Our Camino Journey: Portuguese Stages

Viana do Castelo, overlooking the Atlantic

This is the third post in Our Camino Journey. Other entries include Discovery and Porto.

Matosinhos to Póvoa de Varzim
To start our Camino, we took a train from central Porto to Matosinhos to avoid the industrial area of Porto and to make our day a more manageable distance.  On the train we met the first 'squad' of our adventure, a man from Texas who lives in New Zealand, a man from northern Australia, and two women from Wales.  They met during their first Camino, the French Camino. 
For most of the day we followed the coastline, passing fishing villages, forts and chapels, the prehistoric castro of San Paio, and of course, beautiful sandy beaches. It was VERY windy after about 1pm, and several detours took us a few miles off the main route as the boardwalks along the beach were being repaired.  The day ended up being a bit longer than expected, but we really enjoyed it and slept VERY well that night indeed!

Steps: 43379 | Miles: 17.2 | Miles so far: 17.2 

Póvoa de Varzim to Esposende
On our second day we continued along the coast for quite some time.  We rejoined the pilgrims we met on the train the first day.  Eventually, it started sprinkling, so we donned our raincoats.  The rain started to come down a bit heavier so we added a poncho to keep our day packs dry.  The rain then stopped.  We detoured off the main trail to get a cup of coffee and unfortunately, the coffee shop we were looking for was closed until December.  I look bad at this point for diverting everyone. Locals told us there was a coffee place just a block further, and we found it no problem.  I was redeemed.  Five minutes later it poured and we were all glad we had stopped.
The trail took us inland along a golf course, through farming areas, and eventually to Fao, a small town just south of our destination.  By this time our train friends fell behind as we had a quicker pace.  Tim and I shared a ginormous tapas sampler that included the best-tasting ribs we've ever and it was just 11 euros.  We saw an endless stream of beautiful small villages, and it was interesting to see older houses mixed in with restored pristine homes.  

Steps: 34639 | Miles: 12.75 | Miles so far: 30.55 

Esposende to Viana do Castelo
After another great European breakfast at the hotel, we zigzagged through the streets going from one town to another, then we got to a portion of the Camino that was an actual trail through the woods and along a stream.  Then up. And up. And up.  Beautiful and peaceful but a pretty tough climb.  We finally exited the forest and came upon another series of towns, across the Rio Lima on a bridge obviously not made for modern traffic and certainly not foot traffic.  I estimated 80 Hail Marys as we crossed.  But the reward was at the end as we entered the town.  Legend has it that the Romans were so impressed by Viana’s beauty when they reached the Viana Do Castelo in the first century BC that they thought they had reached paradise.  

Steps: 42333 | Miles: 15.84 | Miles so far: 46.39 

Viana do Castelo to Vila Praia de Ancora

After leaving Viana do Castelo we continued mostly inland of the Atlantic coastline heading north and eventually on side streets through residential areas mixed in with farms, making for an enjoyable walk.  We met a couple from France (she is Portuguese, he is French) I was able to practice my Spanish as she did not speak English.  We stopped for coffee and rejoined some friends we’d seen several times.  Coffee after 2 hours of walking is amazing. We then hit another tough series of climbs through mostly vineyards and woods.   Just after saying we really needed to eat something- a glorious site of a food truck (kinda) offering beer and baguettes.  No bano but I improvised.  It was just a mile later to Vila Praia de Ancora.  Upon entering the edge of the village we found the locals setting up for a festival including a parade, costumes, and hand-carried floats.  Amazing.  What a lovely way to experience the local culture.  Unexpected and beautiful.

It was tough getting used to the late dinner time, which was usually 7:30-8:00 in the evening.  It was interesting to sample the local fare; Tim did a great job of filleting the fish he selected for his meal.

Steps: 34749 | Miles: 11.83  | Miles so far: 58.22 

Vila Praia de Ancora to A Guarda

We knew this day would be pretty easy, with a quiet six mile walk to the "ferry" in Caminha along a flat section of road with a wonderful sidewalk. After breakfast we made great time since it was perfect timing for our coffee break in Caminha in a wonderful pilaza, just one of the daily events that helped build a cadence to our days. The ferry was just a guy with a boat, however there actually was a safety briefing. After crossing into Spain, with a timezones change, we had just over two miles to the hotel with a bit of climbing and some of the route through the woods. We took advantage of our short walking day to get some laundry done while enjoying a bite and a cerveza across the street from the lavandería.

After dropping off our clean clothes at the hotel we took a ‘train’ (just a diesel truck pulling open air passenger cars) to the top of Monte Santa Trega, where we saw Celtic ruins and amazing views. It was SUPER windy and quite cool. We returned down the hill to join our Camino friends for dinner and a stunning sunset.

Steps: 27399 | Miles: 9.9 | Miles so far: 68.12

The next day would be a long one, as we continue our Camino in Spain. Read that entry here.

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