All I can say to this is that I loved my walk from Coimbra. Yes, it's a bit of a slog on the day into Porto which is a daisy chain of suburbs from Sao Jao do Madeira to Porto, but I found these villages from Coimbra up to be fascinating. I met so many elderly people happy to chat to me in French -- a shared language -- and to tell me how fortunate I was, how they envied my walk... I stayed in a lovely albergue at Agueda that had a marvelous breakfast, charming host, a small rooms rather than massive dorms... (hlaf hotel, half albergue) lovely view...
I was treated with nothing but kindness and really had a fantastic time. I stayed at the Ibis in Coimbra and toured the old city a bit...
From Porto I turned inland due to poor weather and made my way up to Barcelos and then to Velenca and onward up to Santiago. I had planned on the coastal but I have zero, zero, zero regrets about going up the central route.
There are "easter eggs" everywhere.