It was cold and cloudy, but like yesterday it never really rained for longer than a couple of minutes. Enough to make us drag out the wet weather gear, walk for a while and get hot, then take it all off again.

There are more pilgrims on the road now, as we get closer to Santiago. Interestingly, many of them feel the same way about pilgrim albergues as we do – tried that, not doing it again.

We have arrived in Valenca early enough to be able to spend some time walking around the Fortaleza, the old fortress on the Rio Minho, which marks the northern border between Portugal and Spain.

Valenca and the hills of spain in the distance

We climbed slowly, past some of what seemed to be abandoned farms. We crossed the bridge  over the Rio Labruja, which had previously had a “falling down” bridge and which had been replaced with a new concrete bridge. Under the A-3 freeway, again with not many cars on it.Portugal must be one of the few places on the planet that built freeways before it had enough cars to fill them. We wnt through Revolta, but the cafe was closed. We passed Arcozelo and the hill got really steep. We certainly needed our walking poles to help us get up the hill. We got passed by a couple of camino cyclists pushing their mountain bikes up the hill.

We reached the cross near the summit, where there was a brass plaque commerating the death of a pilgrim who had died in a plane crash in Moree Australia. We reached the summit, which we recorded as 458 metres.

Then it was down, down, down towards Cabanas on dirt tracks, until we reach quiet roads, where we were passed by a Canadian pilgram who had also left from Lisbon (9 days after us). We reached the Residential at Sao Roque, where there were already pilgrims in residence. There was an Alberque up the road, but there were at least 8 pilgrims staying at the Residential. There was no Restaurant so at 7pm they ferried us up the road in several loads to a restaurant about 2km away, where we had a meal of …pork.

Medieval bridge at Ponte de Lima

Muddy paths out of Ponte de Lima

replacement bridge for the falling down bridge (right)

climbing the hill

We met  a Swiss pilgrim who like us had started from Lisbon, except that he had started about ten days after us!

We walked on a lot of farm tracks, we passed the church at Vitorino do Plaes, but missed the turnoff to the cafe. We climbed up over a saddle and then dropped down into the Lima valley, getting a view of the 400m high hills we will be climbing tomorrow. We stopped at a cafe, then continued along a string of villages towards Ponte de Lima. We noted how many women drove tractors. South of Porto we had never seen a woman drive a tractor.

We followed the banks of the Lima River to arrive at Hotel Imperio de Minho to find it ws closed for renovations, the second hotel on this camino that we have found closed.

We looked for Pensao Beira Rio, but could find no sign or indication that anyone wanted guests. So on further to Pensao Sao Joao where we found a room and settled in. We went out later to a Pizzeria near the river, and walked back to the Pensoa in light rain, more of which is expected tomorrow.

Dry stone walls

Grape vines over the road

So …. what’s so good about this place? Well, everything. I know, this is going to sound like some tacky travel promotion, but we want to write it all down so we remember our stay there, plus give the owners of the 16th century Casas do Rio some well-deserved publicity and encourage anyone going to Portugal to plan a short or long stay at this wonderful haven. As well as being a beautiful place, the customer service is outstanding.

Jose and Cristina Amaro have owned Casas do Rio for the last 9 years and have spent a lot of time renovating both the buildings and the grounds. The 6-room boutique hotel is  managed by their daughter Sofia, who originally suggested that it should be opened to the public. It’s only been open for 7 months, but judging from the reviews and feedback, it has been an outstanding success. Our bedroom with ensuite was on the 1st floor of the stables. There are a total of 4 double bedrooms, plus a family room and a suite. The large grounds have lots of fruit and nut trees, chickens, ducks, geese & swans, and a sparkling clean pool which we spent some time swimming in, and lying beside.

There are a couple of restaurants nearby, but we just didn’t have the energy to walk to any of them, so our very kind hosts offered to cook us a meal, and we gratefully accepted. We ate on the terrace just outside the stables and chatted with Jose and our fellow guests, a couple from Germany who have travelled a lot in Portugal and who also thought that Casas do Rio was one of the best places they had ever stayed at.

The following morning, we had the most incredible buffet breakfast I have ever seen, anywhere. All homemade, from home-grown produce, cooked on one of their two wood stoves. At least 3 different kinds of cake (Greg’s idea of the perfect breakfast), a vegetable quiche, a chicken and tomato pie, 3 different kinds of home-made jams, home-made yoghurt with red-berry jam, a platter of fresh fruit, breads, meats and cheeses. And 3 home-made juice combinations. Our hosts encouraged us to take any leftovers with us for our lunch, so we made some ham and cheese rolls and enjoyed them later in the day.

I was very sorry to leave Casas do Rio after such a short stay, but walked out of there feeling relaxed, rested and reinvigorated, and ready to do a day’s walk. And I’m already planning our next holiday in Portugal, with at least a week’s stay at Casas do Rio! It’s the perfect place for pilgrims, foodies, tourists and travellers.

Casa do Rio (click on image for larger version)

It was market day (every Thursday) in Barcelos so we spent time wandering around an enormous market, that had been set up in the town square. Everything from fruit and vegetables, to furniture, to clothes to handicrafts. We left at 11:00am, walking out in warm weather about 26C. We were passed by another pilgrim from Spain. We are meeting pilgrims everyday, when in the camino before Porto, we were lucky to see a pilgrim once a week. It was all quiet roads and farms tracks until we reached Portela, where we saw the new Alberque that has been built, and bought 3 litres of cold bottled water from a cafe (they gave us two glasses to drink it).  We crossed Ponte das Tauas, where we met a pilgrim from Amsterdam who (with his dog) has been on the road since last August (walking all the way from Amsterdam to the Camino Frances, and then backwards along the Camino Portuguese).

