Leaving Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros: Castro Laboreiro to Melgaço – 28.7km

Today, we’ll be leaving the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros to head across country, first following the GR50 Peneda-Geres long-distance path and then joining the Via Mariano (another of the Braga caminhos) to reach Melgaço.

I’m in awe of Harri for keeping all these crossovers in his head and ably navigating between trails without getting us lost.

Today, we’re leaving the Peneda-Gerês National Park but staying in Portugal for a relatively easy day’s hiking (just 411 metres of climbing). Harri’s really loved the mountainous nature of the past few days’ hiking and is sad to be leaving this beautiful part of northern Portugal.

After being lucky with the weather yesterday, we were woken by heavy rain at around 1.30am. The downpour was over quickly, however we woke this morning to a grey and overcast sky. Frustratingly, the forecast remained unsettled. On the bright side, the humidity had noticeably dropped.

For the second time during our overnight stay, the Hotel Castrum Villae surprised us. This cheap hotel with its unprepossessing exterior delivered big time on breakfast, with bacon and eggs, Tetley’s teabags and lots of choice in terms of cold meats, cheese, rolls, etc. What was surprising considering the hotel’s location was that we appeared to be the only hikers at breakfast.

We left Castro Laboreiro on a lovely cobbled footpath, which, had it been yellow in colour, would have had me skipping along singing ‘follow the yellow brick road’.

After yesterday, the air felt decidedly cool. We’d packed our raincoats at the top of our rucksacks, fully expecting to need them at some point today. Packing up had been more of a military operation than usual as we needed to make sure all our devices were well-protected from potential rain. Until this point, I hadn’t realised that my Osprey Tempest 34 had no waterproof cover – thank goodness for Continente carrier bags.

Initially, the paths showed no signs of last night’s downpour – in fact it wasn’t until we joined a historic, walled footpath that we came across any ground water.

Surrounded by towering, craggy summits, it was hard to reconcile the inevitable climb from this valley with Harri’s assurance that today’s hiking would be ‘easy’.

I decided to enjoy the level walking while it lasted. While we’re following the GR50, the first few kilometres are shared with the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros. It’s been our experience, both here in Portugal and in Spain, that caminhos tend to be better maintained than GR routes.

We’re sad to be losing the camaraderie of our fellow pilgrims. While we didn’t know them well, it was nice to encounter familiar faces every now and then. The older pilgrim lady, in particular, always seemed so pleased to see us.

Whenever Harri mentions a ‘mountain pass’, I always fear the worst, but today’s was a delight to walk. Not only was the gradient mostly gentle, but the spectacular scenery distracted from any tougher sections. Fortunately, the morning mist was dissipating and the weather was brightening up as we started our long ascent along this well-waymarked trail.

At one point, about three kilometres in, we paused to look to our left; we could see the castle we’d visited last night with Castro Laboreiro and the ‘yellow brick road’ far below. My sense of direction isn’t great, but shouldn’t we have left these particular landmarks behind at this point? Harri explained that, while today’s route had seen us set off in a northern direction, we’d already veered west and slightly south again.

Eventually, the footpath levelled out and we reached the saddle of the pass; it felt like we were on top of the world, surrounded by crags and boulders, ferns and wildflowers. Landscapes such as this are the reward for all the hard work involved in getting to the summit.

All too soon, we were heading downhill towards Lamas de Mouro and leaving the wild beauty of Peneda-Gerês National Park. While I was keen to reach the Galician coast, I could tell Harri would have liked to spend more time in those mountains. I think we’ll be returning before too long.

I didn’t know it at the time, but what we were referring to as a ‘country park’ was actually one of the five entrance gates to the national park, i.e. an area dedicated to providing recreational facilities and information for visitors to Peneda-Gerês. With nearly 30 kilometres to hike, we didn’t have time to check out everything, but there was a really nice vibe here.

At this point – seven kilometres into the hike – we left the GR50 to join the Via Mariana, which takes a more direct route to the Galician coast. The wind had picked up and I tightened the straps on my hat. I’d lost one sunhat on the Via Algarviana when it blew off and disappeared.

There followed some walking along grassy footpaths (in the process of being maintained) and more old stony lanes before we joined a wide, gravel track and immediately started climbing. Our first reaction was to welcome a gentler gradient, however as the track twisted and climbed its way up to the wind turbines, we started to wonder if we’d ever reach the summit. Since coming down from the mountains, the temperature had soared. The light gravel surface didn’t help as it reflected the heat.

