Camino Portugués
13.5 km, 117 m up and 147 m down, through 9 places, 1 of which has somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Moreira. 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.
Entering Moreira, turn right at the cemetery.The camino will take a right-left-right a short distance on, and the arrows are painted low on the curb. Whether you follow them, or you miss them, you will arrive at the main road. Turn right there. A Pingo Doce and a Lidl tell you that you are on the correct road.From here it is a straight road to the Zona Industrial of Maia. Turn left when you get there.
An industrial zone. The Metro's Zona Industrial stop is nearby but not on the camino. Pingo Doce and Lidl along the road provide supplies. Turn left when you reach the zone.
The Metro of Porto Line C (Linha da Maia) has a stop called Zona Industrial but it is not along the camino.
Barranha marks a welcome change in scenery. The congestion and noise of Porto are finally behind you, though you're still on paved or cobbled paths. The walking improves from here.
If you wish to spend the night here, turn left. Otherwise, keep on straight through the intersection, passing a few bars on the way out of town.
A small kids' park and a pretty but disused square offer shade for a rest. The church is up the road to your right; the camino passes straight through.
Turn right and head towards Igreja.
At Gião - Joudina the camino has followed alongside the narrow N306 for about 2km.
The road narrows ahead, and the going was sufficiently dangerous for the camino to be rerouted to the east along a much quieter road. The distance added is 1km, but the route is pretty enough and peaceful enough to feel shorter than along the road.
There are also plenty of bars along the way, and the albergue of Vairão is best reached via the detour as well.
Public restrooms next to the church. The camino passes through on the detour between Giao and Vairao.
A hamlet on the road between Igreja and Vairao. No services.
A hamlet on the approach to Vairao. No services.
Shortly before arriving at the Monastery the camino turns left sharply. Follow that road 500m, and turn right onto a trail through the forest.
Where the forest ends turn right, and at the next big road (N318), turn left again into Vilarinho.
The camino follows the road out of town in the direction of Fontaínhas and keeps to the left at the fork, leaving the busy road just before a curve. It passes through a small hamlet and then crosses back over the road. Old arrows indicate that the camino continues along the road, but this way should only be followed if the bridge at Ponte do Ave is not passable.
The camino goes straight across the road to a set of stairs that take you down to the river.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 104 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 13.8 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.