Chapter 26
Porto:
Truly it is – ‘The Pearl of Portugal’
It is early on Saturday morning and “I can hear the soft breathing of the girl that I love” 🎵 as I start to type some thoughts about our stay in Porto. Portugal’s second city.
Wow!
This city punches!
Over the last 2 years, as the perks of retirement have kicked in, my wife Nicky and I have been fortunate enough to expand the portfolio of city breaks we have taken in Europe.
Riga, Poznan, Bucharest, Bratislava, Wroclaw, Budapest (again) and Krakow: they have all been phenomenal experiences and we have loved them all.
Of course a shared experience is usually a better experience .
I love my travel companion.
Just as well as she’s also been my wife for 36 years.
In years gone by we have been lucky enough to visit Bergen, Reykjavik Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, to name a few.
They were great trips too.
Memorable.
Porto is another really big hitter.
One of the best for sure.
It’s lovely climate in mid April perhaps give it a slight edge over some of those more Eastern European destinations.
It’s been 18-20 degrees since we arrived on Wednesday.
Today it is forecast to be 26!
That’s a curvy set of figures! ☀️
Definitely too hot for Camino-ing today.
But certainly they are uplifting and comfortable walking temperatures when I resume with a short 8km walk on Sunday.
More on that tomorrow.
So today, I’ll just have to take another day off with ‘the missus’.
I love living in Blighty, but our winters are much longer, cooler and wetter by comparison.
There is no comparison!
Working in those temperatures?
No thanks.
City breaking in those temperatures?
💯%
Yes please.
I’ve always believed that city’s built around a big river seem to carry extra clout.
This theory definitely stands up to scrutiny after our Porto test.
The Douro is a ‘Big River’.🎵
We took a boat trip yesterday: an Airbnb offered ‘experience’, with a £40 discount!
It was stunning!
A small private motor boat with one other passenger upstairs.
Sharon from Tanzania who was an absolute delight.
We had and shared an amazing time.
Sharon had just finished her Masters degree in Nottingham.
She was flying home today (Saturday 18th April), but returns to the UK in the summer.
It would be lovely to reconnect.
Such a bright and talented young woman with a fabulous ‘BBC Radio 4 voice’ and a smile as wide as the river itself!
Sometimes you just connect!
A Camino type connection was forged in just 2 hours!
That’s sort of standard fare on this unique type of journey.
We definitely connected.
In 2 hours of just one day!
Paolo, our Porto based skipper was brilliant.
So knowledgeable and interesting and his self taught English was excellent.
Our 2 hour river cruise under the ‘6 bridges of Porto’ was exceptional value.
We enjoyed complimentary canapés and wine too.
“Saúde” as we like to say in Portuguese!
Cheers. 🥂
A brief reminder as to how Nicky and I managed to get here.
We live in North Yorkshire, near a pretty village, come town called Pateley Bridge.
In Nidderdale.
Nestled right next to the iconic Yorkshire Dales National Park, Nidderdale is recognised as an ‘ANOB’ – ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
It truly is!
This waterfall is less than a mile from our house.
It is an incredible sight and sound when the river is in full spate.
Which it has been for most of 2026.
We all love a long, wet and cold British winter! 🙄
A wild and beautiful landscape.
We love it!
Part of the reason we moved there back in 2021, (a strange time moulded by the Covid pandemic), was because of Nidderdale’s proximity to big northern cities like Bradford, Harrogate and Leeds.
We love where we live, but we also wanted connections.
Leeds Bradford airport is about 25 minutes drive from our front door and our youngest son Jake and his wife Abbi, live a mile away from it.
So we are superbly connected for last minute and planned flights.
‘Kids payback time’ for Jake then!
Great positioning from the Junior Moorman’s for airport free parking and personal chauffeuring of the Seniors!
This proximity, alongside the cheap flights offered by Jet 2 and Ryanair from Leeds Bradford, has meant that it has been really easy for us to visit those cities mentioned above.
Each single flight has never cost us more than £27.
Brilliant deals.
We always travel light, avoid paying Ryanair’s annoying additional fees for extra luggage and allocated seats.
If Ryanair occasionally screws up on landing times: so be it.
We’re retired: so it is no real stress!
It really does become a ‘bargain break!’
Nicky came out to meet me in Porto via a more conventional travel choice.
Door to door it took her less than 6 hours to fly here, and that would have been even shorter if I hadn’t got myself hopelessly off course in trying to meet her.
Meaning I was around 30 minutes late.
