Finally, the four of us are off on the Camino. Yesterday we drove up from Porto, crossed the border into Spain near Valenca and arrived in Baiona with enough time to wander around. There is a replica of the Pinta here and we walked around it. It is tiny. It is also astounding to think that men navigated the Atlantic at that time with just celestial navigation; the New World was sighted first by the Pinta (it being the fastest of the three).

Now we have left Portugal we rely on Jeri’s Duolingo Spanish. Duolingo is a great tool, but it doesn’t always given you what you need; she could tell us about elephants and basketball but could not make a reservation for dinner. But cervezas and pollo are familiar to Southern Californians, so we were fed.

An exciting start to the day; we walk a short distance to another hotel to have our breakfast. The young waitress speaks no English and there is no written menu. Confusion ensues. We all get ham and cheese sandwiches and an apple, but none of us get the yoghurt we ordered. Instead, the waitress spilt (unordered) hot tea over John’s leg and the bar erupted into action with various men and women enquiring as to his pain level and injury and cleaning up in a sort of OK fashion. They serve John another (unordered) tea. Then, just as we were about to leave, there was another loud crash as a second waitress dropped a tray of glasses. We left quickly.

Putting Columbus and hot tea behind us, we strike out to the north west. The Camino passes through Baiona along the narrow town streets and we decide to veer away from the beachfront in search of the famous Camino de Santiago markers; John spots one first, then we follow narrow winding streets, uphill. As we leave town we descend to the beach and follow easy paths by the edge of the water; but the tide is far out over the mud somewhere. We pass wetlands on our left as we walk around the bay. Using the Merlin app, we detect sounds of wren, blackcap and serin (a small finch). After a brief visit to the church of Santa Cristina we soon arrive at the mediaeval Ramallosa bridge across the Miñor river where a photo op presents itself. After hugging the coast for a short period the path takes us across a shoulder of land to a new beach, the Playa Nigran, where, as one, we instinctively decide to take off our boots and socks and walk along the hard sand beach. This is Katie’s first time she has put her feet in the Atlantic. And that reminds Tim of one of the three questions he had to answer to become an US citizen – name the ocean to the east of the United States. We meet a nice couple from Tasmania called Geraldine and Terry whilst swapping iPhones to take pictures. The beach is wonderful – all of Spain seems to be walking north with their feet in the warm water. Tim uses his binoculars to spy out cafes and after a relaxing stop for liquid refreshment, we eat our sandwiches on a bench then trudge uphill to our hotel. Simple, clean and beautifully quiet air conditioning. Before dinner we walk around the block to a neighborhood bar and meet Geraldine and Terry again; we all agree that we clean up well. Dinner at the hotel is simple, good food.

The first day is done, not a long one at 6 miles, but it feels good to have actually started on the Camino.

Tim’s top tip of the day – do not use binoculars on a topless beach. Your intentions may be misinterpreted.

Here is the map for May 29, 2025;