Walking from Viana do Castelo to Ponte de Lima

mausieowen · Apr 19, 2023

We're walking next month and are planning to change from the coastal route at Viana do Castelo to the Central by walking to Ponte de Lima along the river.
I've read some mixed comments about how to do this and wonder if anyone has walked this recently and can advise what the path is like and if it runs north or south of the river?
One thread suggested taking a bus but we hope to be able to walk it.

Albertinho · Apr 19, 2023

mausieowen said:
We're walking next month and are planning to change from the coastal route at Viana do Castelo to the Central by walking to Ponte de Lima along the river.
I've read some mixed comments about how to do this and wonder if anyone has walked this recently and can advise what the path is like and if it runs north or south of the river?
One thread suggested taking a bus but we hope to be able to walk it.

There is no waymarked path from Viana to Ponte de Lima. You have to walk along the northern bank of the Lima river and partly you follow the national road N202 with busy traffic
you need a good local map to get out of Viana. It is about 26 kms
I didnot walk it but drove is several times by car

Albertinho · Apr 19, 2023

what I did by the way and several times , was walking to Viana do Castelo all away from Porto along the Coastal and took the train from there to Tamél ( back in the direction of Porto) and directly out of the railwaystation is the waymarked Central route.
advantage is that after 6 kms you are at Casa da Fernanda , the most popular albergue of the entire Caminho Português and another 14 km from there to Ponte de Lima.
the train from Viana to Tamél takes 15 to 20minutes and you avoid walking along busy N roads and you save 6 kms too. The train maybe costs 2€. Win/win.

ElCee · Apr 19, 2023

Albertinho said:
There is no waymarked path from Viana to Ponte de Lima. You have to walk along the northern bank of the Lima river and partly you follow the national road N202 with busy traffic
you need a good local map to get out of Viana. It is about 26 kms
I didnot walk it but drove is several times by car

There is Ecovia do Rio Lima along the river: https://www.portuguesetrails.com/en/routes/ecovia-do-rio-lima-walking. I haven't walked it but it shows up on Google maps.

Albertinho · Apr 19, 2023

ElCee said:
There is Ecovia do Rio Lima along the river: https://www.portuguesetrails.com/en/routes/ecovia-do-rio-lima-walking. I haven't walked it but it shows up on Google maps.

That is good one. That is new to me anyway . Thanks for mentioning this

Ecovia do Rio Lima / Walking

On the banks of the Lima River, the ecotrail stretches about 70 kilometres through the municipalities of Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima, Ponte da Barca and Arcos de Valdevez. Rural roadways beside rivers, through meadows, past fishing points along the lamprey spawning grounds and wooden...

www.portuguesetrails.com

nevertheless it is a nice detour, staying at Casa da Fernanda before walking to Ponte de Lima as I mentioned here above.

mausieowen · Apr 20, 2023

Albertinho said:
There is no waymarked path from Viana to Ponte de Lima. You have to walk along the northern bank of the Lima river and partly you follow the national road N202 with busy traffic
you need a good local map to get out of Viana. It is about 26 kms
I didnot walk it but drove is several times by car

Thanks very much Albertinho. We really want to avoid busy roads. I see there may be a path. With the route you describe, is it possible to estimate how much of the 26km is busy road and how much is river path?

mausieowen · Apr 20, 2023

ElCee said:
There is Ecovia do Rio Lima along the river: https://www.portuguesetrails.com/en/routes/ecovia-do-rio-lima-walking. I haven't walked it but it shows up on Google maps.

That's great info, thanks for the link. I will follow this up and see what shows up. A river path sounds very nice.

Albertinho · Apr 20, 2023

mausieowen said:
Thanks very much Albertinho. We really want to avoid busy roads. I see there may be a path. With the route you describe, is it possible to estimate how much of the 26km is busy road and how much is river path?

I only know the road from driving by car but this Ecovia is new and following the river.This ecovia I do not know yet but I walked a similar one along the Minho river more northern between Caminha and Valença and that was a real leisure path all the way so I expect this path along the Lima river moreless similar ( for leisure though)

Nevertheless my alternative by taking the train to Tamel , from there all away to Ponte de Lima is a beautiful path and as a bonus you can stay at Casa da Fernanda for the night and have the common pilgrims meal with all who are present then . I should prefer that in factI did several times .

mausieowen · Apr 20, 2023

I'm looking into this as well to see if we can incorporate it on our Camino. Would love to stay at Casa de Fernanda!

HJPZ · Apr 20, 2023

mausieowen said:
We're walking next month and are planning to change from the coastal route at Viana do Castelo to the Central by walking to Ponte de Lima along the river.
I've read some mixed comments about how to do this and wonder if anyone has walked this recently and can advise what the path is like and if it runs north or south of the river?
One thread suggested taking a bus but we hope to be able to walk it.

I was in Ponte de Lima in March doing some biking and we biked along the Ecovia to Viana do Castelo. The path is on the south side of the river and although there are some signs, as long as you stay on the path or beside the river, you should be fine. It was a bit tricky getting into VdC, or leaving in your case but Google Maps should be able to help with that.

HJPZ · Apr 20, 2023

HJPZ said:
I was in Ponte de Lima in March doing some biking and we biked along the Ecovia to Viana do Castelo. The path is on the south side of the river and although there are some signs, as long as you stay on the path or beside the river, you should be fine. It was a bit tricky getting into VdC, or leaving in your case but Google Maps should be able to help with that.

HJPZ · Apr 20, 2023

Further to above, I found the route we took and will include it. It will give you a rough idea of how to leave the city on less busy roads and get you to the Ecovia!

joeytheboy · Apr 24, 2023

Albertinho said:
what I did by the way and several times , was walking to Viana do Castelo all away from Porto along the Coastal and took the train from there to Tamél ( back in the direction of Porto) and directly out of the railwaystation is the waymarked Central route.
advantage is that after 6 kms you are at Casa da Fernanda , the most popular albergue of the entire Caminho Português and another 14 km from there to Ponte de Lima.
the train from Viana to Tamél takes 15 to 20minutes and you avoid walking along busy N roads and you save 6 kms too. The train maybe costs 2€. Win/win.

Really like the sound of that.Thank you.

joeytheboy · Apr 24, 2023

joeytheboy said:
Really like the sound of that.Thank you.

Im going in a 4 weeks and Im still working out a route.

mausieowen · May 13, 2023

Yesterday we walked from Viana do Castelo to Ponte de Lima along the southern side of the Rio Lima, moving from coastal to the central Camino.
It was an excellent walk - mostly flat, beautiful views and a wide path to walk on. We walked 20km in total. Thoroughly recommended!

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Walking from Viana do Castelo to Ponte de Lima

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