Camino Portugués
26.1 km, 427 m up and 285 m down, through 9 places, 5 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from São Pedro de Rates. 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.
The Igreja Romanica de Sao Pedro de Rates sits at the entrance to town and is the finest Romanesque church in Portugal. The church is all that survives of the Benedictine monastery that once stood here — a solemn, heavy-…
At the start of town the camino splits. Keep to your right, following the arrows along The Central Way. The other variation will take you west to join The Coastal Way.
The sign indicating the entrance of Pedra Furada would have you believe that the town is much smaller that it is. Pass through the narrow streets and at the main road turn left into the rest of town. After turning left, keep on the road.
At the start of Góios, a small detour takes you off to the left to bypass a blind curve in the road.
Soon the scenery changes slightly, to more businesses and traffic, even a gas station. The camino stays on the road through this stretch to the end of town. Beyond the edge of town, it turns left off of the road. Between here and Barcelinhos and Barcelos there are services, but the towns are quite small. The most obviously named ones are included here, but there are many more in between them.
A small village between Goios and Carvalhal. No services of note.
Turn left at the church in Carvalhal.
After passing the small chapel in the center of the intersection of Santa Cruz, the camino nears the cities of Barcelinhos and Barcelos and the tangle of roads that encircle them. You will pass straight across a roundabout onto a road adjacent to a car dealership. The road looks like a dead-end but in fact narrows and turns right towards a tunnel underneath the highway. When it emerges, it climbs and winds slightly back up the N205, and turns right. The way into Barcelinhos is straight ahead.
Leave town across the bridge over the Río Cávado. At the end of the bridge, turn left (against traffic) and follow the curve in the road up to the church and the ‘palace’.
A fresh set of arrows and signs direct the way through town, past the Igreja Senhor da Cruz and the large market square opposite it (open on Thursdays).
After rounding the church, keep on the road to the first side street and turn right. At the next fork (identifiable for the wash basin and cruceiro) keep to your left. One more right-hand turn and you are heading straight for the railway. At the tracks, the arrows turn left, but that is a not strictly necessary detour to an underpass. You are in the countryside now until Lijó. Turn left at the first fork and into town.
The camino passes a convenient bakery on your left as it crosses through town. Pass the front of the chapel and keep to your left, passing another chapel and park not far after. At this point you begin the steady uphill climb to Portela de Tamel, passing along the way intermittent strings of housing.
Arrows at the end of town, opposite the ‘Restaurante 2000,’ direct you up the stairs and to your right to pass the church and albergue. They eventually bring you back to the road, which you must follow for about 400m. Follow the road signs for Quintiães to the left, and shortly thereafter leave the road along a gravel track on your right.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 248 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 25.6 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.