Camino Portugues Day 2 - Matosinhos to Vila do Conde

Our B and B in Matosinhos was run by a charming man who lived for a while in Nottingham, and so had impeccable English. His staff member who made breakfast was also extremely friendly, and made utterly delicious freshly squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs and tiny pastel de nata to send us on our way.

We walked down our quiet road taking in its faded grandeur before catching a moment in the fish market, where if we’d had more time we could have had whatever we bought there cooked at the cafe. There was a very peaceful vibe in this (for us) fairly early morning. I’m guessing the women running the stalls had been up for hours.

We had to cross the lifting bridge to continue on the Senda Litoral. It was open when we arrived so whilst waiting for it to become passable the Peregrinos had accumulated - with about twenty ahead of me. Including one with a solar panel on her rucksack.

Very soon after that I was delighted to see our first Camino signpost, the signage has been impeccable today.

Even though I wasn’t carrying solar panels, my rucksack felt heavy, despite packing as lightly as I could. It’s a feature of doing these long walks, that the first few days always feel hard whilst the body acclimatises. The advice is that one is supposed to carry no more than ten percent of one’s body weight. I’m well within that, but my shoulders and back were noticing it today. I know it will get easier.

Yesterday we had looked at going to swim in the Matosinhos tidal pool, but fortunately discovered before setting off that it doesn’t open till June. When it’s filled it will be great - I can supply a photo of one in Madeira instead that we swam in at Easter if you’re interested…,.

The path was clinging to the sea all day today, and this first section was the Leça da Palmeira waterfront avenue, designed by Siza, an eminent local architect. It was designed in 2005, probably about the same time as the development of the Senda Litoral. It all felt very new, with shiny apartment buildings on one side of the road, cafes (all closed) and a walkway on the other. It leads to the Boa Nova lighthouse, the second tallest in Portugal, and creates access to the huge refinery that the road passes.

The gorgeous complexity of the Atlantic shoreline, with its rocks, surf and pools reminded me of my favourite places in North Devon. The hot sun at 10am was less familiar.

One of the reasons I wanted to do this bit of the Camino was to walk the boardwalks over the dunes. There are miles of these, mostly very well maintained, allowing peregrinos and locals to access the beaches and travel from village to village, safely away from the traffic and without trampling on the fragile environment.

At the start of the boardwalk, I celebrated by buying a scallop shell for my rucksack. This is the symbol of St James, in whose name many pilgrims walk, marking the route that his disciples took to bring his body back to Spain after being murdered by King Herod in AD44. Many pilgrims’ scallops are quite fancy affairs, with painted crosses or other symbols on. I got the choice of many from the vendor on the side of the boardwalk, and chose one that’s simple, unadorned and a little battered round the edges. It felt perfect.

Because this is the Atlantic, the sea is very good for surfing, and there were lots of people enjoying the water today. I loved watching a group doing surf specific warm up exercises on the beach before venturing in.

The pilgrims had spread out by now, going at very different speeds. I was unusually not one of the fastest, it felt like I was taking my time more than some who appeared to be on a mission. Others though were labouring, maybe wondering what their life choices had been to lead them to this hot day with a large bag and a long way to go.

There were many areas with information boards describing the biodiversity they are nurturing on the sea front and the dunes.  In Dumas Park there was an instruction not to be afraid of insects. Almost immediately I watched a walker flapping at an insect that was bothering her. There haven’t been many so far, no biting insects and not that many butterflies, to our surprise. It’s all just felt easy, and straightforward, with no difficulties. A perfect start to what I’m sure will become a more demanding walk.

We passed the memorial obelisk that marked the end of the absolutist regime in 1832, (and I realised again that I don’t know so much about so much) and then looked back at the satisfying melange of spires, with it, the lighthouse and the refinery.

By now we had walked for 7 miles, we were quite warm and had seen no cafe open.  Increasingly keen for a break,  I used my two months experience of Duolingo Portuguese to ask a group of friends chatting on the side of the boardwalk if they knew where a cafe was. I was delighted that they understood my halting question, but I didn’t cope as well with the voluble answer, involving 3 people pointing enthusiastically in different directions. But we took heart that there would be somewhere to stop, and as we approached the village of Lavra we found a cafe in the shade.

