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I have already decided that I'm taking the coast via Matosinhos. I like to live another day for another adventure.What do pilgrims decide to walk from Porto to Vliarinho instead of walking from Porto via Matosinhos and Vila do Conde alongside the coast ?
Ignorance ? The shortest way ?
This track is one of the top two unpleasant walks of the Caminho Portuges ( together with the track from Alverca de Ribatejo to Azambuja ) walking on narrow hardshoulders of motorways, heavy traffic rushing by ,almost touching you.
While there is a very pleasant and safe detour from Porto to Vila do Conde alongside the beautifull Douro river and the Atlantic ocean on a wooden boardwalk.
Sounds like this is top class advice. I shall take this route and go inland further north. E sim,so Londrinho,originalamente. Um abraço. MartinWhat do pilgrims decide to walk from Porto to Vliarinho instead of walking from Porto via Matosinhos and Vila do Conde alongside the coast ?
Ignorance ? The shortest way ?
This track is one of the top two unpleasant walks of the Caminho Portuges ( together with the track from Alverca de Ribatejo to Azambuja ) walking on narrow hardshoulders of motorways, heavy traffic rushing by ,almost touching you.
While there is a very pleasant and safe detour from Porto to Vila do Conde alongside the beautifull Douro river and the Atlantic ocean on a wooden boardwalk.
Londrinho Brasil ?Sounds like this is top class advice. I shall take this route and go inland further north. E sim,so Londrinho,originalamente. Um abraço. Martin
caminhar no lado da costa e um bom idea !
Londrinho Brasil ?
That is what Diogo says Claudia. Lot of people do not know about this forum and even then if they do the majority is interested in the other routes of the camiño. A pity. It is such a beautiful walk through Portugal and the south of GaliciaHere is what a young Czech pilgrim shared with me who had walked the Porto to Vilarinho route:
She did not have a guidebook - and simply followed the yellow arrows, trusting that it would be the best route, since it was the 'official caminho' - She had no idea just how unpleasant and at times terrifying/dangerous some stretches were ... and would not ever recommend it to anyone. she wished she had known about the other route (coastal) or the option to take the metro. -
at one point she was near tears when she recalled some incidences when walking those roads and said: "how can they recommend this route to pilgrims??" -
i had no answer to it - because i knew 100% that i would not trot out of Porto on those roads, no matter how many yellow arrows point that way.
(thus i was introduced to pilgrims who travel the caminho without maps or guidebook.)
UK.Londrinho Brasil ?
So I cannot understand that these routes are still promoted and nobody says " forget this and walk the Matosinhos to Vila do Conde variant out of Porto"
Brierley, Johnny Walker,Vialusitana do something about it !
I say " safety first ". We live now and not 800 years ago
You are right but it is the camino we walk so it is good to let the people know on this forum and beyond what are the risks .
Maybe if more people are going to avoid these risks the officials and organisers get awake
So here is a task for us who walk the camino and tell everybody aboud the good and the bad !
Don't tell about the ugly ! Nobody wants to come anymoreAnd the ugly. Don't forget the ugly, or Clint will shoot at you
Don't tell about the ugly ! Nobody wants to come anymore
Albertinho,I go with the same idea. But there are people who don't. And that's the problem.
One of those cases it's the one that we talked about, the detour in Azinhaga. Why make a detour that will put pilgrims in the middle of nowhere, and that doesn't even has a place to get water!? Just because there is a different political view.
People have internet in these days, and they can know what to expect. I believe that guides also say "You have 2 ways to get out from Porto, one through na Industrial Area, and other through the coast". So it all ends up with people choosing what they think it's the best, but that doesn’t mean that they are making the right choice (like the Czech pilgrim that @amorfati1 talked about).
Sorry it was Diogo 92 commentAlbertinho,
What is the detour in Azinhaga?
Albertinho,
What is the detour in Azinhaga?
Thanks very helpfulView attachment 11856you follow the path (see picture) from Quinta to Bosque and somewhere in between the path leads now moreless northwards to Pombalinho and follows the the road, my pen is pointing untill you are direction Ponte ! So this detour avoids Azinhaga due to a conflict between some authorities ! Absurd ! Off course as you see the name of Azinhaga you could get that way and arrive in the village and from there you can continue the way to Ponte.