I managed to end up on the wrong train, arriving 15 miles east of the airport, in the middle of nowhere!!
Quite an irony!
Especially as my journey here had been a little less conventional than hers.
And especially as I had walked a long way without ever really getting lost before Wednesday’
I flew to Faro on the Algarve, and my great friend Ian met us and gave us a lift all the way to Sagres.
So kind of him!
It feels like another lifetime now!
Us?
I had met my friend ‘Camino Steve’ in Faro, the night before.
He agreed to join me on this adventure last autumn.
We had originally met on the 500 mile long ‘Camino Frances’ which we both completed in 2023.
Don’t forget the purple bit when you look at that map.
It is significant.
We are doing ‘The Full Monty!’
Clothes on mind you, unlike the film ending:
In kit: apart from one sneaky skinny dip 3 weeks ago.
Not so secret as it turned out: the hostel receptionist saw it all.
Living on the edge.
Or ‘shrivelling on that ledge?’
Take your pick! 😜
That was a 170 mile stretch of coastline that followed the incredibly beautiful ‘Fisherman’s Trail’.
https://share.google/rd71Z5OiGYM7BLXGU
Camino Steve and I walked over 400 miles together in 3 weeks to reach Porto on Wednesday.
We saw some spectacular ocean based scenery and met some really fascinating people from all over the world,
In the last 2 weeks, most of these were fellow Peregrinos (pilgrims), who were also walking the historic, 1000 year old pilgrimage trail called ‘The Camino Portuguese’.
This trail links Lisbon in central Portugal to Santiago de Compostella in northern Spain.
Donna from Australia and Mike from California are 2 of those pilgrims.
Aka ‘Blitzen’ and ‘Yank with a Tank’.
Many of you know that a nickname from me is a genuine term of endearment.
Take the compliment you crazy pair of Peregrinos!
I still don’t know how Mike carries that monster backpack for 30+ Km every day.
But he dues.
And it’s his Camino. Good for him.
And apparently he has lightened it by 6kg!
We all met up for drinks later on Saturday afternoon.
So many wonderful memories flash through my mind as I type these words.
Nice for Nicky to meet some of the people who’ve shared my trip.
My walk which started on Wednesday 25 March, had 2 intentional purposes, when I set out.
Firstly, it was a celebration!
A celebration of LIFE –
In all its richest glory.
For 3 years in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, when I had retired and relocated at the same time to Nidderdale, an area, where family apart, I knew no one: I had found life to be very tough.
In 2023 and 2024 I went on 2 long distance Camino’s to try and find my ‘new purpose’.
Basically:having retired early:
I needed to find out –
“What’s the (new) point of Martin Moorman?”
Anyone who knew or met me then, might probably have referred to me as ‘Morose Mart’.
I was morose.
I was a really miserable b*ggar!
One Camino day in April 2024, I walked 63 km /40 miles.
My feet were absolutely screeching.
Why so far?
I’ve no idea really.
I think I was angry, and confused and didn’t know what to do or how to cope.
So I walked and walked and literally battered those feet!
Self flagellation: ‘Moorman Style!’
Don’t do it!
It was not a good idea.
So many of us boys seem to need the purpose we find in our work.
When the work stops?
What then?
Exactly!
Don’t make my mistake gents.
Line up your next thing, well in advance of the ‘Big R!’
Establish your new networks.
Find out what you are going to do and enjoy doing at 09.00 every Monday morning .
Because your Monday morning is going to be extremely different!
My Mondays at 09.00 involve travelling to somewhere in North or West Yorkshire, to meet 20 or so walkers who form the Wayfarers Monday walking group.
They are a brilliant bunch: intelligent, funny, encouraging. A healthy mix of the sexes. we walk around 8 miles. It is such a lovely way to start my week.
After “hunting high and low”🎵 I have found my new ‘tribe’.
I’d tasted loneliness since retiring from my very fulfilling job, running a special school in Halifax
It was a brilliant job and I loved working in that community.
The school really was ‘outstanding’.
Not just OFSTED’s version of ‘Outstanding’.
Its community was the most diverse and interesting I’d ever experienced.
And the most committed.
I loved it.
I loved the kids, wider community, staff, parents and families.
We made a difference!
The school still does.
Now under the brilliant leadership of Jo, who came to the school when I was the Headteacher, Ravenscliffe continues to make a daily difference in the lives of young people who face a lot of challenges.
So on both of those Camino’s, I walked to try and find my replacement ‘raison d’etre’.
‘Reason for being’.
63km in a day is not recommended.
