Camino Portugués
231.6 km, 394 m up and 550 m down, through 8 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 Areias. 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.
A hamlet between Ceras and Portela de Vila Verde. No services.
Turn right at the church that looks like more of a mini-castle, leaving the main road for a smaller country lane.You will pass the small hamlet of Oueteiro da Cotovia (it won’t feel like you left Cortiça) and at an intersection marked Outeirinho to the left, turn left.Pass through Outeirinho, turning right then immediately left again once you get there.Then you will pass through Feteiras and Portela da Feteiras, all before arriving in Alvaiazere.
There are several roads out of town, but the camino is well marked. Still, pay close attention to the arrows and if you are a pre-dawn walker, you are advised to check it out in advance.Leave town by way of the road in front of the church, turning right at a B large palm tree.
Pass straight through Vendas. There are several signs leading you into it, but once you get there, they vanish or are poorly placed. Keep on straight through the hamlet, passing many houses in ruin. By the time you reach the top of the hill, you are at the end of town. From here the camino keeps to the right and down a path. There are several turns before arriving in Venda do Negro, all well marked.
Pass straight through Venda do Negro, turning left at the fork in the road at the far end of town.
Following the road for 100m to the first bend reveals several dirt tracks to the right and a broken camino sign. It is of the post-and-tile kind, and the tile has been removed. The desired track is the rightmost one.You can alternatively take the road, which is marked with the old camino arrows to Gramatinha, and then to Casais Maduros.The dirt track that you turned right on will take you to the road and to Casal do Soeiro. Several more arrows along the way are missing, but the way is clear when you remember that you should NOT walk on the road. Several pleasant tracks bypass the road all the way into town. On particularly wet or rainy days, there is no harm in sticking to the road so long as you mind the minor traffic.
In the village, turn right onto the road that shows Casal Maduros and Casal do Soeiro.
A hamlet on the road between Gramatinha and Ansiao. No services.
It is pleasant walking along these trails. When you emerge onto the main road, there is a sign on your left indicating Ansião and another on your right indicating Loagoa da Ameixieria. The center of Ansião is still 1.3km away, turn left to get there, but read carefully the notes about what to do next.
Coming into town along the road is OK, but once you get there you will find that the arrows have been removed. Turn left after the church; the camino rejoins the trail in 20m and the country track resumes.
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.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 1,604 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 19.1 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.