… or 5 months and 13 days. For those people who have no idea what am I talking about- I am going to Santiago Compostella next year (so if you want to visit me next year, do it before 31st March or after 7th May). I choose Portuguese route so I will start from Lisbon and as I never been in Portugal or Spain, I can have at least 2 new countries with this trip.

They say you really should do something (not just dreaming about) if you want things will happen in your life. So I have done some planning already:

-time schedule is done, also I have booked most of hostels just in case

-I booked plane ticket to Lisbon (31th March 2015)

-also booked the plane ticket from Santiago Compostella to Madrid (5th May)

I changed my estimate walking plan a bit as I discovered little shortcut and so I will save one day and accommodation-food costs and also 20-25 km less walking. Also I will stay in Madrid only for 2 days (because of the flight schedule) but I think that is still ok.

I keep my eye on Camino forums and mostly I am interested in topics about how to train and how to avoid blisters. Because I am a bit worried- mostly i will walk every day 25-30km, sometimes less, like  14-19 km. My husband told me I will probably start training like 2 weeks before the trip, I hope I will  be a bit earlier :). I know I can walk 30km withing 5 hours and without any training before. But the bad thing is, next day I will stay in bed and my feet will hurt like hell for a while. So I know I really need to  start training soon and figure out, how to prevent blisters.

And I need good waterproof and LIGHT walking boots. I have already a good backpack so at least I have all basics in case I cannot buy new and better hiking stuff. Will start looking for good walking boots next year, no hurry with that at the moment.

At the moment the daily mileage is like this, according to Google Map:

Lissabon – Vila Franca 30km

Vila Franca – Azambuja 20km

Azambuja – Santarem 26km

Santarem – Golega 29km

Golega – Tomar 26km

Tomar – Alvaizere 26km

Alvaizere – Rabacal 27km

Rabacal – Coimbra 24km

Coimbra – Mealhada 23km

Mealhada – Agueda 23km

Agueda – Albergaria a Velha 14km

Albergaria a Velha – Sao Joao da Madeira 25km

Sao Joao da Madeira – Espinho 20km

Espinho – Porto 19km (332km alone)

I will stay in Porto for 3 days, I definitely need then some sleep, some rest, some port wine and my best friend will join me and we will continue together

Porto – Vila do Conde 25km

Vila do Conde – Barcelos 27km

Barcelos – Ponte de Lima 30km

Ponte de Lima – Rubiaes 19km

Rubiaes – Tui (cossing the Spanish border finally) 18km

Tui – Porrino 13km

Porrino  – Redondela 14km

Redondela – Pontevedra 18km

Pontevedra – Caldas de Reis 21km

Caldas de Reis – Padron 16km

Padron – Santiago Compostella 19km (in total 552km)

Santiago Compostella is the main destination but I/we also want to go to Cape Finisterre as they used to think there was the point of end of the world.

Santiago Compostella – Negreira 19km

Negreira – Olveira 30km

Olveira – Cée 19km

Cée – Cape Finisterre 12km.

Should be in total about 632km

Next day from Cape Finisterre we will take a bus back to Santiago Compostella, will spend one day there and next morning, 5th May at 8.15-9.30 we will fly to Madrid.

I was not sure is the Madrid a good choice as everyone goes to Barcelona but I still decided I wanna go. the capital is somehow not that popular and I probably never go there again. And there are Ryanair flights from Madrid to Holland, Transavia.com is a bit more expensive as I will have my backpack too. So I rather go to Barcelona next time, when I am more relaxed and have NOT walked like 630km before.