However, on the plus side, it is still a family record – for now.
Probably for not much longer.
My crazy oldest son Harry is running a 100 km challenge in July.
I’ve offered my help and assistance:
As support ONLY!
Not as a fellow nutcase competitor!
Of course that lonely Camino of 2024 was a help to me in the long run.
It helped me to identify what the ‘non negotiables’ were in my life.
My wife and family were ‘non negotiables’.
I was not walking out on them.
Sometimes, like Camino’s, our relationships can get tricky.
Testy.
Family relationships especially.
If that’s your experience.
You are not alone.
My encouragement is for you to try harder, dig deeper, ‘walk further’ – just not 63 km further!
But don’t ever give in!
My family endured my nonsense for 3 years.
It was time to stop it’
So I did.
A lot of family bereavement had hit me too. I had also lost my best friend Carl to cancer.
I hit that depression.
It was horrible.
Thankfully, literally by the grace of God, I left that ‘pit’ nearly 2 years ago.
I have so much to be thankful for.
And:
This walk was planned as a ‘Walk of Life’🎵
Tragically, another life incident in July 2025 gave this epic 600 mile/ 1000 kilometre walk an added edge.
My beautiful and gifted 24 year old niece Hannah, was killed instantly in a head on car crash involving a driver who was 3 times over the drink/drive limit and who had driven 30+ km down the wrong side of a French autoroute.
This has devastated my sister Lizzie and her husband Dave and their 6 other adult children, plus their associated spouses, partners and friends.
I decided I wanted to help.
The family have set up a charity called ‘Les Histoires d’Hannah’ – ‘Hannah’s Stories’ and aims to donate a free reading book to local children starting school for the first time.
Hannah’s life, memory and love of reading could be celebrated and remembered through this charitable venture.
Today, Saturday 18th April, is actually another milestone day for Hannah’s family.
After negotiating other milestones Christmas, family birthdays and Easter, since her death, with her absence so painfully obvious, today they mark what would have been Hannah’s 25th birthday.
Such a tough milestone to negotiate.
They are a strong lot.
They keep pulling each other through.
But it is very tough.
I’ve had amazing support and sponsorship.
Nearly £2300 already pledged.
If you would like to support me and the Jones family, the link below, connects you to my sponsorship page.
Thank you very much if you do.
All that walking did present some challenges.
Our 4 day city break has provided my sore feet with a a bit of ‘time out’ and therapy.
Cold water, in all its forms, has been good for my sole(s)!
I have had exactly the same feet issues on all 4 of the long distance Camino’s that I have previously undertaken.
A mixture of painful inflammation of both soles, directly below the toes and a number of painful blisters.
2 x 42+ kilometre (25 mile) trail days as I ‘dashed for Porto’, and my rendezvous with Nicky, on Wednesday 15 April, didn’t help my feet very much either.
On Friday, I got an ironically timed reminder post on my Facebook feed, from 9 years ago, to the very day.
Back then when I walked the 500 mile ‘Camino de Santiago’ with my youngest son Jake, I had suffered from the same feet issues.
Painful then.
It is painful now.
Hydrotherapy helped then!
Irrigation ditches carrying ice cold mountain water had provided pain relief.
And cold water from any supply helps now.
We’ve still walked 6 miles each day in Porto during this city break.
You can’t do a city break without some walking.
My feet still hurt.
But the direct pain has wained a bit.
“It is what it is!”
A city break involves walking.
Porto is on a hill so there is a lot of ups and downs.
But undulation reveals hidden secrets.
Beauty on every front.
Brick kilns from Porto’s industrial past.
Iconic and eye catching churches..
In front of a brutal 1980’s car park.
What!!!!
The most beautiful main train station I have ever seen.
Grungy squares.
And a bustling waterfront with its historic ‘port’ heart: 🍷
That’s port: the drink.
Port; that quintessential after dinner drink, that the English gentility savoured, has always been brewed and shipped in Porto.
Hence the city’s name.
6 massive bridges spanning the huge Douro River.
This one designed and built by Mr Eiffel himself!
And gifted musicians playing evocative music in rustic squares and market halls.
The cathedral square hosts the Camino way marker for pilgrims starting the Porto to Santiago Camino.
That will be me on Sunday then.
I got the pose in early.
Beautiful grasses shimmered in the warm sunlight.
Cascades of nasturtiums camouflaged the ‘secret steps’ down to the river.
My blog tour of Porto has no real order.
Probably a deliberate policy on my behalf.
Porto is best enjoyed by ‘mooching’ in my opinion.
