I don’t remember the practicalities (re: shops or water fountains) that much, but there are at least a couple of towns. Here are my musings from taking the Litoral option that day, if they help:
Walking through an empty Viana do Castelo at dawn, with an orange tinge in the eastern sky and not a cloud in sight, the decision point comes early today. The official ‘coastal’ route is once again mostly inland, and there’s an obvious Senda Litoral alternative immediately after Viana that hugs the ocean. Despite my enjoyment of the interior route yesterday, today’s stage doesn’t sound exceptional, so I opt for the Litoral and I’m glad I did.
Early on, the coast is wild and rough, and, while it’s not exactly beautiful, I like it. Gronze describes today’s Litoral alternative as ‘sin flechas pero con playas’, but that’s only half right for the first 10 kilometres: there are no arrows, but there aren’t any beaches either. Instead, the coast is rocky and locals clamming outnumber sunbathers — and pilgrims — for the first couple of hours. The winding dirt path passes four mills (one recently restored, three not) and a couple of forts, and this is my favourite part of the day.
Later, the beaches appear and I take my shoes off and dip my toes into the (freezing) sea for the first time on this camino. Vila Praia de Âncora is the unappealing beach town of the day, where the coastal and Litoral paths meet back up, and I pass through quickly.
At Moledo, near the end of the stage, arrows take pilgrims onto the highway but I follow a recommended Gronze alternative and find myself in a sandy pine forest that resembles the Camino de Madrid except for the sound of the ocean to my left. When the forest ends, the body of water in front of me is no longer the Atlantic Ocean but the Minho River, and the land I can see on the other side is Galicia.