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Hi.
Have you already walked this?
The route is fairly well signed. You'll find indication as you arrive in Rates. You leave Rates through a disused railway line, now turned ecopath. You then leave it and follow dirtnpaths through fields and cobbled road.
I believe no cafes or stores until you...
I am a mountainbiker. I have done the Portuguese Camino 3 times (from Rates), the Interior (from Vila Real) once and the French (from Ponteferrada).
I've only had the pleasure of walking it once (from Ponte de Lima).
I have biked, on training rides and day trips, sections of central route...
You can take a train to Vigo and then from there, the Celta train to Porto.
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/how-to-travel/celta
There is bus with Alsa to either Porto airport or the bus station/interface near the "casa da música" metro station.
https://www.alsa.com/en/web/bus/home
Portugal is so small, that most well known dishes spread out. Super local stuff may not exist outside 1 town.
I can't speak much about down south, except maybe ginginha (cherry liquer) popular predominantly in the center, north of Lisbon.
Here in the north (other places as well), but in towns...
Without a good map and/or gps chances of getting lost are high. The only likely risk is loosing to much time and aborting the plan. Although the route takes you through some more isolated spots, it's never truly far from a village (there is no true wilderness in Portugal). Usual moutain...
You can find gps for this caminho "
I found these gps tracks for the portion Barcelos to Lima River.
https://pt.wikiloc.com/trilhas-trekking/caminhos-de-santiago-caminho-do-norte-senhora-do-norte-1a-etapa-11466915...
Yeah, I remember seeing some references to shared pilgrims having used some of the paths. Going through to the S. João d'Arga Monastery I believe.
Going from Ponte de Lima should be pretty scenic: path along the river, Bertiandos nature reserve and a though climb to the top after Estoraos...
I live in the Esposende area. There is no easy route from Esposende to Barcelos.
Both roads, either north or south of the river Cávado are fairly busy and in several points don't have much room for pedestrians.
There are tracks used to access the fields and forests by the river which can be...
On the bridge from Valença to Tui there is a walkway on the side where you can take your bike if you don't feel like going along the trafic. It also allows very good views over the river with Tui in the distance.
It seems you didn't stop in the fortres in Valença. A pity, it can be congested...
I would go for a light-duty sleeping bag, small and light but will offer much more protection than a liner. Some public albergues will not have any covers, as was the case in Ponte de Lima.
DOH! You're right @Albertinho ...
I've biked (in sections) the coastal from Porto to Vila Praia de Âncora. Its very flat until Esposende, with only small climbs afterwards. Anyway that first day to Caminha will be a stretch. You can allways speed tthings up by taking the N13 road northwards.
I have done it on a mountain bike many times. I'd say 4 days will give you time to stop and enjoy it.
I have walk the section Porto to Rates, but only biked from Rates onwards. That first bit will be very fast, especially since there is plenty of road.
If you have to see Porto before you start...
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