{"id":19,"date":"2026-03-09T05:35:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/?page_id=19"},"modified":"2026-03-11T22:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:36:23","slug":"camino","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/en\/camino\/","title":{"rendered":"The Camino"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Walking 270 km from Porto to Santiago to raise awareness for Long COVID and PAIS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Support the mission<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Portuguese Coastal Camino<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Camino de Santiago is a historic network of pilgrimage routes leading to Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain. For more than a thousand years, people from all over the world have walked these paths for spiritual, personal and reflective reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today the Camino is walked by people from many different backgrounds \u2014 pilgrims, hikers and travellers seeking time to think, recover or simply move forward step by step.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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My first encounter with the Camino<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

My first encounter with the Camino happened many years ago, long before I could have imagined walking it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my twenties, while working at Shell, a colleague recommended that I read The Alchemist <\/em>by Paulo Coelho. After that book I discovered another of his works, The Pilgrimage<\/em>, in which he describes his own journey along the Camino de Santiago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the first time I learned about the Camino \u2014 a path walked by people from all over the world in search of meaning, reflection and transformation. At the time, the idea of walking the Camino felt distant and almost symbolic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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When the Camino returned<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Years later, life would take an unexpected turn with Long COVID, and the Camino gradually returned to my thoughts \u2014 this time not only as a story, but as a journey I would one day walk myself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why this pilgrimage matters<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Walking this pilgrimage is not only a personal journey. It is also a way to raise awareness for Long COVID and other Post-Acute Infection Syndromes (PAIS)<\/strong>, and to support research and patient organisations working towards better recognition, care and treatment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Walking the Portuguese Coastal Camino<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In April 2027 I will walk the Portuguese Coastal Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. This route follows the Atlantic coastline through northern Portugal and Galicia in Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey covers approximately 270 kilometres and normally takes around two weeks to complete. Because of Long COVID and the need to pace my energy carefully, I will walk the route in a slower rhythm over three weeks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each step on the Camino represents the resilience of people living with chronic post-infectious conditions around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n270 kilometres along the Atlantic coast from Porto to Santiago the Compostela: the Camino in 21 walking days\n<\/h3>\n\n
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\ud83d\udc1a Days 1\u20133<\/strong>
\nPorto \u2192 Vila do Conde<\/p>\n\n

\ud83d\udc63 Days 4\u20136<\/strong>
\nVila do Conde \u2192 Viana do Castelo<\/p>\n\n

\ud83d\udc63 Days 7\u20139<\/strong>
\nViana do Castelo \u2192 Caminha<\/p>\n\n

\ud83d\udc63 Days 10\u201312<\/strong>
\nCaminha \u2192 Vigo<\/p>\n\n

\ud83d\udc63 Days 13\u201316<\/strong>
\nVigo \u2192 Pontevedra<\/p>\n\n

\ud83d\udc63 Days 17\u201320<\/strong>
\nPontevedra \u2192 Padr\u00f3n<\/p>\n\n

\ud83c\udfc1 Day 21<\/strong>
\nPadr\u00f3n \u2192 Santiago de Compostela<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\nSponsor a kilometre\n<\/h3>\n\n

\nThe Portuguese Coastal Camino from Porto to Santiago is about 270 kilometres<\/strong>. \nYou can sponsor or dedicate a kilometre of the journey and help raise more awareness for Long COVID and Post-Acute Infection Syndromes (PAIS).\n<\/p>\n\n

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\nPorto<\/span>\n135 km<\/span>\nSantiago<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n0 of 270 kilometres sponsored\n<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u20ac20<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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SUPPORT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sponsor a kilometre<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dedicate a kilometre of the Camino to someone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u20ac50<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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SUPPORT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Support a day of the walk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help raise awareness for Long COVID and PAIS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u20ac100<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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SUPPORT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Support research and recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support research, better care and recognition<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u20ac250<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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SUPPORT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Support the mission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help amplify the voices of people living with PAIS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walking 270 km from Porto to Santiago to raise awareness for Long COVID and PAIS The Portuguese Coastal Camino The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stepsforpais.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}