In Golegã we had a nice hostal Solo Duro . It is not in the Brierley guide I have but if you come to the center ,ask for the the place.
View attachment 11856you follow the path (see picture) from Quinta to Bosque and somewhere in between the path leads now moreless northwards to Pombalinho and follows the the road, my pen is pointing untill you are direction Ponte ! So this detour avoids Azinhaga due to a conflict between some authorities ! Absurd ! Off course as you see the name of Azinhaga you could get that way and arrive in the village and from there you can continue the way to Ponte.
In Golegã we had a nice hostal Solo Duro . It is not in the Brierley guide I have but if you come to the center ,ask for the the place.
No @aPokey. This is a picture taken out of John Brierley's guide camino Portuges.Hello Albertinho!
Is this map you have a photo of one of the guidebooks that they have in Porto at the tourist center?? I hope so!
Thank you!!
Pokey in Colorado.. headed to Porto in one week!
Hi Claudia. I remember we saw the same illustration as on your picture in May 2013 Just one or two months before the argue started between the officials ,it was in the news and my good friend Diogo mentioned it for the first time here on this forum.View attachment 11869 this is what they post around Azinhaga. foto taken in May.
Following the yellow arrows brings you to Pombalinho - from there you still reach Azinhaga (where i overnighted, and had a tasty late lunch. just follow the ROADSIGNS to Azinhaga since there won't be arrows, at least there were none in May) but it's still a bloody mess and I had to ask multiple times the kind locals ... i wasn't lost, i knew where i was - but i just did not like where i was (pombalinho at that point) i rather would have stayed on those farm field tracks.
around that stage i for the first time was ready to wrap mister B. around the Maypole.
advice: keep your humour - and keep on trucking ... eh, walking.
cheers, claudia
Hi Claudia. I remember we saw the same illustration as on your picture in May 2013 Just one or two months before the argue started between the officials ,it was in the news and my good friend Diogo mentioned it for the first time here on this forum.
Walking on and entering Golegá the mayor came to us personally and welcomed us and said if we were looking for a place to sleep ,he was willing to help us.
A sad story around the same place. In Mario's albergue in Santarèm we met an American guy and together we walked up for a few miles the next day. Later we met him again during lunchtime, sitting on a fence nearby a farm. He was acompanied then by a skinny dog.it was not his dog he said.
Going on ,the dog followed him. At the point the Azinhaga detour begon, we saw them walking again in the distance although they walked on another road more westwards from where we were. Later in Golega we met him again and asked were the dog was. Hit by a car just behind me ,crossing another road. How sad.
This American guy was fed up about the American consumptional way of living and wanted to stay in Spain or Portugal ,he wanted to buy an albergue and start a new more sober life .the last time we saw him was in Coimbra but the story kept me interesting.Mario of Santarem remembered his name and some months ago I found him on Linkedin, being back in the States after traveling around Europe for a year. So that is what Azinhaga keeps in mind all the time.
Yes he is back in the US "consumption" world in NYC .now and then I have email contact with him.Heck of a story if you asked me. I hope that everything goes well with that guy.
Yes he is back in the US "consumption" world in NYC .now and then I have email contact with him.
I have been once in NYC for a couple of days and than you long for the rest and peace of the camino I can tell you. And I stayed there only for 5 days. Crowds, millions of cars, 24/7 shops opened, flashing neon commercials trying to influence your brain just to buy,buy buy...
So I said bye bye and started to walk. Then better to walk the Azinhaga detour and left or right in o Porriño
Yes he is back in the US "consumption" world in NYC .now and then I have email contact with him.
I have been once in NYC for a couple of days and than you long for the rest and peace of the camino I can tell you. And I stayed there only for 5 days. Crowds, millions of cars, 24/7 shops opened, flashing neon commercials trying to influence your brain just to buy,buy buy...
So I said bye bye and started to walk. Then better to walk the Azinhaga detour and left or right in o Porriño
I don't like to interfear. Maybe he 's happy with his life now.Albertinho, please send something to your friend for me. Send an email to him with this link http://zerocurrency.blogspot.pt/ Tell him to search for a guy named Daniel Suelo, he will sure help your friend.
