What percentage of the Coastal Route is roadway vs boardwalk/along the water walking?

[rlr9200]

I've read varying reports, some older, some more recent. I suspect this route has been evolving, as do they all.

Can anyone give me a current description of the walking surfaces, conditions, or just general advice before undertaking this route? I suspect we will embark on a 10-11 day itinerary.

Also, at this point we are thinking of the Coastal as far as the coast goes, but I would love to hear the pros and cons of that vs. turning inland at some point along the way.

Thanks!

 

[anniethenurse]

Most of the coastal (and the central) is on roadway or on boardwalks. On asfalt, on tarmac or on cobble stone. That means almost nothing is on narrow natural paths.
I love it.

 

[Stripey Socks]

Hello. I walked the Coastal route in late May this year. I walked from Porto to Caminha and then up the river to Valenca. Similar comments to anniethenurse, I estimate it would be 90% hard surface walking, 5% dirt, and 5% timber boardwalks. The smaller percentages could be on the generous side too. I used the caminador.es maps which were useful to see where you were but I found that the yellow arrows took you on the inland path 95% of the time. I am not sure what the surfaces were like right on the coastline.

It is a lovely walk and I still got the sense of being coastal as the path would bring you back in the port cities/towns before heading back to the foothills etc. The maps were handy when the arrows disappeared for one reason or another!

I am kicking myself I did not allow myself more time to continue the coastal route on into Spain although the walk from Caminha to Valenca had its pretty moments too.

I stayed in a youth hostel in Fao and Viano do Costelo. Highly recommended and they have pilgrim discounts if you book direct. You do not need to be a member. Just try to avoid a Friday or Saturday night - VERY noisy.
Enjoy, Mel

 

[t2andreo]

When you are directly at the beach, with the Atlantic Ocean on your left, you can choose to walk on the beach proper, on the boardwalk, or the nearly parallel roads that are a few hundred meters inland from the beach. In the beach communities, sidewalks abound. However, once you turn inland, away from the beach, you will be walking against oncoming traffic much of the time.

The others, above, are correct. Also, the "beach" orientation lasts for about the first two-days, after that, you are walking in a Northeasterly direction, away from the ocean.

When I did this route in April 2015, I walked five-days in Portugal, to Valenca, a lovely walled city. The next morning, I walked across the girder bridge from Portugal into Spain at Tui. From there, it was another five-days into Santiago.

I hope this helps.

 

[anniethenurse]

There are littoral alternatives of the coastal route and you are never far away from the coast line.

You can walk on natural paths and roads close to the beach line by doing trial and error and maybe finding your way.

That is what we did two weeks ago when leaving Viana do Castelo on the very littoral route which is not always way marked and we managed to walk to Ancora (board walks, roads, natural paths and sand walking) but be aware that if you decide to walk on sand you sometimes maybe have to take off your boots and do a river -crossing.

 

[rlr9200]

There are littoral alternatives of the coastal route and you are never far away from the coast line.

You can walk on natural paths and roads close to the beach line by doing trial and error and maybe finding your way.

That is what we did two weeks ago when leaving Viana do Castelo on the very littoral route which is not always way marked and we managed to walk to Ancora (board walks, roads, natural paths and sand walking) but be aware that if you decide to walk on sand you sometimes maybe have to take off your boots and do a river -crossing.

Thanks!

 

[Telelama]

We got back last week from walking the Senda Litoral and all of the above is true. Who cobblestones the logging roads high up on the hills? I would add that it gets much, much better in Spain. Far more single trail walking, sometimes right along the rugged coast. We saw amazing fields of yellow, purple and pink flowers. Still lots of big towns and the walk into and out of town can take a lot of time in places like Vigo