Porto to Matosinhos (Littoral)

I finally set out on the Senda Littoral late morning. This route tracks the path of the Douro out to its mouth, near Foz do Douro, and then onto Matosinhos.

The Senda Littoral isn’t an official path and so I initially found arrow markers for the Caminho da Costa (Coastal Caminho) which isn’t the same thing as the Littoral, and here was going in the wrong direction.

Lots of pilgrims opt for the Littoral, which involves walking alongside the river, and then the sea, instead of what is said to be a dull, interminable urban sprawl as the Cental and Coastal routes leave Porto together (and some way inland).

As I took more or less any road from below the catedral, as long as it was going downhill, I initially passed the Porto Pilgrim office. Then the roads dropped more steeply to appear at the riverside and Praça da Ribeira (Ribeira Square). The sun was shining brightly and glistening on the water.

From shortly before the square, I had suddenly been aware of the many peregrinos heading the way I was going, and I swiftly joined them. I first found myself amongst a large group of Québécois pilgrims, and we were soon greeting one another with ‘Bom Caminho’ (the Portuguese equivalent of the Spanish ‘Buen Camino’ or ‘Good way/journey’).

The path wasn’t v shady and the sun, as forecast, was very hot. As the line of pilgrims mostly followed the riverside path, with the Douro on one side and a road on the other, we each diverted into any shade that was available!

At one point the pavement and road followed a graceful curve on what was effectively a bridge over the river - which was disconcertingly visible through the metal mesh gratings which formed the pavement!

The scenery was lovely, but my attention was focussed on spotting the most shady line to take, even when this meant staying closer to the road, where an intermittent line of trees provided some welcome respite from the heat.

I stopped for drink at a shady river side cafe, and spoke briefly to some South African pilgrims who’d had the same idea. Our paths crossed several times later on, as either I or they paused in some shade to be overtaken until the next shady spot.

Roughly level with the river mouth and the start of the Atlantic Ocean, which was also more or less halfway, I followed the shade into the centre of Foz do Douro to find some lunch.

By this point the bulk of the pilgrim traffic had spread out. It was interesting to see how some of the people I passed would smile and wish me a Bon Caminho, including a man in a convertible car who stopped at a zebra crossing, but lots didn’t. The seashore path and road were certainly pretty busy with local and other tourists, and so I guess there’s much less dependency upon the passing pilgrims, compared to some places on the Camino Frances.

Finally, my destination Matosinhos, a busy fishing port with a large sandy beach, came into view. I soon started checking the location of my hostel for tonight, in order to follow the most shady route!

As I crossed the road barely 20m from the Fishtail Seahouse hostel, I met a friendly German man from Hamburg, who was also staying in the same place.

On arrival, there was a slight hiccup in relation to my bed. At about lunchtime, I’d received an email to the effect that the hostel was not staffed because it was the weekend, and proving a code to gain access and details of my bed: no. 6 in the Azul (Blue Room). There were stern warnings about only using the assigned bed, else the risk of a charge for 2 beds.

However, when I located the Azul room and Bed 6, it was like the scene in Goldilocks (minus the porridge or broken furniture). Someone else’s stuff was on the bed and in the assigned locker. After a couple of calls to the manager, who fortunately spoke good English and some detective work on my part, we ascertained that the person who should have been in Verde 6, had inadvertently ended up in Azul 6.

I am pleased to report that Verde 6 is perfectly fine, albeit another top bunk (as was Azul 6 too!).

I soon fell back into the standard Camino routine, of setting up my bed, a pleasant and cool shower, and the washing of my dirty clothes, and then a rest…Read more