On Broadway in a "New York state of mind "Maybe he is doing the Wall Street Shuffle
Hi Claudia. ......
This American guy was fed up about the American consumptional way of living and wanted to stay in Spain or Portugal ,he wanted to buy an albergue and start a new more sober life .the last time we saw him was in Coimbra but the story kept me interesting.Mario of Santarem remembered his name and some months ago I found him on Linkedin, being back in the States after traveling around Europe for a year. So that is what Azinhaga keeps in mind all the time.
It is amazing how we change the subject of the topics all the time with all our in the meantime "beloved "fellow peregrinos , isn't not Claudia ? We wanted to start in Matosinhos but ended up in New York Cityyes - i love the way how the fabric of stories, as the one you shared, keeps the flavour of the caminho alive ...that in itself is another blessing, is it not?!
thank you!
I love London,i was born there,at the foot of the Shard (of course it was not there then).London social history is my only real academic passion. Funny thing also,is that i am a guitarist also. I am a blues man,leaning more to a greasey Chicago style. My wife plays delta style and we fuse the two with some degree of success.I think you will like the boardwalk to Vila do Conde. Specially as you start from Porto the walk is great.
London is the place for me ! Will be there again end of september to see some relatives who live there.
The only place with the name Londrinho I know is in the south of Brasil. I know a fellow jazzguitarist who lives there.
As Annie the Nurse says. It is not all boardwalk. We walked about 100 meters on the beach to a kind of small pillar on a dune..quite a steep dune by the way. Sometimes you can make a detour of a couple of hundred meters on tarmac if you like. It is a great walk.I love London,i was born there,at the foot of the Shard (of course it was not there then).London social history is my only real academic passion. Funny thing also,is that i am a guitarist also. I am a blues man,leaning more to a greasey Chicago style. My wife plays delta style and we fuse the two with some degree of success.
Also, do you know,is it all board walk from Matasinhos or does one sometimes have to walk on the sand? I don´t much like the idea of walking a long way on a tilt/slant.
It is amazing how we change the subject of the topics all the time with all our in the meantime "beloved "fellow peregrinos , isn't not Claudia ? We wanted to start in Matosinhos but ended up in New York City
Normally after completing a camino you should loose interest and pick up the daily things in your regular world but something inside me tells me to check this great forum everyday again and again.
And I am not the only one .a lot of people stay connected for hours to read everything and commenting everything (me for example.. But the camino is such an addicting phenomen.
Back to the original topic, is anything being done to re-route the yellow arrows? It is not good enough to say the arrows go on dangerous roads because that is the historic way. If history was the only criteria we would all be walking out of Paris on the freeway, or across Spain on the autopista.
Quite.
Just like life, no? I loved living in southern switzerland. - et voila' - here i am in northern california!
Question: But i do not understand the 'Normally after completing a camino you should loose interest...' part of the message. Why lose interest? the caminho was part of my life .... was life for the time i experienced it for those weeks - and the preparation and the 'after glow'.
People often make the distinction : 'back in real-life' or 'back in the real world' ... - something i also do not understand. My life "en caminho" was as real life and real world than the one i am experiencing now...
anyhow - it's just further 'off topic' - pardon moi!
yet i often noticed it on this forum and elsewhere - this 'in real life....' and wondered about it ...why the distinction? why is the life of earning a living/working/getting groceries/cleaning the kitchen floor more "real" than the life of a pilgrimage with everything that entails?
i for one aim to be as fully present in my cleaning the kitchen floor as i was walking on those roman bridges or ordering a cafe con leche
please , this is no 'criticism' or anything like that at all, Senor Albertinho! i think it's an important aspect/question!
why some pilgrims keep being engaged in camino topics for years after/during the pilgrimage?!
i know that nobody asked me, but here's an answer anyway:
in my experience one hopefully learns/sees/observes/experiences (especially post 42years of age) that we are not our accumulated history ... but our evolving and unfolding journey through life!
and i would further say that during an outer journey like the camino, one perhaps gets to realize this, or gets a taste of it: we are not frozen history (or neatly defined roles of mum/dad/employee/boyfriend/girlfriend/retiree etc etc etc) but we are actually still becoming ...
