Author Archives: nickletjog

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 5: Saturday 30 May 2026 – PONTE de LIMA to RUBIÃES (19 [+5] kilometres) The weather forecast hereabouts for the last week, and for a few days looking forward, has been wall-to-wall sunshine, diurnal maximum temperatures of around 30 degrees, light winds, and a 0% chance of rain. But up hereContinue reading “Dry Spell”

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 4: Friday 29 May 2026 – BARCELOS to PONTE de LIMA (35 [+7] kilometres) This part of Portugal is just fabulous walking country: verdant valleys, clear streams, forests of pine and eucalyptus, fields of vines and maize, and sleepy villages presided upon by ancient chapels: with every turn of the pathContinue reading “Green Green”

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 3: Thursday 28 May 2026 Today was another Portuguese scorcher, and so I was pleased to lie in until after 7.00 am and avoid a further early start on the trail. I am staying a second night in Barcelos (in a nicely-appointed private room), which not only gives me the chanceContinue reading “I Say A Little Prayer”

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 2: Wednesday 27 May 2026 – VAIRÃO to BARCELOS (33 [+4] kilometres) Today will live long in my walking memory. I slept well, through the heat and snores of the Vairão Monastery dormitory night, awoke at 5.45 am, and was walking, alone, within half an hour. The quiet and stillness ofContinue reading “Heat Wave”

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 1: Tuesday 26 May 2026 – PORTO to VAIRÃO (24 [+5] kilometres) * My digs in Porto happened to be just a kilometre or so from the Catedral Sé that I visited yesterday morning, and which marks the start of the Porto to Santiago section of the Camino Portugués. So, andContinue reading “The Long And Winding Road”

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Monday 25 May 2026 I made the right call in scheduling a free day to explore the centre of Porto ahead of my Camino walk tomorrow, so I will start with a few facts and figures. With a population of around 250,000, Porto is Portugal’s second city (after Lisbon), and it wasContinue reading “Red Red Wine”

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Sunday 24 May 2026 Today has rather crept up on me: an early alarm (on a Bank Holiday Sunday, of all days) and, within an hour or two, Rachel had whisked me off to Luton Airport, en route to Porto, for my latest Camino adventure! I have achieved one ‘Personal Best’ already,Continue reading “Porto Sentido”

Tuesday 19 May 2026 Well, it is quite a while since I put pen to paper on these pages – back in the depths of winter – the product of a busy start to the year on many fronts! And so it is with some considerable excitement that I am about to embark on myContinue reading “A Portuguesa”

Sunday 1 February 2026 I suspect that the Weather Gods may have taken umbrage with me, when on New Year’s Day I declared ‘Dry January’! Since that time, and other than three days of crisp winter sunshine at the start of the month, there has barely passed a day without grey skies and plentiful rainContinue reading “January”

THE THAMES PATH – DAY 6: Wednesday 5 November 2025 – OXFORD to ABINGDON (9.9 miles) I was quite surprised this morning to see that almost eight weeks have passed since our last foray along the Thames Path. Rachel and I completed our first five days of the walk in the late summer into earlyContinue reading “Leaves In The River”