Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while (ok, since at least 2016!) will know that I have walked the Camino de Santiago from St Jean Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, over the course of 5 summers (but 7 years thanks to C*vid) and those who know me in real life will know that I have nothing but AMAZING things to say about this experience. So much so that, when a group of us finished the final leg in the summer of 2022, we all immediately started looking at different routes to walk. We completed a stage of the Camino del Norte in July 2024 (San Sebastián to Bilbao), in 2025 we walked from Bayonne to San Sebastián along the Atlantic Coast in France and Spain, and in the summer of 2026, we started the Portuguese Camino, walking from Porto (Portugal) to Baiona (Spain) over the course of 7 days. This is Day 7 of the walk!
Oia > Baiona (18.61km)
Our final day’s walking (for this year, at least!) dawned bright and beautiful. With *just* 18km to walk today (with some mixed terrain, some flat walking and some climbs) with what looked like a couple of decently placed towns to stop for breaks, we were excited to get going!
The sun came out early which wasn’t ideal, however there were a lot of shady parts of the walk on this day – just not at the start…
Yep, the yellow (brick) road made an appearance again…
Sadly, we didn’t have a horse…
Signs of the Camino were plentiful…
O Serallo is just over 4km from Oia which is where we decided we would stop for sustenance…
Back on the road, we briefly join the main road for a bit…
And then the ascent towards Camiño Portela began…
It’s a fairly steep ascent but it’s short, at least…
The descent was sweet and shady!
Back on the road…
Refreshments were in order at the fabulous Café Casa do Peixe.
THIS SANDWICH! Why don’t we make omelette sandwiches?
Suitably refreshed, we continued on with another 5ish km to go…
Cruciero O Sinal indicated that we were, indeed, on the right path…
It was a bit of a hot walk into the town through the suburbs of Baiona…
But finally…
We made it!
Safe and sound after nearly 150km of walking!
Beachside Baiona is beautiful!
And obviously our priority was helado…
Bico de Xeado is where it’s at – we’ve had this elsewhere in Spain. It’s SO good (pictures: dark chocolate and mandarin).
Obviously the menu that evening featured some seafood…
And, padrón peppers, of course…
But also…
Goat cheese and fruit salad! SO GOOD!
And that’s a wrap on this year’s Camino adventure!
Stay tuned to see where next year takes us!
_________
Disclosure: I researched Camino tour operators independently and chose the Camino Travel Center based on a number of features such as flexibility to accommodate a couple of “splits” in some of the longer days, price, and customer service. They were, in fact, the first company I came across in my very first Google search and the one I ended up booking with. From the initial inquiry to the actual trips, they have been a pleasure to deal with and we have been very impressed with the service provided (bag transportation) and the accommodation choices. I was not compensated to write about this trip in any way but I love sharing companies and products I believe in with my readers. I couldn’t recommend the Camino Travel Center more highly.
Read more about the Camino de Santiago
Click here to read all my posts about the Camino de Santiago!
_________