And THAT is a very alive feeling - we are so much more than our roles - and on the camino we can or could actually experience it ... step by step, kilometer after kilometer.
And this very alive feeling --- who wouldn't want to keep engaged with it? even via proxy/this forum or whatever else fits the ticket. (we are still all human BEINGs, and not human Doings)
alrighty --- now i am seriously off-message. - apologies ... and please nobody bites me head off for that!
(but this topic might be well worth its own 'thread' perhaps?!)
saluti!
claudia
I agree with you @Kanga ! And that is the reason that this topic was started.Back to the original topic, is anything being done to re-route the yellow arrows? It is not good enough to say the arrows go on dangerous roads because that is the historic way. If history was the only criteria we would all be walking out of Paris on the freeway, or across Spain on the autopista.
About your question I meant in general. People go back home and the daily routine starts again. Work, householding,children, familiy, social obligations etc etc. Besides that, anyway in my environs people who do not know the finesses of the camiño are not going further than to think that you have walked a lot of kms during some days. What is the fun of it ? Anyway I cannot share the excitement with a lot of people. To them this is a dull and bouring story.. Walking ?Quite.
Just like life, no? I loved living in southern switzerland. - et voila' - here i am in northern california!
Question: But i do not understand the 'Normally after completing a camino you should loose interest...' part of the message. Why lose interest? the caminho was part of my life .... was life for the time i experienced it for those weeks - and the preparation and the 'after glow'.
People often make the distinction : 'back in real-life' or 'back in the real world' ... - something i also do not understand. My life "en caminho" was as real life and real world than the one i am experiencing now...
anyhow - it's just further 'off topic' - pardon moi!
yet i often noticed it on this forum and elsewhere - this 'in real life....' and wondered about it ...why the distinction? why is the life of earning a living/working/getting groceries/cleaning the kitchen floor more "real" than the life of a pilgrimage with everything that entails?
i for one aim to be as fully present in my cleaning the kitchen floor as i was walking on those roman bridges or ordering a cafe con leche
please , this is no 'criticism' or anything like that at all, Senor Albertinho! i think it's an important aspect/question!
why some pilgrims keep being engaged in camino topics for years after/during the pilgrimage?!
i know that nobody asked me, but here's an answer anyway:
in my experience one hopefully learns/sees/observes/experiences (especially post 42years of age) that we are not our accumulated history ... but our evolving and unfolding journey through life!
and i would further say that during an outer journey like the camino, one perhaps gets to realize this, or gets a taste of it: we are not frozen history (or neatly defined roles of mum/dad/employee/boyfriend/girlfriend/retiree etc etc etc) but we are actually still becoming ...
And THAT is a very alive feeling - we are so much more than our roles - and on the camino we can or could actually experience it ... step by step, kilometer after kilometer.
And this very alive feeling --- who wouldn't want to keep engaged with it? even via proxy/this forum or whatever else fits the ticket. (we are still all human BEINGs, and not human Doings)
alrighty --- now i am seriously off-message. - apologies ... and please nobody bites me head off for that!
(but this topic might be well worth its own 'thread' perhaps?!)
saluti!
claudia
I agree with you @Kanga ! And that is the reason that this topic was started.
The route is still there but there is a better alternative. .
However since some time I read the route plans of pilgrims ,I wonder why they choose for this dangerous route. I understood that not all people know about the safer and nice detour so just go for what is the "usual" route.
I think it is a task for organisations like Vialusitana to change it by writing about it and mantaining the waymarks but am afraid they will keep the ancient values .And maybe there are commercial arguments to keep the Vilarinho route .shops,bars,restaurants,albergue ,hostals.?
But by talking about it on this forum more and more pilgrims are going to use the detour I noticed..
Thankyou Anniethenurse.From Matosinhos to Vila do Conde?
It is board walking, narrow paths, small roads (very little traffic) following the yellow arrows and it is about 28- 29 km. I used GPS.
You do not have to walk on sand at all.
Bom Caminho
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