Camino Portugués
24.5 km, 238 m up and 235 m down, through 6 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 Carreço. 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.
If you choose to keep on the camino through Carreço, turn away from the bridge and keep to the east of the tracks. It won't be long before the camino turns back to the tracks and crosses at a level crossing. It will arrive at the church and pass behind it. Arrows are scarce to non-existent here, just keep to this same road a short distance until it merges with a larger road and turn right towards the train station. Where this road ends turn right and back over the railway in the direction of "Paço - Carreço". A short distance on the camino turns left at the second street, there is an arrow and a marker for the PR8 hiking trail. Arrows will guide you through town, past the albergue, and at the last junction at the last house in town, keep left and into the forest. The way is anything but straight but is well indicated. You will emerge from the forest at the edge of the town of Afife, and subsequently skirts around the town thereby avoiding all of the services available there. The way is marked and winding along cobbled roads. It will make its way over a small river and continue to climb up through the forest to a road and the stone cross cruzeiro.
All services in Carreço are located along the main road. To get there you will need to turn left to cross the railway, and follow the road downhill to the roundabout. Turn left at the roundabout, heading south (with the water on your right).
The Cruzeiro marks a high point, and it is downhill from here to Vila Praia de Âncora.
To find your way from Âncora, make your way to the waterfront. The camino follows the road adjacent to it, and where the yellow bike lanes begin you have the option of crossing to the right-hand side of the road, but keep an eye open for where the bike path turns left as you want to follow it to where it ends. From there continue along the dirt track, with the railway to your right for a short distance.
You will pass the Capela de Santa Isodoro on your left. The path will turn to a road as it enters the first suburbs of Caminha, and where the road ends at another turn right. You are at the beach now and a short distance later turn right and pass under the railway. Once back to the main road turn left and continue towards Caminha.
Where the camino arrives at a large roundabout with the N13, take the third exit along the Rua de Pombal (NOT over the railway). The road will eventually twist to pass over the tracks and from there it proceeds directly to Caminha, arriving at the main square, the Praça Conselheiro Silva Torres.
Moledo is a small beach village with views across the Rio Minho estuary to Spain. On clear days you can see Monte de Santa Trega -- the peak you'll be walking near after crossing into Galicia. The beach here is exposed a…
Caminha is the last town in Portugal. From here it's a short water taxi ride across the estuary to Spain -- or more precisely, to the point where the Atlantic meets the Rio Minho, a natural boundary that has separated th…
At the far end of town the road meets a roundabout and crosses a smaller river by way of a bridge. DO NOT CROSS THE BRIDGE unless Valença or Tui is your destination. Arrows here still exist, and if they do they are pointing the way to Tui along the Central Way. Instead, turn back towards the harbor; signed "Ferry Boat".
Several companies now offer the crossing from Caminha to A Guarda, and the ride takes around 20 minutes. The schedule varies with the tide, so you'll need to check locally or call ahead -- your accommodation in Caminha w…
From the ferry terminal in Camposancos you can choose to take an alternative route that circumnavigates the peninsula to the south, adding about 4km to the journey but adding some great views. Otherwise turn left from the ferry terminal to follow the water a short distance to the first road, turning right and uphill on the Camino del Palomar. Note that this is not the road that is marked A Guarda 2km. That road, marked red on the map, is a possibility though not the camino. The Camino del Palomar continues more or less straight uphill, turning only to pass around a large apartment block. At the top, it first crosses the road before turning left. A dozen meters on keep to the right along a smaller road, at which point you are heading south rather unnaturally. The camino turns itself around by turning right and then right again to follow a series of roads and trails around the Monte de Santa Trega. It eventually returns to the Paseo de Portugal road mentioned above and turns left into town. Entering this way means that you will stay at the upper half of the town, and a few variations exist which allow you to descend and then ascend.
Change the time on your watch/phone/sundial/wind-up alarm clock. Spain is one hour ahead, so assuming you wake up at the same hour as the day before you will find things to be darker than usual.
Leave A Guarda along the Rúa Puerto Rico, passing the municipal albergue. The arrows are poor here and the best way is to keep an eye out for a sign indicating the way to Playa Area Granda, a left turn off the Rúa Puerto Rico. Follow this road all the way to the sea and turn right. Ahead is a small beach, followed by a curve in the road, and then a slightly larger beach. This is the Area Grande.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 808 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 23.8 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.