There was a large family there enjoying a Saturday morning outing, and 3 fellow peregrinos. Holly, Jenny and Vernon are twins and their little sister who’ve come from the States to walk the Camino together. Their other two siblings decided to leave them to it. I wondered how my brothers would react if I suggested we walked together for a fortnight - sounds a great plan to me!

The good coffee and the tiny pastel de nata that I’d kept from breakfast powered us forward back onto the boardwalks. There was the distinct smell of ozone/seaweed/ sea in the air, as we continue over the pristine dunes.

There were lovely moments of oases where the little streams come out to the sea.

Past little coves on which were ancient polishing rocks scattered in the sand and ruined prehistoric buildings near where people were swimming and sandbathing. Mainly the interest for me was the yellow against blue.

Through Praia de Moreiro Norte towards Vila Cha, looking at a memorial to an English Lancaster bomber that had come down here, with the crew being rescued by local fishermen - earlier there had been one about a U boat that had scuttled itself to prevent it being taken by the Russians had it had gone back to its home port after the war. And a weird sculpture, for no definable purpose. Maybe there were pirates at Vila cha once upon a time.

It certainly is a village that seems very connected to the sea, with a little fishing port and a sleepy disposition.

We used Google to locate a neighbourhood restaurant to eat, and interrupted the friendly staff who were having their lunch. They made way for us, charmingly explaining the menu and returned to their animated conversation whilst they waited for the other diners to arrive at a more normal time - they were clearly used to the weird Brits tipping up early.  Having seen the menu, we were concerned that we’d stumbled into somewhere that was pretty pricey for lunch, but the owner said that the fish filet could be shared, and that it came with sides. It was gigantic, delicious, and split between two, extremely cheap. It was a fish that we’d not heard of, called abrotia (which the owner kindly wrote down for me to be sure I spelt it right).

Later, locals started coming in for their smart lunches, and I realised that whilst they were looking rather lovely, I was wearing a sweaty t shirt that had a tide mark of salt across it. So classy.

The boardwalk continued right through the heart of the dunes, feeling miles from the road.

But Vila do Conde was ahead in the distance, where we were staying. Our enthusiasm to get there didn’t stop us pausing to listen to an obbligato performance by a group of bright green frogs by the river.

I loved the view down to the sea from the river looking out to all the racing yachts, spinnakers flying, on the horizon. Utterly beautiful.

A final information board bafflingly told me that Lusitania endomisms were reportedly to be found in this area. I decided not to look for them. Any explanatory help on this would be greatly appreciated. Instead we started the long hot slog into the town, wandering past the boatyard where a wooden sailing ship was being worked on alongside a modern fishing boat.

There have been stickers on many of the lampposts, put there presumably by fellow pilgrims who’ve been organised beforehand to get them printed and bring them with them. It reminded walkers that we’re in an international club.

As we crossed over the river towards the quite grand town of Vila do Conde, I said to David that I fancied sitting in the shade with an ice cream. Some of the people I have talked to about walking the Camino have said that if you are ever in need of something, ‘the Way will provide’. I’ve rather taken the mickey out of this. But on this occasion, as a gelateria of excellent quality almost immediately appeared in front of us, complete with chairs in the shade, I had to bite back my mickey-taking and be grateful to the Way for providing an apricot ice cream when most needed.

It continued to provide when our extremely cheap hostel provided somewhere to hang up washing, plus a little balcony and a kettle. What more could a tired walker want?

After a couple of hours in which I wrote most of this blog and David went on an adventure on the trams to retrieve the hire car, we walked back into Vila do Conde town centre for dinner. It’s lovely, with an extraordinary 18th century aqueduct and elegant architecture on the river Ave. Like Matosinhos it is currently en fête, being currently the ‘week of the fishermen’, involving displays of boat building alongside the spectacular reconstruction of the boat from the Age of Discovery named after the town. Looking at it, I was very glad that I’m not a sixteenth century sailor.

Stats

Distance travelled - 14.6 miles / 23.5 km

Total ascent - 406 feet / 124m

Local tipple - premium Bock on draught.  Unexpectedly like a mild or a stout. None the worse for that.

And a good meal at Boato, described as Trendy Food and Bar. We fitted right in.