New side hike from the CP at Barquinha

[jungleboy]

There is a new walking path at Vila Nova de Barquinha, a town which is essentially on the CP a stage before Tomar, and which is a famous little corner of Portugal on our forum because @Friend from Barquinha has plans for an albergue there.

The path is called the Trilho Panorámico do Tejo (Tagus Panoramic Trail) and it's a 10km trail along the Tagus river and past the Templar castle Castelo de Almourol, situated on a little island in the river. Here's an article (in Portuguese) with a couple of pictures: Conheça o novo Trilho Panorâmico do Tejo.

For pilgrims staying at Barquinha, walking this trail (which goes in the opposite direction to the camino) and visiting the castle could be a great idea for a rest day, or an afternoon activity for the energetic crowd! There's also a Templar museum in Barquinha, and the town is well situated between Azinhaga (about 17km back) and Tomar (about 21km ahead) to be an overnight stop anyway.

Maybe @trecile could scope it out for us in a few days' time!

 

[trecile]

it's a 10km trail along the Tagus river and past the Templar castle Castelo de Almourol, situated on a little island in the river

I wonder how far it is to get to the castle. I'll be walking a short day into Vila Nova de Barquinha, but I'm not sure I want to turn it into a long day by walking an additional 10+ km!

 

[jungleboy]

I wonder how far it is to get to the castle. I'll be walking a short day into Vila Nova de Barquinha, but I'm not sure I want to turn it into a long day by walking an additional 10+ km!

That's the dilemma (and why a rest day is probably necessary to do it all on foot). This is what I wrote on my live CP thread:

There is a Templar castle - Castelo Almourol - on an island in the Tejo just over 5km from Vila Nova de Barquinha, in the opposite direction from the camino. We’d really like to visit it but can’t really do it from here without taking a rest day because there’s no currently open accommodation options between here and Tomar and we can’t visit the castle and make it all the way to Tomar in one day. There are good train connections to the castle from Lisbon so we might save it for another time, but it would have been great to visit it while on camino.

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

Thanks, JungleBoy!

There is the alternative of the train (CP). The local train stops in Barquinha, then Tancos, then I think there is a stop right AT Almourol, and then Praia de Ribatejo, which is the most easterly town in the Barquinha municipality. The new trail is probably quite close to the rail line most of the way along. Certainly it is at Tancos.

So in theory, one could take the train one way, and then walk back.

Looking at the map, it looks like it's only about 4 km of the entire 10 km trail as far as Almourol--about halfway along the trail.

And looking at the schedule, you're only travelling 2 stops for the 4 km; you can buy the ticket on the train, which will only be a euro or two, and they run in both directions several times a day.

On the schedule below, you're looking at the "Regional" lines, at small stops between the major ones of Entroncamento and Abrantes.

Heading east (to walk back west), the current schedule seems to show Barquinha pickups at 7:52, 11:33, 17:33 and 19:38 (pretty late). The run between stations literally takes 5 minutes.

If you wanted to walk, and then ride back, the pickups at Almourol are 12:05,15:54, and 20:08.

Remember, these are slowish "milk-run" trains without reserved seats. They're meant for locals, and quite used to picking up passengers without advance notice.

https://www.cp.pt/StaticFiles/timetables/beira-baixa-line-lisbon-covilha-trains.pdf

Bom caminho, and welcome to Vila Nova da Barquinha and the heart of the Ribatejo!

PS--Map: