Caminho do Norte: Day  8 – Águeda to Anadia

It’s so easy to lose track of the days when you’re on a long-distance hike. This morning we deliberated for several minutes before we agreed it was Friday 3 October. While not exactly a day of rest, today’s stage on the Caminho do Norte was significantly shorter than previous ones at just under 18 kilometres. For once, we were actually choosing to finish the day’s hiking before the end of the official stage, stopping at Anadia rather than forging ahead to Mealhada. Harri’s decision was based on better accommodation options in Anadia.

With no need to rush out, we’d have appreciated a more varied breakfast, but here at Águeda Hostel and Friends, it was the usual fare: processed ham and cheese slices, bread, pastries and condiments. The apples looked like they’d been sitting in the fruit bowl for weeks and have I mentioned there was no proper tea? So it was jam and toast for me, until I spotted a large jar of Nutella tucked away at the back.

It was twenty to ten by the time we left the hostel, our tardiness in part due to the low-lying mists, which made the great outdoors look spectularly grey and unappealing, but no doubt exacerbated by our growing feelings of aversion to walking the Caminho do Norte. I’ve now reached the point where I just want to get to the end. Some Hiking Algarve members are currently in the Peneda-Gerês National Park and are posting photographs on Facebook. With hindsight, I wish we’d returned to hike in Portugal’s sole national park. We are missing the wild landscapes, Roman roads and high peaks of the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros.

We crossed the bridge in Águeda and made our way through Alfusquiero River Park which sits on a river peninsular. The dog walkers were out in force and our full attention was required to sidestep their fresh output!  A signpost informed us we were now following a PR route, a GR route and two caminhos. Wow! Wherever do we find the energy?

Twenty minutes in, we encountered our first steep climb of the day. Harri addressed my groans about the inhuman(e) gradient by telling me about a serious US long-distance hiker who didn’t ‘get’ the appeal of these caminhos either. In a blog post, he theorised that one of the appeals of long-distance routes was how they made the average walker feel like a superman. He suggested it was particularly true of the caminhos because a lot of people doing it wouldn’t have the confidence to do long-distance hike without all the facilities to hand. In other words, some of those very same things we found tedious and unpleasant, e.g. endless road walking far from the hills and trundling along in large groups (the latter applying more to the Caminho Português) was exactly what appealed to less experienced hikers. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have an expert hike planner like Harri to hand, I guess.

Nature’s autumnal colours were evident everywhere, with the ubiquitous vines turning to a vibrant red. We’d been mostly walking past large houses with rather nice gardens; however we weren’t the least bit surprised to reach our first industrial estate of the day at 3.5 kilometres.

Not wishing to join the fast, main road as instructed by the GPX file, Harri quickly devised another detour which had the added bonus of avoiding the sprawl of industrial units. Instead, we joined a pleasant track through trees as we headed on to Barro. These apparently well-walked detours suggested other pilgrims were choosing to avoid busy roads, in the same way hikers would seek ways to keep clear of a bog on a Welsh mountain.

Barro, with a population of under 2,000, had a high street and a church, but nothing much else to attract our attention. At least the weather was brightening up a little.

By the time we rejoined the waymarked caminho route, the road was quieter. With more than halfway to go, the landscape is at last starting to feel a little less urban, although the highlight of the day so far has been the beautiful, lush gardens of large properties we were passing – and some gorgeous cats. After a dearth of them yesterday, we’d spotted several gorgeous felines this morning.

At Águeda de Baixo, we stopped for drinks and bumped into the two Danish ladies I’d spoken to at the hostel last night. Of course, we greeted each other like old friends, as is the tendency when a familiar face appears in a sea of strangers. Unlike us, they were completing the full stage and continuing to Mealhada.

The heat hit us as we trudged through our second industrial estate of the day – this one large and deserted. Growing ever closer was the steep hill we spotted through the mist yesterday morning. Though it looked high, I was rather hoping we’d steer away from this endless built-up corridor and head into the hills.

And there’s really very little else to report about today’s route other than it was short, meaning it was late afternoon when we arrived at our hotel on the outskirts of Anadia.

Anadia

At 3.45pm, we left to head into Anadia proper and find something to eat. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast … not even a crisp.

Anadia had wide, leafy roads giving it a sense of spaciousness. It was bigger than I expected it to be. While many Portuguese towns are small in terms of population, they do tend to offer all the facilities residents need, including (in Anadia) an abundance of barber shops.

Maybe it’s because we’re so used to the Algarve’s older demographic, but we were surprised to see so many young people around. Dare I say it, but, for a small town, Anadia seemed to have a bit of life to it.

We’d decided to grab some food before we heading to the supermarket. Fancying something spicy, we’d found a place called Amigo’s Food Island on Google Maps. It sounds more upmarket than it was and, while the two young lads serving were pleasant enough, they seemed completely clueless when it came to serving a meal. We were served our piping-hot chips as a starter and only when they were eaten did our mango and spinach curries arrive. Afterwards, the lades took forever working out our food and drinks bill and eventually charged us 23,30 euros for everything. Even when Harri pointed out the bill seemed too low, they insisted it was correct.

Summary

Today was actually quite pleasant, although it’s all relative. We walked mostly on quieter roads and admired grand properties. That said, I took far fewer photographs than on previous days, which suggests there was little which caught my imagination.

Accommodation

We paid 73 euros for a twin room and breakfast at the three-star Hotel Cabechino, Anadia. While our accommodation was perfectly adequate, several things made us scratch our heads: there was a pool but no landscaping around it, a private terrace with no outdoor furniture. Most baffling of all was the bath without a plug. It was a good-sized room, however there were no glasses and no kettle. With the majority of private accommodation providers now adding many thoughtful  little touches, our hotel room felt strangely spartan and unloved. It’s as if large hotels like the Cabechino simply can’t be bothered.

Our route

This eight stage from Águeda to Anadia was originally mapped at 17.8 km with 172 metres of ascent.

Tracking with Outdoor Active, our alternative route (mapped by Harri to avoid some of the main road walking) was 19.5 km with 127 metres of ascent. Looks like today’s detours avoided quite a bit of climbing.

Download the GPX file of our revised route hike here.