very early starts!

My room at Pensao Ribatejana, Vilafranca de Xira

Steak dinner, one of many to come!