18 km. The final stretch to Porto according to John Brierleys Camino Portuguese guide is a gruelling 34.3km. The only option to break it into smaller chunks is to stop at Grijo, which we aimed to do. It rained on us last night when we went to dinner, so this mornings dark clouds made us expect that we would be walking in rain today.
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
I’ve enjoyed following your camino Jude. You’ll soon be passing through Viana do Costello. It has quite a pretty little town centre.
Thanks Barbara. I think we’re both enjoying this camino a lot more than the last one – something to do with not staying in albergues and getting woken up at ridiculous hours, and the Portuguese food and people are a lot nicer than the Spanish food & ppl too. The walking is now at the stage where I am enjoying it too. I don’t think we get to Viana do Castelo – it’s on the coast and we’re heading north via Barcelos and Ponte de Lima. We have talked about doing the coastal route, but the forecast is for temps under 20C and rain, and it would be much windier on the coast. Plus, some of the walking is on sand, which would be …. challenging with a full pack.