Caminha (Portugal) – Tui  (Spain)

15 April 2018

29.9km (Brierley’s Guidebook)

44.3km (Our walk)

This is our last day of walking in Portugal. If all goes to plan, we’ll be sleeping in Spain tonight.

When consulting our Brierley guidebook, we were pleased to see it was only 29.9km. But by the end of the day, we walked a massive 44.3km (just because we were following an arrow, we weren’t supposed to).

I think most pilgrims prefer to take the ferry from Caminha and then start walking from A Guarda via the bridge in Vila Nova de Cerveira. However, we decided to stay a little longer in Portugal and took the route along the river, which is mostly a pedestrian path.

Beautiful morning next to the Minho River

A few locals were busy setting up small stalls for a Sunday morning market along the Minho River and they showed us the way out of Caminha.

About 3km after leaving Caminha, we reached Cementerio. It was such a quiet and calm morning and even though we didn’t walk along the sea, we were happy to have the beautiful river in our sight.

Chapel of Sao Bento in Seixas

Over the railway between Cementerio and Seixas

We knew the path was along the river today and were looking forward to walking on the new “Ecopista” (2017) specially built for pedestrians and cyclists.

Minho River in the early morning mist

Early morning mist turned the pathways into a fairyland

About 7km into today’s stage we approached Lanhelas and thought it would be a good idea to walk off the Camino route to find an open café. At a small corner café, we ​​could buy coffee – ah, morning happiness. On the way out we also bought fresh bread rolls and a packet of crisps (which we intended to enjoy later next to the river).

As we walked out of the café, we were chatting and only vaguely noticed a yellow arrow pointing the way to the left. We followed this road (a really steep uphill) for some time. Berto mentioned that it was strange that we were walking uphill when we were supposed to be walking along the river.

Walking uphill in Lanhelas after we left the café – were we not supposed to go downhill to the river?

At first, we thought it was just a detour back to the river, but the arrows kept directing us left, right, left and right – oh, and further inland.

In hindsight, we should have taken the road straight to the river the moment we realised we were going inland. The lesson to learn here is to trust your gut. But instead, we kept following the (wrong) arrows and moved further and further inland.

And then it started raining. While trying to get our rain jackets out of our backpacks and following the arrows at the same time, we totally lost the way.

I managed to take a few photos – between the rain and getting lost – but can’t tell you exactly where it was. According to the map, it must be between Lanhelas and Vila Nova de Cerveira.

Here are photos of our ‘unexpected detour’:

Between Lanhelas and Vila Nova de Cerveira

Also, between Lanhelas and Vila Nova de Cerveira

When we reached a high point, we could see the river in the distance. Berto decided that we should no longer follow any arrows but instead take the shortest route back to the Minho River.

Time to get back to the Minho River

And then, after more than an hour since we walked out of the café, we were finally back at the river – just in time to see a big sign indicating that we had reached Vila Nova de Cerveira.

Walking into Vila Nova de Cerveira

We realised that we had walked almost 15km (double the distance we were supposed to walk).

Fortunately, the sun made its appearance just as we found a bench next to the river where we could rest for a while after walking a ‘mini-Camino stage’ in an hour and a half.

While sitting next to the river, I read in our Brierley guide that there is actually a route called the “Caminho da Senhora do Norte” that continues from Lanhelas to Valenca on an inland path. It’s possible that we followed these arrows for the last 90 minutes.

We just had to laugh. By missing an arrow and then followed the wrong one, we unexpectedly explored the inland between Lanhelas and Vila Nova de Cerveira. Ok, now that this confusion is sorted out, we could start walking the real stage.

We enjoyed the river view while having a bread roll filled with crisps

To our surprise, we actually enjoyed the riverside path of the Minho River. We walked for almost 8km uninterrupted along the river on this pathway.

River path along the Minho River

For almost 8km, the only “traffic” was the occasional pedestrian or cyclist

Facilities are few along the river (but hey, we didn’t dare to walk off the trail again), so we decided to have a picnic at a recreation area near Montorros.

