Caminho Portugues

The Caminho Portugues,
This ancient road is running from Porto to Santiago. You can start at the Se (Cathedral) and end up in Santiago do Compostela at the "Se". There is a connection with this route from Lisbon, through Fatima to Porto and if you have the energy, go west and finally end up in Finisterre after picking up your "credencial" in Santiago do Compostela.
This is a pilgrimage walking expierience which at least started in the 14th century. After there were bridges built in Ponte de Lima and Barcelos, it was easier to get in Santiago through a more or less straight line instead of getting along Braga crossing all kinds of rivers.
The cities you meet are in headlines Rates, Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, Valenca, Tui, Redondela, Pontevedra, Caldas de Reis and Padron. The Rio do Minho is the borderline between Portugal and Spain with two cities on each side of the river, Valenca and Tui.
In general.
What surprises us was the excellent "refugios" ( pilgrim sleeping facilities) in nearly stop on the way. The facilities are relative small ( from 20/50 people) with excellent places in Ponte de Lima, Pontevedra and Padron. The signs on the way are far more better in Portugal than in Spain. You hardly need any guide until Valenca, so well marked. When you start in Porto, you might skip the city walk until Araujo, because it is a very heavy traffic road. The alternative could be to make a city walking trip in Porto and take the metro/bus to Araujo. From there until Vilarinho the road is better. In Vilarinho you only find a hostal which is not very convenient. We got the bus to Vila do Condo where you have excellent pensions to sleep for the night. Take the next morning bus around 07.00 hrs back again to Vilarinho and proceed your walk from there to Rates and Barcelos. On the way you can find enough possibilities to eat/have coffee, however it is more easy to have lunch on midday than having a meal in the evening, especially in Portugal in the evening a lot of restaurants don't have a meal available. This is more or less the same in Spain but in bigger cities there will be no problem.
The season to do the pilgrimage can be best done in April/May and September/October. We did this one in June and it was in the afternoon in fact too hot to do the walk.
Highlights of the Pilgrimage.
To start with, Porto is a fantastic city where you can spend easily a couple of days to explore the inner city which remind us of Napoli 20 years ago. There is excellent transport to the outskirts of the city ( beautifull designed Opera house).
Ponte de Lima is a beautifull city on the river "Rio Lima"; it is presenting itself as the flower city of Portugal and as a speciality the producer of the "Vinho Verde", a young fresh wine.
One the most green treks we did was the caminho from Lima to Valenca, except for the last few miles.
If you reach Valenca, please go to Tui for the "refugio" because it is beautifull constructed near the Cathedral and a lovely place to set off for a good meal and evening break.
Be prepared for the most bad part of the whole caminho if you go from Tui to O Porriono. You walk at least 5 to 7 miles along factories and traffic roads!!!
Guide information
There are several guide books with details of the treks, sleeping and eating facilities. I only know one guidebook which is, Caminho Portugues Porto Santiago, the portuguese way: ISBN 972-9051-27-5; Copyright, Associacao dos Amigos do Caminho Portugues de Santiago.
At last,
The Caminho Portugues is a quiet and peacefull spiritual walking trek, more than the Caminho Frances. It gives you a very good idea how in the old days many of the beautifull small cities live was going on. It is more than worthwhile to take you 10 or 12 days of walking along an undiscovered landscape with plenty of variaties in nature and culture. I wish you a very pleasant trip and if you want to react, please do at roelportugal@gmail.com

General conditions and advice for walking

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Therefore we recommend that check the information by contacting us through e-mail to check prices and conditions.

Recommondentions for booking and walking
1. Take a (travel) insurance

2. In case of walking even if you go to Portugal

• Take rain clothing
• Warm sweater, fleece
• Walking sticks, walking boots
• Headlight or lamp
• Sunhat, suncream (be aware of UV factor)
• Can for water

Mata Nacional de Barao

Walking the mata nacional. Above the village of Barao de Sao Joao there is "floresta de pinheiros", called the Mata. Barao de Sao Joao is easy to acces from Lagos. Either you come from the A22 high entering or your follow the sign Bensafrim in Lagos and follow the inner road, When you at the end of the A22 a roundabout, turn right to Bensafrim, cross the village and at the end follow the sign " Zoo of Lagos" which is heading to the village of Barao. On the top of the hill you can see the village, follow the road until you arrive at the church on your left hand, turn left and immediately go right. Follow the road to Sao Miguel. Turn right on the first road you meet at your right side, go along the cafe "Palmeira" and follow the small road upwards the hill until you are outside the village. Park your car and start your walk.

