Caminho do Norte: Day  6 – Santa Maria de Feira to Branca

On this, our sixth day of walking the Caminho do Norte, we awoke to a beautiful morning and clear blue sky.

Frankly, we were so unimpressed with the majority of yesterday’s route that Harri has studied the map and worked out an alternative which will keep us off the main road for at least the first few kilometres.

After a delicious breakfast – we were ravenous after last night’s meagre dinner portions – we left the hotel just before nine o’clock in short sleeves. We crossed the main road, noting the roar of the passing traffic, and immediately joined a footpath heading steeply downhill into a valley. The tracks we followed were frequently steep and the walking strenuous; perhaps it was these factors which persuaded the caminho planners to avoid this far prettier route. After a while, we realised we could hear something unusual … birdsong. All this natural beauty and we hadn’t strayed much more than 500 metres from the main road.

After an hour’s hiking, there was no option but to rejoin the Caminho do Norte proper, however we had at least avoided the very worst of the morning’s road walking.

We reached Arrifana (not to be confused with the town of the same name on the Western Algarve coast) which boasted a large church and some lovely old properties, many with Juliette balconies.

It was already sweltering so, despite it only being 10.30am, we stopped for drinks next to a fountain at the larger São João da Madeira. It was a pleasant surprise to find this pleasant, sizeable town didn’t feel dominated by traffic.

Of course, all good things must come to an end – or that’s how it seems on the Caminho do Norte. Having enjoyed much nicer walking so far today, we soon found ourselves back on another busy road.

Frustrated, we decided to try another detour. Studying the online mapping, Harri deduced that if we left the busy road and did a detour through an industrial estate we might also avoid some climbing. This time his cunning plan didn’t work out so well. Not only was the industrial estate busy with traffic at lunchtime, but when we emerged on the far side we  were faced with a hill of epic proportions.

‘This is so horrible,’ I muttered into my Dictaphone. Of course, the joke was on us. By trying to avoid the original main road, we’d simply presented ourselves with a hill of Mount Everest proportions to climb at the hottest part of the day. Oh, and there was plenty of traffic alongside us and no pavement. Great!

Oliveira de Azeméis

We were well and truly worn out and fed up by the time we reached Oliveira de Azeméis, a sleepy little place with a pedestrianised centre. We hadn’t anticipated such high temperatures at the beginning of October. I’d brought three long-sleeved tops and a fleece with me!

More drinks were required so we decided to eat too and shared a large piece of salmon quiche. Honestly, the UK could learn something from portion sizes here in Portugal. One slice was ample for the two of us. Harri had a pint of Estrella, which cheered him up no end as he claims Spanish beer has got the bite that Portuguese beer lacks, and I had my usual diet coca cola. Our total bill came to 6,90 euros (around £6).

After lunch, we headed downhill again and stopped to talk to a couple of hikers from Los Angeles. Although experienced hikers, they were finding the caminho from Lisbon quite tough. They told us they hadn’t expected there to be so much road walking (this was a common complaint from all the pilgrims we talked to).

The route improved briefly as we made our way through corn fields and across a railway line, but too soon we were back on a busy road heading uphill with zero shade. Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, a smelly refuse lorry joined the road and kept us company for the next few kilometres.

With ten kilometres still to go, we were beginning to despair. If pilgrims are supposed to suffer, then this caminho route was certainly ticking all the boxes. Even the scenic stretches didn’t last long. Though we longed for a return to the magnificant landscapes of the little-walked Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros, our expectations were now so low that just walking through a quiet residential area felt like paradise.

If the Caminho do Norte (which, of course, follows much of the same route as the Caminho Português) is anything to go by, then it’s a mystery to us how or why caminho walking has become so popular. As it was, we’d only travelled a few hundred miles north from the Algarve, but if we’d flown from the other side of the world anticipating a spiritual experience – as an Australian pilgrim we talked to Casa Mindela Farmhouse had done – we’d have been devastated.

A short detour to Continente to grab some food for tonight and tomorrow’s breakfast provided some relief from the relentless road walking, after which we decided to leave the caminho and follow an alternative route to our accommodation.

Almost immediately we’d left the waymarked route the scenery improved and the roar of traffic vanished. With 7 km to go and extra weight in our rucksacks, we joined wide forestry track – uphill, of course.

Emerging from the trees, we joined a lane running adjacent to an old building which appeared to be being renovated. The lane itself had been cleared as if the property owners planned to use it – or were using it. Unfortunately, there was still an abundance of brambles, which resulted in scratched legs. It was rather late in the day to venture off piste, but at least it felt like proper hiking.

Although it was hazy towards the coast, the climbing meant we could just about make out Aveiro lagoon. It was at this point that Harri made a very tempting suggestion and asked if I wanted to skip some of the caminho walking, catch a train to Aveiro, do some sightseeing and then catch the train straight to Coimbra. I was torn. The Caminho do Norte had been a huge letdown, but skipping a day would undoubtedly lead to skipping other stages. Pilgrims are supposed to suffer, yes? We agreed to delay our decision until tomorrow.

Summary

Once again, the official Caminho do Norte route has been a huge letdown. The only really enjoyable walking was the first two kilometres and the final seven kilometres – neither stretches were on the waymarked route.

At this stage, I am almost ready to give up. Who wants to be a through pilgrim anyway?

Accommodation

We stayed at A Loja do Cantoneiro for 55 euros. It’s described as a guest house, but there was no breakfast provided. That said, the kitchen facilities were extremely good – and there are a lot of outside and communal spaces. On 1 October, the only other guest was a Swiss cyclist called Frank who showed me photographs of Agueda and almost gave me hope that things were about to improve.

Despite the heat of the day, our ground floor twin room was surprisingly cold … really cold, even with the heating on.

Our route

This sixth stage from Santa Maria de Feira to Branca was originally mapped at 29.5 km with 306 metres of ascent.

Tracking with Outdoor Active, our alternative route (mapped by Harri to avoid some of the main road walking) was 30.4 km with 519 metres of ascent.

Download the GPX file of our revised route hike here.