We then left the camino at San Bento to walk to Casas do Rio, which without doubt is the best place we have stayed at on the whole camino.

Directions from the Camino Portuguse (red) to Casas do Rio (green). It is 1 km (click for larger image)

Detailed map with directions to Casas do Rio (click for larger version)

Walking along farm tracks (click for larger version)

We walked a kilometre up the road, which thankfully had a footpath, then left the main road for quiet country lanes. However we were soon back to the main road, with stone walls at the sides facing oncoming traffic. Greg donned the safety vest and his flashing headlight torch. It lasted about 1km and then we had a footpath, and left the main road again. We had forest paths most of the way to Sao Pedro de Rates, where we stopped at the local bar/cafe and had an icecream and drink. It was warm, and sunny, about 26C, and we enjoyed the shade under the umbrella. We left Sao Pedro de Rates and went through quiet dirt tracks through farming country.

As we approached Petra Furada we were forced back to N-306. This section of road had large signs warning drivers to be aware of pilgrams walking on the road. However it was narrow again with stone walls either side, and we were forced to walk on the road. On the first corner we faced a semi-trailer and several cars behind it (who could not see us), and we squeezed ourselves against the stone wall while the truck and cars went past. This section was probably 1km long, but half-way along, while a tractor was travelling the same way as us on the other side of the road, a hoon in an Audi overtook the tractor at high speed squeezing between us and the tractor missing us by centimetres.

When we reached the end of the road, Judy was all for us taking a taxi the rest of the way to Barcelos, she thought it was just too dangerous. We stopped at the Restaurnt at Petra Furada where the proprieter, who has been trying to improve safety for pilgrims, convinced us that the road ahead was much better, and that if we took a scenic detour (over a large hill) it would be a quiet walk into Barcelos.

We took up his suggestion and climbed up 290m to Capela de Sta da Franqueira along a quiet tree-lined shady road. We had great views of the Atalantic ocean from the summit.

We decended down from summit to walk though the suburbs of Barcelos, over the bridge, and along to our hotel. We were pretty exhausted for the day. However we managed to both limp about 800metres to a nice restaurant that did not have any other customers, but provided a nice meal of veal stroganoff (no pork involved).

Greg in his road walking safety gear

Walking up to the summit at Capela de Stada Franqueira (click for larger version)

We did a total of 20kms on cobblestones, then the remainding 6km on sealed roads, through the villages of Mosteiro, Vilar, Giao and finally to our destination, Vilarinho. We had been somewhat unexcited about staying at Vilarinho as our guidebook listed a pilgrim alburgue as the only accommodation. The thought of sharing a room with up to 15 other people, at least one of whom snores, sleeping in bunk beds and being woken by the endless rattle of plastic bags at 5am just isn’t our idea of what a camino is all about, so we were delighted to meet a gentleman at Mosteiro who told us about his ‘hostel’ in Vilarinho. It’s actually a self-contained unit at the back of his house with space for up to 4 people. There is a double bedroom, kitchen-loungeroom with another double bed and a shared bathroom. 10 euros per person including breakfast, and there are also washing and drying facilities.

So we were pretty happy about finding some nice accommodation, and after the horrors of the last 4km of the day, we needed it! We had to walk on a road that was barely 2 lanes wide, with absolutely no margin at all. Stone walls on either side, fairly busy road that we had to keep on crossing to avoid meeting oncoming traffic on blind corners. I’m amazed that the camino route hasn’t been changed to quieter, safer roads – if today had been my first day of walking a camino, it might also have been my last – really scary walking conditions.

Scary road no room stuck between two stone walls. Trucks semis and cars speeding along this road

We stopped a couple of times for snacks along the way, but it was too cold to sit for too long, so we just kept on walking and reached our hotel in Porto by 3pm. We’re staying at the B&B Hotel Porto Centro, a gorgeous new hotel in an old cinema. There is a large B&W photo of Ingrid Bergman on the wall of our room.

Rest day tomorrow, which will give us a chance to see a bit of Porto.

Walking in the rain again on a Roman road

Flowers on every grave

Judy at the Pont Louis I bridge (click for larger version)

Porto and the river (click on image for larger version)

Porto stage options: If you are walking to Porto there is another hotel that has been built about 7km north of Sao Joao Da Madeira. It is the Hotel Feira Pedra Bela. This would make the leg to Porto a more manageable 28km.

After a nice breakfast we packed up and headed out, down the road to Pingo Doce (a supermarket) for some fresh bread for lunch. We are walking to Porto on a Saturday and Sunday, and have learnt from experience that not many places are open Saturday, and even less on Sunday, so extra supplies are required. It was cold overcast, but it was not raining , so it was a meander through the suburbs, including another long steep hill, until we found a bar open (at the 4km mark) where we stopped in the warm for some drinks and rest. It was then our favourite highway the N-1. However because it was Saturday there was less traffic on the N-1, and a lot less trucks. We left the N-1 at Malaposta where we walked along the old Roman Via XVI road, with a short stretch of original Roman road.

Through long stretches of villages including Ferradal and Vergada. At Vergada we stopped for an icecream to think. We had a 5km stretch to Grijo, and then we had to backtrack east about 1.5km to get to the only hotel in the area. We pulled out our GPS and worked out it would be only 3.3km to go straight up the road to the hotel rather than the long detour. After 30 minutes it finally started raining. It rained for about four minutes and then stopped. We made it to the slightly run-down Residencial  Sobreiro Grosso. Tomorrow we have 18.3km to walk into Porto.

Tiled church

A piece of original Roman Road