Vila Nova de Milfontes-Vila Nova de Milfontes

The Milfontes walk starts actually between the town and the fish harbour NW of the town. V.N. (Vila Nova) de Milfontes is lying about 20 km below the town of Sines. Nearby villages are Porto Covo (north of Milfontes) and Cercal more inland. Milfontes itself has a great position regarding to the estuary of the Mira river. The village dated from the year 1468, founded by the king D.Joao II. The first settlers were prisoned people for minor delicts. In the ancient times it has been attacked several times by pirates. For that reason a fortress was build in 1602. The fortress is called Saint Clement's Castle.

You start your walking tour outside of Milfontes. If you enter the city follow the sign " Praia's". At the end of signed street you turn left and straight on. You enter more or less the lower parts of Milfontes and follow the sign to the fish harbour ( turn right). The road brings you to the outskirts of Milfontes and follow the paved road. You can park your car halfway to the fish harbour. On your right you see sandy roads crossing the landscape. Pick up one of those tracks ( it is possible to do it by car) and head for the coastline. At this point you have to follow the pathes at the top of the cliffs. After an hour walk you enter the beaches of " Praia de Malhao" . There are some obsticles on the beach to walk all the way through but not impossible to cross a few small cliffs. At a certain point on the beach you notice Porto Covo and "Ilha de Pessegueiro". Here you have to decide to walk to the top of the cliffs. From this point you can follow the sandy path inlands and just before you enter the forest you have to go to your right, heading for Milfontes. Because the landscape is rather flat you can keep an eye on the ocean to follow the right track back to your car. The area is lovely, easy to walk, sandy dunes, predatory birds, rabbits and a lot of small birds, populating the bushes underway. The duration of the walk is more or less 4 hours, of course depending on the speed you walking. After your walk there are enough opportunities to visit the town and have a coffee or late lunch breake. Enjoy it!!

