I woke early in the little albergue in the fishing village of Vila Cha and headed back down to the ocean to continue along the coastal path to Vila do Conde. In this town there are two routes to take, the Camino Coastal, or arrows inland to join the main Camino Central in the village of Arcos. That is my plan. The coastal route served as a pretty alternative to leave the big city of Porto but now I want to be back on the real one!

Anna, the pilgrim I met back in Porto, joined me. The route followed the Atlantic along board walks and roads, past cafes and seaside houses, all the way to the busier town of Vila do Conde. You cross a bridge over the Rio Este as you enter the town and straight after the bridge you need to turn right to walk up to Arcos, past the imposing Convent of Santa Clara and following the river. This turning is not well signposted and it is easy to continue following the coastal waymarks so take care!

Feeling peckish after walking 7km with no breakfast we actually continued straight over the bridge to grab a toastie and a cup of tea (3 euros) at the big cafe on the square, 2 mins off track!

The Brierley guide book’s description of how to get to Arcos did not match up very well and the route was not very well marked but we managed okay, checking with some locals on occasion who veered us in the right direction. It was no big concern but it’s worth checking you’re still on the way to Arcos if you don’t see an arrow for a while.

The sun was hot today, it must have been obver 20ºC and it wasn’t long before I had to get the jeans off and the shorts on, regardless of how many passing cars drove past. The walk to Arcos was dull as dishwater and at times a little scary as you had to pass by some bendy roads with no pavements, staying as close to the high walls to you side as possible. But we survived! 🙂 The walk took us through some nondescript villages (Touguinho and Junquera) and the boring tarmac was eventually left, giving way to off road earth tracks through forest land, as we approached the village of Rates.

It was still fairly early as we arrived in to town, about 14:30. We passed by an impressive church and watched the locals arrive in their dapper Sunday bests for service. We passed by a very lively village bar, Bar Macedo – obviously this is were the village non-believers frequent. We decided to join them for a small beer, making the most of the gorgeous weather. The bar guy brought a stamp and a visitors book out for us to write in – we are really on the Camino now! 🙂

Next it was time to find our albergue while the sun still shone hot enough to dry some socks. The arrows took us to an albergue on the edge of the town, about 250m on, run by an Association by local volunteers. There was a couple there, in about their 30’s, who lived in a nearby town and both volunteered to look after the place one Sunday every month. They had walked the Camino Portuguese themselves before and wanted to give something back and explained that lots of people volunteered to man the place to cover the weekends, while a paid hospitalero worked there Monday to Friday. It is interesting to hear how some of the albergues are set up as you wonder how they can afford to stay open in the winter when only one or two pilgrims might arrive.

The albergue it self is very cute. It was the first dedicated pilgrim hostel to open on the Portuguese side, in 2004 and has been renovated and extended since, now offering 50 beds split amongst the various dorms. The old sprawling albergue has real character, a cosy living room, extremely well equipped kitchen and massive courtyard with a picnic table in the sun. The bathrooms were adequate but accessed through the courtyard and there was no Wi-Fi, but, hey, it was a donitivo! The place had an abundance of electric radiators to keep us war, and the friendly volunteers gave us home-grown aniseed tea and biscuits out in the yard. As it was Sunday we were unsure whether anywhere would be open to buy food but were told to try knocking on the door of the mini market as ‘sometimes they open, sometimes they don’!’ This time they did! Their vegetable selection consisted of only potatoes and onion but we managed to purchase enough to cobble together a pasta dish. One more pilgrim arrived! Cole, from Massachusetts, and the three of us headed back to the bust bar for a couple of beers before happily retiring for an early sleep.