The only positive was that we found ourselves positively storming up the hill in our race to the top. Soon, we’d have covered around half of the day’s distance and could stop for a well-deserved snack.

While we couldn’t see it, the Rio Minho was snaking its way through the valley far below, meaning the road and the houses we could see were actually across the border in Spain.

Cattle dogs

You may recall that we were warned about Portuguese cattle dogs when we booked into our hotel in Braga. We’d even spotted two of these lumbering dogs in Castro Laboreiro last night, when we’d been careful to steer clear. Today, fate had dictated it was time for us to meet these enormous canines up close.

Yes, just as the track was levelling off and we were starting to look forward to a much-needed break, we were joined by two of them – a male and a female. Clearly bored around the farmyard, they’d spotted us and decided to join our hike. No problem – this kind of thing happens often in Portugal where dogs are frequently left to wander – apart from their vast size, which left us feeling a little uneasy. It’s hard to relax when you’re being accompanied by a dog breed known for attacking wolves – and we had two of them trotting alongside us.

At first, we just assumed they’d get distracted and wander off, but as we clocked up the kilometres they seemed perfectly happy with their human company. At this point, we were coming off the mountain along grassy tracks with ferns either side, in a landscape not dissimilar to the Brecon Beacons.

Fiães

As the village of Fiães came into sight, our concerns increased. We couldn’t wilfully lead these dogs onto roads, even quiet ones. Our hopes were briefly raised when we spotted cattle grazing among the ferns, but nope, our companions barely glanced in their direction. We hikers were much more fun than boring old cows.

Then, just as we were nearing Fiães, the bitch showed signs of tiring and stopped to drink from water running down the mountain slope. Thankfully, the male waited for her and we were at last able to make our escape. Eighteen-and-a-half kilometres into our hike and we were finally free of our canine companions.

We settled down on the steps of the monastery at Fiães and devoured our combined elevenses and lunch (salted peanuts and half a Natura bar for me). It was our first stop of the day.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the day’s dog problems. We’d barely started walking again before two dogs charged us within the space of five minutes. One was a large, threatening dog who had no intention of letting us walk past his villa, even though it was on the main road, and the other was a Corgi! Give me a Portuguese cattle dog over one of those Royal favourites any time.

Rio Minho

We had our first glimpse of the Rio Minho but any hopes I had of a leisurely riverside stroll for the remainder of the afternoon were dashed. Despite never being far from where we were walking, this wide river was almost entirely obscured by thick trees and vegetation.

By 3pm, we’d started our long descent to Melgaço. At times we were thwarted by thick brambles and escaping vines, at others simply by the steep downhill gradient – a killer for the knees at the end of a long day.

Melgaço was a pleasant and sprawling town – the largest place we’ve encountered since leaving Braga. As we walked into the town centre, a smart, local man approached and welcomed us in English, which was rather sweet. He has lived his entre life here and told us it was a safe place, with no crime. We stopped for a drink outside a bar and were soon joined by two more pilgrims – one Slovakian and one Polish. They were walking the full Via Mariana route and had linked up to share accommodation costs. By a strange fluke, they’d also been joined by two cattle dogs – and, from the photographs they showed us, it appeared to be the same ones who’d followed us.

We rather liked Melgaço – it’s a hilly, historic town which doesn’t seem to be on the tourist trail – at least I’ve not noticed any of our Portugal-wandering Facebook friends mentioning it. After a quick meander, where I was impressed with the tall, narrow buildings and two crypts on the pavement outside the church, we headed to the supermarket to grab supplies for tonight and tomorrow.

By now, the weather was getting a bit ‘sour’ – to use Henllys farming terminology – and we still had a few hilly kilometres to walk to Peso and the Hotel Boavista.

Our accommodation

We stayed at Hotel Boavista where we paid 75 euros for a double room with private bathroom and breakfast. The really nice receptionist spoke good English and offered us an upgrade to a room in the newer part of the hotel free of charge – obviously we accepted.

Our room was spacious with a little fridge, plenty of desk space and nice view over the swimming pools (there’s a second small one for children), although sadly the cool, grey weather kept us out of the water.

The route

This stage is mapped at 29km with 411 metres of ascent.

Tracking with Outdoor Active, I recorded 28.7km with 422 metres of ascent (and 1,352 metres of descent.

Download the GPX file of our hike here.