Lagos - Cabo Sao Vicente

Starting in Lagos. The ancient city is approx 2000 years old, with many famous inhabitants and passants like Gil Eanes, Columbus, Dom Infante Enrique , and Vasco da Gama. The original name was Lagobriga. The inhabitants were Romans, Phoeniciers, Carthageners etc. In 1755 there was a huge earthquake which destroyed a great part of the city. From that time the influence of Lagos was minimized and later on Faro became the capital of the Algarve. But there are still a lot of history buildings and musea left which makes the city an attractive starting point for our walk. Short information of the track:
Lagos (Forte da Ponta da Bandeira), Porto de Mos, Luz, Burgau, Boca do Rio, Praia da Salema, Praia das Furnas, Ponta da Torre, Praia do Barranco, Ponta dos Caminhos, Praia do Martinhal, Sagres, Cabo Sao Vicente. It is a route in total of approx. 60km, with an average of 15 km a day you can cross the coastline in more or less 4 days but maybe 5 days would be more comfortable. Places to spend the night could be Burgau, Salema, Figueira (a little inland) and Sagres. After Salema it will be difficult to find a sleeping place at the coast, so you have to find a small village inland. From Cabo Sao Vicente there are buses back to Sagres and from there you can travel to Lagos again.
You start at the crosspoint of the old and new city, at the Bombeiros station. You cross the street and follow the sign of "Praia de Ana", a beautifull city beach. From their you follow the signs
" Ponte de Piedade". It is about a 2 km long peninsula with on your left hand a really magnificent coloured rock formation . You can cross the edge on the left side of the paved road and you follow the trail until the lighthouse.
From the lighthouse you can see on a clearly day the peninsula of Sagres where on that peninsula there is also a rememberance of Dom Infante Enrique.
Walking to Luz you cross the paved road and now you walk on the left side of the peninsula. As long as you keep the path which is easy to follow, you can see the small beach ahead of you. At a certain point you enter a couple of villa's. It is possible because of a fench of one of the villa's you are forced to make a little turn through Porto de Mos ending at the beach. Cross the beach and just follow the sandy road uphill, leaving all the new villa's on your right hand. From that point there is access to the sandy roads towards Praia da Luz. The rock formation is very steep, so don't come to close to the edge, especially in wet wintertime!!! Arriving in Luz you leave the beach on your lefthand, go after the square a little to the right following the paved road. After the village you have access again to follow the sandy road again along the ocean side. When you reach Burgau, at the front you have a restaurant, just follow the road down the hill and you enter the small square just before the beach. Here is the possibility to stay for the night, you have choice enough for hotels, pensions, rooms etc.
Also in Burgau you have to follow the road for a little while heading for Salema. Just after the villa's you can turn left heading for the coastline path. From here it is more or less 6,3 km to Salema and from now on the world will be emptier for you, because you are entering the Costa Vicentina. A natural park starting at Burgau and stops in Sines 120 km above the cape Sao Vicente. From here signs are rare but if you just follow the pathes along the coastline you cannot mis the diverse beaches you cross. Sometimes it is a wise decission to make a u-turn because down hill to the beaches is to steep. I would recommend to stay in Figueira, it is and inland village but there are hardly any possibilities to stay for the night. From here you can start the start for your trip to Sagres. Praia da Figueira is your starting point and from there again follow the coastline. It is a rough area, sometimes you have to make a large u-turn to enter the coastline again because of steep mountains or rivers. In distance to Sagres is not that fare but in time you are underway 6 or 7 hours. Eventually you end at "Praia do Martinhal", a huge new developement project, but the beach and the sight at Sagres are very beautifull. I would suggest you end your day at Sagres and find a good sleeping place. That means you have time enough for your walk the next day to the cape. To finish your trip and end at the most SW part of Europe, just follow the main road to the end of the village. Because of military equipment you have to walk along the main road to the cape for approx 2 km and then you can cross the land to the coastline. Watch the little church on your way to the cape. Because of the "fjords" sometimes you have to walk to the main road and back to the ocean front and than as a reward..... The "Cabo Sao Vicente". Steep rocks, fisherman who are fishing from very dangerous points and let us say, from eleven am, the tourist bushes are waiting for 20minutes to let people take the pictures.
Ignore them and celebrate your own achievement. I am sure you will enjoy this walk because there are so different landscapes you enter on a relative small scale distance. Beautifull sights to the inland and especially silence. Let me you know if you did like it!!

Miranda do Douro, Atras os Montes, NE Portugal

Terra de Miranda (Tierra de Miranda in Mirandese) the historical name of a 500km2 mesa in the northeastern part of Portugal, lying on the border of Spain. It used to be an administrative division and although it does not correspond to a madern day regions's borders, there are some cultural chareacteristics particular to Terra de Miranda that kepp the name in use to the present day. It has been a border region between different administrative areas of the Roman Empire the kingdoms of the Visigoths and the Suevi, the Arabs and the Christians. Although the etymology of the word Miranda is stil debated, it is beleived to mean "border". Among the best know cultural features particular to this area there is the Mirandese language, the Pauliteiros, the pagan rituals practiced from Christmas to Easter, namely the farandulo and the bagpipe music. And, don't forget the castle in the village, with an impressive old cathedral and lovely small streets.

Now the walk (click on "photo" above for the map). The walk is from Miranda do Douro, Vale de Aguia, Aldeia Nova and back again. The route is approx. 10 miles incl return. In Aldeia Nova you can take the bus back to Miranda.

You leave the city in NE direction in a way that you can see the Douro on your right hand. There is a path, sometimes marked, which you can follow all along the Doura until Vale de Aguia. This is also one the most beautiful parts of the walk. Passing small houses, villages where the age of the people are far over 60's, and even a little church, restored in the beginning of 2000. As bird life is concerned, you can watch, if you have a lucky day, the big owl and the Golden Eagle cruising over the mountains tops. In the beginning there is an open field where you have the scenic views, later on there are bushes and especially in springtime flowers. The whole route has a different landscape of course created and structured by the Douro in the past centuries.

Take for your walk water and something te eat because there are hardly any shops, so be prepared!

