Caminho do Norte: Day 7 – Branca to Agueda

One week into walking the Caminho do Norte and we are heading to Águeda today. The long distances we covered at the outset mean we’re actually two days ahead of the official walking schedule, although stage 9 also ends at Águeda. We’re setting off slightly farther south which means we only have 24.9 km to hike today (the official stage is one of the longest at 29 km). Harri wanted me to stress that we’re not doing a detour, just following a different route to get from A to B.

Last night, Frank (the Swiss cyclist) had shared photographs of Águeda with us and we were very much looking forward to visiting the town famous for its hundreds of umbrellas. With our plans for tomorrow undecided, today’s stage might yet prove our last consecutive day on the Caminho do Norte.

Harri had again pored over the route and come up with an alternative – but definitely not a shorter – route. His dedication is incredible, particularly as he’s not feeling at all well. He’s coughing a lot at night and it looked like he’d had a fight with his bedding overnight (in comparison mine was all neat and tidy as I snuggled under the thin sheet trying to stay warm). The cold room temperature meant our washing was still damp, so we had to resort to pegging everything on the outside of our rucksacks again. Even my shorts were damp, but I had no option but to put them on.

Instead of rejoining the caminho, we remained at a high elevation, enjoying easy walking along a wide road with small eucalyptus trees either side (perhaps a sign of recent fires). In the distance, the hills were shrouded in mist. Without even glancing at the map, we guessed we wouldn’t be heading towards them. We passed a large Madonna on a traffic island but, as neither of us felt 100%, we decided against a detour to the monastery.

Albergaria-a-Velha

We reached Albergaria-a-Velha, a pleasant little town which is known for its numerous watermills, particularly along the Caima river. There’s apparently even a Rota dos Moinhos linking the mills. I don’t recall seeing a single watermill as we passed through the town and the caminho website doesn’t mention them. As always, the waymarked caminho stuck with the more boring bits of town. While other tourists were strolling along the river, we were backtracking along an overgrown footpath which was ultimately blocked by a tall breeze block wall preventing us from crossing the railway line as our map instructed us to do.

One positive thing about Albergaria-a-Velha and similar small towns was the number of local people who called out ‘bom caminho’ to us. Maybe it was because pilgrims were rather thin on the ground this morning.

Thus it was back to the drawing board as Harri worked out how to cross the railway. It was then I spotted a line of interesting crypts – we always maintain Buffy the Vampire Slayer should have been filmed in Portugal.

For a while we followed a gravel track with young eucalyptus trees either side. The accompanying rows of towering pampas grasses growing alongside them gave the impression of a manicured avenue leading to a stately home. Then, out of the blue, there were suddenly pilgrims everywhere.

The Lady of the Immaculate Buttocks

Poor Harri hadn’t been feeling well all morning so when a young woman joined the track in front of us, he whispered to me, ‘I think I’m delirious. I’m seeing things.’

If he was delirious, then I was too, because we were both seeing the same thing: a pair of naked buttocks marching along ahead of us. The woman, who hadn’t acknowledged us, was wearing the shortest little tartan skirt (think the size of a wide belt) which left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Perhaps there was a thong in there somewhere, but there was certainly no visible evidence of it. Obviously, I didn’t take a photograph – that would have been voyeuristic and exploitative, but we did have a good laugh about it afterwards. You see all these over-dressed pilgrims who look like they are heading to the Arctic and then something like this. Ever since, Harri has referred to the woman as ‘the Lady of the Immaculate Buttocks’.

The walking between there and Águeda was certainly not unpleasant. We walked through several villages where there was no sign of anyone, expressed surprise at the amount of corn heads dying on their stalks, and stopped at a roadside café/restaurant for Harri to rest. By now he was feeling pretty nauseous … and the sun was hotter than ever.

The next section of walking was really pretty. We’d been confused as to why the caminho route had been diverted onto a wide (though quiet) road to cross the Rio Vouga, but once we were on the pedestrian walkway it all made sense. Two arches of the adjacent thirteenth-century medieval bridge had collapsed into the river, rendering it impassable.

We’d been planning to stop for elevenses on a pretty island picnic area, however the convoluted route past a church, alongside the river and through an underpass meant we somehow ended up on the opposite side of the lake from the wooden access bridge. With no desire to retrace our steps, we sought shade under the trees where Harri took the opportunity to lie down. We did walk over the new Marnel bridge, built in the fourteenth-century, although it’s flat so you don’t get the sense you’re crossing a bridge.

Then there was some steep climbing and a very long stretch of level walking through a residential area before we entered what Harri was now referring to as ‘our obligatory industrial estate’ of the day. It was dusty and hot, and the heat radiated from the tarmac roads. ‘It’s all a bit naff, really,’ I said to Harri. He didn’t disagree.

With 850 metres to go to Águeda, we joined the river promenade, although the river itself was obscured by a reflective glass barrier. In the distance, we could see umbrellas pinned to the facades of building and we allowed ourselves to feel excited.

Beer, cola and cakes were next  on the agenda and very nice they were. Sitting there next to the river, we found ourselves comparing caminho walking – or this one at least –  to the emperor’s new clothes. Once somebody has completed one, they seem unwilling to admit how tedious much of the hiking actually is. I mean, nobody would choose to walk around the industrial areas of their home city or town for fun, would they, but here in northern Portugal we pilgrims were doing just that.

Harri is convinced would-be pilgrims – like us – are seduced by the professional, multi-lingual websites which are now available for the main caminhos. The Caminho do Norte website doesn’t lie exactly, but it talks about walking through historic areas and urban centres. There is no mention of the endless kilometres of road walking with lorries thundering past. And, of course, this caminho moreorless follows the same route as the Caminho Português from Lisbon to Valença with a few small variations (the Caminho do Norte ends in Fátima). Every pilgrim we’ve spoken to at length has been similarly unimpressed with the amount of road walking.

Summary
Another day of less-than-enjoyable hiking, although there was the occasional pretty stretch. The nicest part of the day was the first few kilometres when we just skipped the caminho route and just stayed high in the land of the (small) eucalyptus. Parque da Ponte Medieval do Marnel was also delightful, however the brief stroll around the lake was over too quickly. What saddens us is the knowledge that this caminho could have been so much better had a little thought gone into adjusting the route.

Águeda itself was a delight, although apart from the umbrellas there’s not a huge amount to see here. We did have a delicious meal around the corner at Bota Roca for around 26 euros.

Accommodation

We stayed at the Agueda Hostel & Friends, which was amazing value at 55 euros for a private double room with an ensuite and breakfast (okay, not the kind of breakfast you’d get in a hotel – and there were no teabags – but certainly better than nothing).

Apart from being as central as it gets, the next best thing about the hostel was that you could look down at the umbrellas from a balcony in the breakfast room.

Our route

This seventh stage from Branca to Águeda was originally mapped at 24.9 km with 175 metres of ascent.

Tracking with Outdoor Active, our alternative route (mapped by Harri to avoid some of the main road walking) was 23.6 km with 84 metres of ascent. And despite Harri’s insistence that we weren’t shortening the route, you may have noticed we just did!

Download the GPX file of our revised route hike here.