Caminho do Norte: Day 5 – Porto to Santa Maria de Feira

On this, our fifth day of walking the Caminho do Norte, we again tinkered with the ‘official stages’ and will be walking a little farther than the suggested 23 kilometres to Lourosa. Today’s destination is Santa Maria de Feira, which means we have an extra five kilometres to hike.

Neither of us had enjoyed a great night’s sleep. I’d found myself listening for the constant low-level rumbling noise of metro trains travelling over nearby Dom Luís I Bridge until around 1 am. And Harri, unfortunately, had succumbed to whatever bug I’d picked up and had been delirious in the night.

At 8.35am, Porto was already buzzing with tour groups and the popular Douro boat trips were underway. I’d actually been feeling a little apprehensive about walking over the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge (Ponte de Dom Luís I). This is the two-level multi-iron truss arch bridge everyone comes to Porto to see – and walk across. Some reviewers had made such a fuss about achieving this feat that I’d built it up in my mind to be some terrifying feat. Of course, it proved to be nothing of the kind – and nowhere near as scary as walking across Newport’s Transporter Bridge, which I have summoned up the courage to do just twice in my entire lifetime.

I suspect much of this fear-mongering is deliberate marketing targeted at tourists: a determination to stir up that ‘will you/won’t you’ kind of dynamic. Well, take it from me, walking across Dom Luís I Bridge IS for the fainthearted and shouldn’t be missed. Believe me, those bird’s eye views of Porto and the Douro river are pretty awesome.

Until this trip, I’d thought Portugal’s second city straddled both banks of the Douro, but it transpired that, like the wardrobe in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, this iconic bridge transports people to a whole new world – a city known as Vila Nova de Gaia.

This ‘other’ city has a more modern feel, with wide roads where car lanes run parallel to the central metro lines. The walking here wasn’t unpleasant, although the constant road crossings and waiting for the lights to change did mean it was difficult to get any momentum going.

We’d been climbing very gradually since crossing the Douro and were starting to get glimpses of the ocean. I suggested we change our plans and head towards the coast, but Harri was having none of it. Talking of climbing, day five was the hilliest day of the entire Caminho do Norte, with an anticipated 547 metres of ascent.

And those hills kept coming. Whether we were walking on roads, footpaths or cobbles, it seemed we were always heading uphill. I began to dread the downhill sections because I knew a steep ascent would soon follow. There was one particularly tough section where the footpath was stone and rutted. I longed for some level walking or even gentle slopes. I was just commenting that today’s stage seemed unusually devoid of pilgrims, suggesting that the majority begin in Porto or from Porto airport, when we encountered two men. Our brief conversation with them amounted to this: enjoy this pretty section through the trees as it’s all downhill afterwards. And not downhill, you understand, just downhill.

By now, we were strolling through the Serra de Canelas where we found ourselves descending on an enchanting drystone-walled lane with enormous rock slabs underfoot. It was almost certainly a Roman road.

With 11 km and 229 metres of ascent under our belts, we stopped for a while at the church in Perosinho. We were back on the main road, when we spotted more pilgrims. I find the whole ‘other pilgrim’ experience really interesting. Some will greet us enthusiastically, stop to talk and swop experiences, while others just smile and wish us ‘bom caminho’. The most bewildering ones are those who spot us approaching and put their heads down to avoid any eye contact. This latest lot didn’t speak to us.

After a stop at a roadside pastelaria near Grijo (where the cakes were incredible), we were off again. Have you ever, like me, found a town planner’s reasoning to be completely unfathomable? This morning, we came upon a Portuguese example of ‘how could anyone let this happen?’

Opposite the Mosteiro de São Salvador de Grijó (Monastery of San Salvador de Grijó), which has stood on this spot since 1112, is a typical Portuguese cemetery, boasting several beautiful crypts and many stone monuments. Immediately behind the cemetery’s low wall was a line of ugly, windowless stone buildings with a circular concrete water tank straddling one of them. I mean. How was something like this allowed to be built next to an old graveyard? Worse, those attending the graves of their loved ones must put up with constant background noise from those industrial units.

A morning of tough climbing meant we now had sea views again. Again, I found myself wishing we were down there on the coast rather than up here following a very dull caminho. In fairness, the first three days weren’t bad, but the monotony of all the road walking is beginning to get to us. Unless things improve dramatically, Caminho do Norte is likely to go down as the most boring long-distance hike Harri and I have ever done together.

What makes it really frustrating is that on the horizon we can see plenty of wooded mountains; if we must be forever trekking up hills, then we might as well be exhausting ourselves in prettier landscapes.

Here, on the caminho, even the smaller roads were busy with traffic. Harri  reminded me that one of the bonuses of this caminho is that you are never far from facilities like supermarkets and cafes. As if to prove the point, we popped into Aldi, used their toilets, and bought suncream (we didn’t expect to need it so hadn’t brought any with us), crisps and some cans. Then we sat on the perimeter wall and ate our lunch. There were no such facilities on the far prettier Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros, but I knew where I’d prefer to be hiking.

When we reached Lourosa (the end of day 7 if you’re sticking with the ‘official’ stages), a fairground was being set up in the centre of town, with rides, stalls and an already active (and loud) tannoy system. I suspect we’d have struggled to sleep had we chosen to spend the night here.

Later, as we trudged past more out-of-town developments, Harri quipped, ‘I’m sure we’ve seen more industrial estates than monasteries today.’

The final 1.5 kilometres were actually much nicer as we rejoined a cobbled road with some shade. It was lovely to leave the smell of car fumes behind.

Summary

This was a day’s hiking that will stand out for all the wrong reasons. Had we not booked the entire trip’s accommodation ahead, I think we’d have called it a day at this stage and caught a train somewhere else.

Accommodation

Our double room with an en suite at Hotel Feira Pedra Bela cost us 83 euros, including breakfast. Maybe it was my mood when we arrived – or the fact that the hotel was located on a busy road – butthis four-star hotel felt more like a Travelodge. Clean and functional, but certainly nothing special. The adjacent restaurant was closed and there were no snacks available in the bar (despite the receptionist telling us there were!). We had no option but to brave the cold, evening air and head to a nearby pasteleria for pizza (which was surprisingly good).

Our route

This fifth stage from Porto to Santa Maria de Feira was mapped at 28.1 km with 547 metres of ascent.

Tracking with Outdoor Active, I recorded 29 km with 554 metres of ascent.

Download the GPX file of our hike here.