Enjoy the special character of this landscape with the top of view, the Golden Eagle.

Benagil - Senhora da Rocha - Benagil

Benagil is is a small fishing village on the south coast of the Algarve, on the west side of Carveiro. The most easy way to access the village is from the EN 125, in front of the International School, take the exit on your right coming from Portimao. Follow the sign of "Benagil", it is about ten minutes from the EN125. Stop at the cafe " O Littoral", where you can park your car. Across the road of the cafe you can start your walk. It has an easy access to the coast. It is more or less a 1,5 hr walk and rather easy to handle except for the last part to the church. You have to cross a a dry river but it is a little bit difficult to go down cross the dry river.

The coastline is magnificient, especially because of the chalk coloured rocks and the area of this part has not been spoiled with hotels and projects. This part of the coast is protected. You cross Praia de Marinha, Praia de Albandeira. Watch carefully the wholes in the rocks but there are everywhere good signs where it is safe to walk. Have a nice day and enjoy the beautiful and quiet walk in the south of the Algarve.

The islands of Madeira

Dear Friends, walking on Madeira is a spectacular experience. You have the oppertunity to walk a " thousand miles" track on the levada's around the island and in the mountains. Funchal is the best starting point for walks for the east side. Ribereira da Brava, app. 10 miles from Funchal a very good starting point for the west side of the island. We have been here to celebrate the "Reveillion 2009/2010" with fireworks not seen before in the world.

A short explanation of the "levada" walks. At the beginning of the century there were about 200 levada's with a total lenght of 800 miles. In 1970 the Portuguese governement started to reniew and made an inventory of all the canals. The function of the levada's is to distribute the water to the small canals from 1000 meters. From their to a level of 600 meters and irrigate the land. The banana plantations on Madeira is one of the major activities besides wine and vegetables.

Some instructions for walking:

• Don't go on your own, always in a group. Leave your mobile phone and route behind in hotel or with friends


• Take warm clothes with you and take for rain coverage


• Good walking boots, compass and something to eat. Weather can change very quickly.


• Because of the walking distancies in rural aerias, don't under estimate the length of your walking trips. Take enough time to end at a village before dark.

I will describe one levada walking, one is near at Funchal, the capital of Madeira The "Levada dos Piornais", connected to the "Levada do Curral".

Talke a bus to "Rua dos Estados Unidos, which ends at the football stadium. Walk along the road uphill and after approx. 500 meters on your left side there is a small stair which is the starting point of the levada dos Piornais. The Levada is dated around 16th century. On your left hand side down you see the development areas of hotels but you are walking high enough on the mountain to enjoy the local houses and plantations. After 20 minutes you get a much nicer view and you see in the sea the Cabo Girao. After 30 minutes you reach Amparo. Here seems the levada to stop, but after a littel cafe you cross the street and follow the canal again. After you reach Quebras you have to cross a road, keep right until you find a school on your left hand. 30 meters after the school on your right hand you can follow the track. You walk along a small valley where in the distance you can see a bridge over the valley which is called " Scorridos". Suddenly the levada is going north with breath taking views of the river " Ribeira dos Socorridos". From here the nuns were fleeing from the monestry of Santa Clara through the sugar cane fields to Curral. After 10 minutes you have to decide what to do. Or going down along the river and climb the stair after approx. 1 kilomter or take the tunnels. The tunnels are narrow, so if you don't trust yourself going along steep cliffs, I recommend the detour along the river and climb the stairs later on. At the end of the levada you have to climb concrete stairs to a house ( do not take the sign " gate 1,5 kim) but hold right to climb the stairs. If your at the house on the top, go right on the road to " Pinheiros das Voltas". From here you can easily take the bus, which has an excellent connection to Funchal again. (This track from the stadium of Funchal to Pinheiros takes you 4 hours, more or less.

If you want to c0ntinue your walk, in Pinheiros there is sign at the cafe on your left hand pointing to the Levada do Curral.

For more information, consult the Tourist Information op de Avenida Arriaga, in the centre of Funchal. It is also possible to take a guide, from 20 to 30 EUR per person you can hire a guide which also includes transport.

Tip: take a day to Porto Santo with the ferry.