Camino Portugués
29.4 km, 278 m up and 369 m down, through 10 places, 3 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Ansião. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
Leave town across the Ponte da Cal, over the Rio Nabão (whose river-like qualities vary with the season). The camino takes you through the outskirts of Ansião; passing some suburbs and a large soccer field. The signs are visible all the way to Bate Agua.
Where the camino arrives at the main road into Ansião it DOES NOT follow the road. Instead, it turns left onto a side trail and bypasses the road traffic. The turn off is poorly marked but can be identified by the very small capilla that abuts the road.
The camino in Bate Agua is marked in two directions: the old way along the road and the new way through country paths, much like the options when leaving Venda do Negro. The preferred path is always the one that takes you away from motorized traffic. In Bate Agua, that means keeping on straight when you get there (the other option being to turn left and follow the old arrows along the road into Netos; a viable option and perhaps the preferred one if there have been heavy rains). Arriving at the first fork, turn left and immediately left again onto a footpath. You will rejoin another small road in a short distance, turn right and follow the curve of the road but you don’t stay on it long so keep an eye open for where the trail diverges again on your left. At the next intersection with a dirt track, turn left and then keep right at a fork a few meters on. This will bring you to a paved road where you turn left and walk into Netos.
Pass straight through town, turning left at the last house.
Avoid the temptation to follow other pilgrims that might be turning right at the large intersection in Venda do Brasil, faded arrows and older guidebooks describe that as the way. The safer and more pilgrim friendly option is to keep on straight past the gas station on your right-hand side.150m beyond the gas station a gravel road marked Casais Granja takes you up uphill.At the first fork keep right.At the next T-intersection turn right.At the next fork turn right.And then shortly after turn left to go behind a house.The camino rejoins the main road briefly, only to turn left off the road again.This is the new camino, and it avoids both the road and the next town of Junqueira even more than the old camino. Shortly before arriving at Junqueira it turns off to the left once more and back onto a gravel track.
The revised camino bypasses Junqueira entirely, but if you arrive via the road, turn sharply left at the bus stop and right onto the first gravel path.
The new camino does not enter Junqueira, but if you have arrived here via the road, turn sharply left at the start of town, at the small bus stop, and then right onto the first gravel path.
Facing the crucifix side of the church, turn right towards the main road (newly cobbled) and turn right onto that road. You should now have a large modern building on your left (the community center and albergue), and you will be going downhill. Continue to the first road and turn left there, downhill.The camino will bring you to the N347, which you follow to the left for a very short distance.It then turns right onto a gravel path.
This gravel path is part of an old Roman road, and the arrows have disappeared. Just keep on straight. When it arrives at a paved road, turn left. But DO NOT stay on this road all the way back to the N347. The arrow is gone, but when you get to a curve in the road, the track to the right is the one you want. That curve in the paved road is 300m from the visible N347, so if you get as far as the main road, you can either retrace your steps or walk the N347 into town.
Keep on the N347 out of town. This road leads directly to Rabaçal, but the camino enjoys a parallel path. Just out of town turn right onto a track that is directly opposite the road towards Vale Florido. Shortly after turn left just before a cluster of buildings, and 150m later turn left once more. You are now paralleling the N347 that you left just a short while ago and the trail will take you to Rabaçal.
This gravel path is part of an old Roman road, and the arrows have disappeared. Just keep on straight. When it arrives at a paved road, turn left. But DO NOT stay on this road all the way back to the N347. The arrow is gone, but the track to the right is the one you want. That curve in the paved road is 300m from the visible N347, so if you get as far as the main road, you can either retrace your steps or walk the N347 into town.
Keep on out of town along the road and turn right where indicated in the direction of the Castelo de Germanelo. A turn to the left appears 900m down this road. Turn there and follow a well-marked set of trails all the way to Zambujal.
There are no services along the next 11km to Conímbriga. Stock up in Rabaçal, the night before if you have to.
Keep on the camino through Zambujal, with the church on your right. Shortly after at a fork, keep to your left. Keep on this trail, crossing the N347, and into Fonte Coberta.
At the end of town the signage has been improved, and a picnic area has been built but the fountain has not been connected. Turn left here and onto a track to Poço.
Pass left through Poço and descend through the forested hillside all the way to the museum and ruins of Conímbriga.
Leave by way of the road that exits the site. Turn right at the first intersection, heading straight towards and underneath the highway.Once past the highway, you will pass a series of hamlets (Valada, Atadoa, Orelhudo, Ribeira de Casconha, and Casconha) before crossing back over the highway and arriving in Cernache. Along the way, only Casconha has a bar.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 306 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 29.6 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.