Our backpacks did not deliver much – only a few balls of cheese and two salami sticks

We read about a café at the Montorrosa recreation area (café S Paio), but also that it is only open in the summer time. This was indeed the case and we had to move on.

Pathway (Ecopista) along the river

After walking for a while, we came across another secluded café (according to our Brierley guidebook this café is also only open during summer). However, we heard music and people’s voices inside and went to knock on the door.

A young man opened the door and invited us inside. It looked like they had a small family gathering in the café (probably the owner of the café) but they offered us coffee and we were also able to buy soft drinks and chocolates. I don’t think they were actually open to the public (or pilgrims), but rather that they were enjoying a family lunch in their own café. We were very happy that they helped us and thanked them for their hospitality.

Our suggestion: If you walk the Ecopista (and it’s not during summer), make sure you buy food and drinks in Vila Nova de Cerveira. Vila Nova de Cerveira is about halfway between Caminha and Valenca and with almost no cafés open (at least during spring), it’s important to have supplies which you can enjoy next to the river.

The Ecopista continued until Ponte Medieval

Ancient stone bridge, the Ponte Medieval da Veiga da Mira

From here the Camino follows the railway to the outskirts of Valenca. The yellow arrows took us through a muddy area in a deserted farmland, and we once again had to deal with a lot of mud on our shoes. I said to Berto: ‘Enough of the mud’. Finally, we reached the paved roads and walked into Valenca.

In Valenca. Phew, what a day!

Reaching Valenca, didn’t mean this was the end of our day. We had to walk another 3.4km to Tui in Spain.

We quickly walked through the Citadel (while wishing we had more time to explore this beautiful place), but after almost 40km it was time to call it a day, and we swiftly move on to Tui in Spain.

Quick walk through the Citadel in Valenca

Eventually we saw the landmark that would indicate we were getting closer to the end of our Portuguese Camino – the International Bridge between Portugal and Spain.

The bridge that would take us to Spain

Last photo on Portuguese soil – what a wonderful country and amazing people

We crossed the International Bridge that spans the Minho River and entered Tui in Spain.

Berto on his way to Spain

I suppose, if you stand in the middle of this sign, you are in Portugal and Spain at the same time

And then, just like that, we crossed the border and found ourselves in Spain.

It’s official – we are in Spain. Hola Espana!

We immediately saw the signs and waymarks indicating that we were still on the Portuguese Camino.

On the Portuguese Camino, but now in Spain

The first thing I noticed was that there were no more cobblestones. After walking hundreds of kilometers on cobblestones in Portugal, I must admit the even pavement was much better for my blistered feet. Berto, on the other hand, loved the cobblestones (but he had no blisters).

I will miss many things about our walk in Portugal, but not their cobblestoned walkways

We did not even look for our albergue but instead walked straight to the first café and ordered the biggest beers on their menu.

After walking ten hours and 44km, this must count as the best beers ever

What should have been an easy walk of 29.9km (that’s if you decide to spend the night in Valenca) ended up being 44.3km. We walked the extra 3.4km to Tui, but the other unaccounted-for kilometres must have been due to our ‘mini-Camino’ between Lanhelas and Vila Nova de Cerveira.

Accommodation – Tui:

Albergue San Martin

Our albergue was near the café and we checked into Albergue San Martin where we had our own room (a real bonus after an exhausting day).

We took a long and hot shower and didn’t even bother to do our laundry. It was now already late in the afternoon, and we were just too tired to struggle with laundry. I mean, we barely had enough energy to walk to the nearest restaurant for dinner.

A cat under our table in the restaurant where we had pizza, received some TLC (and small pieces of pizza)

We went to bed early – it wasn’t even dark outside yet. I’ll never forget our last day of hiking in Portugal.

Just before I fell asleep, I thought about our amazing time in Portugal:

• We will miss their food,
• Their beautiful country (especially those sea walks from Porto),
• Even the rainy days are imprinted in my mind,
• And of course, the warmth and kindness of the Portuguese people,
• But most of all … yes, their delicious Pastéis de natas.

Click here for Day 21 …