Its very randomness means that unplanned surprises crop up around every corner.
Like the well known, avant garde ‘golden arches’ eatery building..
The city’s McDonald’s restaurant is located in a beautiful art nouveau building.
They employ a falconer and his bird of prey, specifically to keep the pigeons away, as customers munch their Big Macs outside.
We’ve always found the best way to orientate ourselves in a city like Porto, is to take a free city tour.
Free?
Technically yes.
You pay a tip to your guide dependent on how enjoyable you found it to be.
Viktoria made our tour fun and engaging.
And kept the pace slow in deference to my sore feet.
She was excellent!
Next time you do a city break, check them out.
They are such a good way to find out more about a beautiful city.
It has been a tough ask editing the number of photos I could have placed in this blog.
I don’t think I’ve ever shot so many.
We saw giant courgettes in the fresh food market.
Nicky’s hand shows just how big they were.
Food and drink is pretty cheap in Portugal.
A coffee or a Sagres beer is less than 2 euros.
A Port & Tonic (Porto Tónico) is a refreshing, low-ABV Portuguese cocktail made by mixing 1 part white port with 2 parts tonic water and elderflower over ice, typically garnished with mint and lemon or lime
Popular as an aperitif, it is a crisp, bittersweet alternative to a Gin & Tonic, balancing fruity sweetness with botanical bitterness.
Nicky loved them: so refreshing on a hot day.
Even washing lines look cool in Porto.
As does a carpet shop.
‘UNESCO world heritage’ status was given to the city in 1996.
“The Historic Centre of Porto, along with the Luiz I Bridge and the Monastery of Serra do Pilar, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. The site was recognized for its unique urban fabric, medieval streets, and centuries-old buildings that testify to its long history.”
This does create ‘2 edged sword’ for older property in the city.
So many buildings stand empty, or just with their facade still standing.
Just like in the UK, with our graded 1 and 2 listings, the UNESCO status blocks random redevelopments. Buildings have to maintain their original external features.
Doing this is expensive.
The result is lots of empty or crumbling buildings.
UNESCO status is good for tourism but sometimes less good for the preservation of historic buildings.
I’ll write a little more about Porto tomorrow.
I’m staying in the city fur one more night.
This morning Nicky and I took an 03.20 ‘Bolt’ taxi to the airport.
Her flight home was at 06.05.
Yuck!
That will be me in 2 weeks time.
The same time and the same place as this adventure will have finished.
My sister Lizzie, Hannah’s mum, lands at 2pm Monday afternoon.
I’ll meet her at the airport and we will start our walk together to Santiago.
So today, I have a small 8 or 9 km stretch to walk.
From Porto cathedral to a metro station I’ll walk to somewhere 3 – 4 km from the airport.
Tomorrow morning I’ll walk those last few kilometres to meet Lizzie after she lands.
That way this slightly ‘impure pilgrim’, who has a reputation for ‘Shortcutting his Camino’, will still have maintained the purity of his 600 mile /1000 kilometre walk.
Walking the whole way.
No cheating!
“You only cheat yourself!”
Despite what others might say, I am actually a perfectly pure pilgrim. 😜
I hope to walk all the way to Santiago without resorting to engine power: except for boat crossings across big rivers.
Lizzie and I have 260 km /180 miles to walk.
We are going to hug the coast if we can and follow the ‘Litoral Way’.
So that’s a ‘16km /10 miles starter’ for Lizzie on Monday afternoon.
Welcome to the Camino girl.
Hopefully when we reach our hostel accommodation tomorrow night, she WILL NOT be quoting a certain Mr Geldhof’:
“I don’t like Mondays.“ 🎵
I’ll drop in a few more Porto photographs for you as I finish.
Nicky has just messaged: “just landed!” At 08.20 Sunday morning.
Thanks again for the read.
Buen Camino!
Martin x
Lush green fennel grows out of tiny fissures in the face of the rocky gorge.
The park overlooking Porto where tourists flock to watch the sunset.
He does it with mirrors.
Thank you Nicky Moorman for being the perfect Porto pearl.
You are the best! ❤️
You made my ‘Dash to Porto’ totally ‘worth it!’
Martin Moorman is a 61 year old retired Headteacher who lives with his wife Nicky, daughter and her family in North Yorkshire, UK.
Happily married for 36 years, Martin and Nicky have 3 grown up children, all happily married too. In his spare time Martin loves walking, photography, football, renovating cooking and talking rubbish to anyone who will listen!
Martin Moorman 