Does anyone have any advice or experience with winter walking on this route?
Hi, you just can’t predict the weather on that coastline in winter.
We had glorious days out of Porto (late Feb/early Mar), but suddenly the weather turned, and when the wind and rain came in off the Atlantic it was horizontal. We literally couldn’t stand upright and were going from lamp post to lamp post.
We gave up and took a bus from Esposende to Viana do Costelo, where we continued on the Central route, where it was much calmer.
So by all means go for it, and you could be lucky (expect the worst, but hope for the best), but be flexible, i.e. no advanced bookings so that you can revert to Plan B.
Another time, I rented an apartment for a month (Dec) in Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the bridge in Porto. One evening, struggling back across the bridge in the most horrendous wind and rain I’ve ever experienced, was one of the most scariest things I’ve ever attempted.
Oh, and then there was Storm Leslie on 14 Oct 2018 (
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45853847). I was on the Central at the time, between Rabacal and Cernache); trees fell across powerlines and the electricity was out for 2 days.
But don’t let me put you off
; when the weather is good, it is very, very good
! (But when it’s bad, it’s horrible
.)