Coast to interior connections

[amancio]

Hola !
I did Portugués a few years ago. I went down the river Douro, then up the coast past Matosinhos, Angeiras and Vila do Conde. From there, I took a detour (with yellow arrows) inland towards Sao Pedro de Rates, but I found those 14 km plain dangerous and unpleasant for walking.
I have heard there are other connection points from the coast to the Interior route. Where do they start from? Are they well signposted? ARe they likewise dangerous? Do they end up in Sao Pedro de Rates or in Barcelos, or somewhere nearby?

Thanks for any update!

 

[naplesdon]

I know people walk from Caminha up the Mina River but I don’t how well it is marked or whether you can get to Valenca in a day.

 

[Robert Long]

We plan to make this cross over from Vila do Conde to Arcos in October. I'd be interested in others comments

 

[amancio]

I know people walk from Caminha up the Mina River but I don’t how well it is marked or whether you can get to Valenca in a day.

That is actually much higher up North than I was thinking about! I was thinking about Povoa de Varzim, perhaps Esposende... And I am glad to see there is more interest about this! When I did Vila do Conde to Sao Pedro, the stretch is ugly in the best cases, nothing wrong with that, but it is also quite dangerous in other parts. Lookkng forward to some information!

 

[jsalt]

Hi, there is no path (that I know of) from the Coastal to the Central Route (the Interior Route is much further inland and starts in Viseu), other than from Vila do Conde, and Caminha, and also from Vigo to Redondela even further north.
There are buses . . . .
Don’t even think about trying to walk on small country roads to get across – there are no side verges to walk on, but there are blind corners and plenty of manic drivers!
For some ideas, you could have a look at Luis Freixo’s Portuguese Maps: http://www.caminador.es/
Jill

 

[Lunchmeat337]

The way from Vila do Conde to Rates is no better or worse than many other parts. Be careful and watch ahead and behind.

 

[amancio]

Hi, there is no path (that I know of) from the Coastal to the Central Route (the Interior Route is much further inland and starts in Viseu), other than from Vila do Conde, and Caminha, and also from Vigo to Redondela even further north.
There are buses . . . .
Don’t even think about trying to walk on small country roads to get across – there are no side verges to walk on, but there are blind corners and plenty of manic drivers!
For some ideas, you could have a look at Luis Freixo’s Portuguese Maps: http://www.caminador.es/
Jill

Perfect, that link is very handy! And I had not noticed that there is a difference between Central and Interior routes, thanks for that too!
It looks like the safest way to transfer between Coast and Central might be a bus or a taxi from Vila do Conde to some place before Sao Pedro de Rates, I would not walk that road again if I can avoid it.

 

[onwayhome]

Hola !
I did Portugués a few years ago. I went down the river Douro, then up the coast past Matosinhos, Angeiras and Vila do Conde. From there, I took a detour (with yellow arrows) inland towards Sao Pedro de Rates, but I found those 14 km plain dangerous and unpleasant for walking.
I have heard there are other connection points from the coast to the Interior route. Where do they start from? Are they well signposted? ARe they likewise dangerous? Do they end up in Sao Pedro de Rates or in Barcelos, or somewhere nearby?

Thanks for any update!

There is a route from vila do conde to Rates which avoids dangerous roads. I think this is different from the way you took because this one is not waymarked at all. It follows the old aqueduct due north from V do Conde then goes NE through Beiriz. I followed it not so long ago using written directions from Brierly. It's about 13km and there's a couple of cafés on the way who are glad to see the occasional pilgrim who takes this route.

 

[amancio]

There is a route from vila do conde to Rates which avoids dangerous roads. I think this is different from the way you took because this one is not waymarked at all. It follows the old aqueduct due north from V do Conde then goes NE through Beiriz. I followed it not so long ago using written directions from Brierly. It's about 13km and there's a couple of cafés on the way who are glad to see the occasional pilgrim who takes this route.

Wow, that would be something else! Do you know if there is a track for it anywhere that I could follow with a GPS?

 

[onwayhome]

A GPS track would be very useful, has anyone got one? Otherwise the directions I followed are in the Brierly Camino Portuguese guidebook. Some kind of guidance is definitely needed. It's not overly complicated but there are several turns and no comforting yellow arrows until Rates.

 

[Julian Saban]

I walked the Portuguese Camino from Lisbon to Santiago this April. We cut across from Caminha to Valenca and it was all fairly easy. We walked on the side of the road from Caminha to Vila Nova de Cerveira, which was all fairly safe as there was room for traffic and pilgrims. Once in Vila Nova we walked along the river. As long as the river remained on our left we were ok. I got a little worried at one point and had to ask someone, and they just told me to keep walking in the same direction. There are only a few signposts that I saw so don't rely on them. Good luck!

 

[Rob the Slob]

There's an ecovia that runs most of the way along the Rio Lima from Viana do Castelo to Ponte de Lima. Quite a pleasant walk.