Caminho do Norte: Day 9 – Anadia to Coimbra

Another cold, grey morning – certainly not the kind of weather that encourages one to leap out of bed, lace up one’s boots and head out onto the trail. In fact, despite the weather forecast predicting a zero chance of rain, we actually set off in drizzle.

Breakfast had once again been the unimaginative buffet-style fare, with a meagre choice of cereals, small packaged croissants, plus the ubiquitous slimy ham and cheese slices. There was no bacon, sausages or scrambled egg. Slices of orange, melon and pineapple put in a late arrival, but overall we weren’t impressed with the Hotel Cabechino.

We really liked Anadia, however, although of course we didn’t see any of its tourist attractions, like the local palace. And if the historic centre was pleasing, the town’s outskirts were an absolute eye opener. There’s no doubt that this is the place to live if you’re into sports – or even cinema/theatre (there is a combined facility). We didn’t know at the time of our visit, but Anadia has been on the receiving end of one of the biggest investments in sport in Portugal. Its High Performance Centre provides incredible training facilities and, according to the website, attracts athletes from around 43 different nationalities. At last we had stumbled upon something of interest on the Caminho do Norte and it had nothing to do with religion or spirituality.

Not that we ventured inside; just gazing down on the complex itself was impressive. As you’d expect in Portugal, there were already plenty of young footballers practising their skills on one of the pitches. And it wasn’t as if non-athletes had been forgotten: there were ample cycle paths surrounding the facilities weaving their way through green spaces and mature trees. What’s not to like?

After the sports village, we picked up another nice little detour through trees. Then, all too soon, we were forced to rejoin the route. At least this road had relatively little traffic on it … and, while still grey and depressing, it had at least stopped drizzling.

Something we have noted here on the caminho is that the toilets next to churches and cemeteries are always locked. It’s a very different situation in the Algarve where you can almost always rely on these facilities being open … and spotlessly clean. We wondered if it was a deliberate ploy to stop pilgrims using the facilities.

The weather was slowly brightening up, although the sun hadn’t yet made an appearance. We reached the outskirts of Mealhada. In an ideal world, we’ve have split yesterday and today’s stages more evenly, but Harri couldn’t find anything for one night in Mealhada on booking.com (we later learned the Danish women were not booking ahead and, as a result, were paying higher rates for their accommodation).

I found a website which said, ‘As pilgrims to Santiago and Fatima approach Mealhada, they spot a vast green expanse and, upon closer inspection, the tower of a revivalist and neo-Manueline palace: the Palace Hotel do Bussaco, designed by the Italian architect and set designer Luigi Manini (1848–1936).’ All I can say is we must have been looking the other way because we saw none of this. We did, however, find an open toilet.

Yet again, the prettiest sections of walking – and the easiest on our feet – were the occasions we left the caminho proper and strayed into woodlands. Harri was frustrated he’d left his Caminho Português guidebook (by John Brierley) at home for reasons of weight. The author acknowledges the dreariness of parts of the route (which is moreorless the same as the Caminho do Norte but in the opposite direction) and suggests alternative, more scenic routes wherever possible.

We first visited Coimbra back in 2017 and we were really excited about returning, albeit for one night. We allowed ourselves to feel cautiously optimistic: maybe the worst of the caminho was now behind us and the route would become more scenic as we continued south to Fátima. We were discerning the gradual changes in the vegetation. Only yesterday, we’d spotted our first olive tree, and yet today they were growing everywhere. And the husk-laden chestnut trees that once lined the cobbled lanes had all but vanished from the landscape.

Sick of road walking and fast traffic, we seized upon an opportunity to veer left to join a track through a eucalyptus forest. Almost immediately we passed a recently renovated house where a dog, a cat and a small child watched us approaching. I swear all three fixed us with a sympathetic look.

We couldn’t have been the only pilgrims to follow these tracks because some kind souls had painted large red arrows at junctions to assist us through the forest. Emerging from the thick of the trees, a plot full of prone pumpkins brought back memories of the time Harri carried our middle granddaughter across a field of pumpkins in Wales. She’s now 19 and an engineering student – where do the years go?

After lunch – banana, crisps and cake for Harri; grapes and crisps for me – we started to get our first distant glimpses of Coimbra.

Back on a pretty soul-destroying stretch of road, we wondered about the psychology of people who undertake caminhos. As far we we’re concerned, we just enjoy long-distance hiking and the challenge of completing an end-to-end hike. For other pilgrims, the experience is more spiritual and the suffering for those unused to walking for hours on end very real. The Caminho do Norte might have ticked the box as a spiritual experience for many, but today I’d told my Dictaphone the experience so far was ‘bloody horrible’ adding that I wished we’d saved our money and stayed home (I can be rather dramatic at times!). But seriously, the hiking trails across the Algarve are vastly superior to anything we’ve experienced on this caminho.

With 5.3 kilometres to go before we reached Coimbra, we felt positive. Unfortunately, our hopes of a pleasant final stretch into the city were cruelly dashed. For the final hour, the route followed a main road flanked by towering bamboo plants which obscured any potential views. At one point, Harri gallantly helped an old lady down from the steep bank where she’d been gathering … something, we know not what.

Ultimately, we limped into the less salubrious side of Coimbra feeling world-weary and in full ‘slate the caminho’ mood. When Harri commented that we’d been duped by the official Caminho do Norte website, I had to agree with him.

Summary

Despite a rather boring day’s hiking, we did have a really lovely evening in Coimbra. Our hotel was a delight (see below) and staying right in the centre of the city meant we were able to stroll along the wide promenade at twilight under a nearly full moon. There’s a fountain in the river which lights up night and keeps changing colour.

It’s so much fun to go promenading in vibrant cities like Coimbra and (in June) Vigo, although with it being the final day of the student festival the restaurants were busy. We had no choice but to eat out – or starve – but our choice of restaurant (Seoul Chicken) proved to be disastrous; I was served a full 40 minutes before Harri. In fact, had we not kept on and on at the waiter, I doubt Harri would have eaten at all.

Accommodation

We paid 79 euros for a double room at the riverfront Astoria Hotel, which is an experience not to be missed. If you like all your mod cons, then the Astoria probably isn’t the hotel for you because the moment you step off the street and through the revolving doors there’s a real sense of going back in time.

The hotel’s website describes it as an ‘Art Nouveau-Art Déco masterpiece with the romance and grace of a different century’ and, this time, the reality really does live up to the marketing. The hotel was built in the 1920s and it shows, but in a delightful, ‘I’m loving this’ kind of way. For example, the tiny elevator is original – probably why Harri refused to step into it and made us trudge up the threadbare carpeted staircase – and there is wood-panelling everywhere. Our third floor room was spacious with tall windows, old-fashioned radiators and antique wooden furniture. But it was the bathroom which most fascinated me. There was a step into what looked like a long, narrow cupboard, again with plenty of wood panelling. Guests have to shuffle past the enamel bath to reach the toilet, sink and bidet which were under another tall window. Everything looked original: the light switches, the hooks to hang clothes, the wardrobes … it was quite splendid.

What really made us laugh was the information sheet in our room suggested guests might leave their forwarding address so the hotel could forward their mail.

Our route

This ninth stage from Anadia to Coimbra was mapped at 32.2 km with 194 metres of ascent.

For once, my track (on Outdoor Active) was exactly the same distance at 32.2 km, but with slightly more climbing at 200 metres.

Download the GPX file of our revised route hike here.