Barcelos to Ponte de Lima
Length
- Distance
- 33 km
- Climb
- 420 m up, 435 m down
- Ground
- 20 to 280 m
- Time
- 8 to 10 hours
- Difficulty
- hard
- Underfoot
- dirt, forest, paved, cobblestone
Where this day sits on the Camino Portugués
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 11 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
Thirty-three kilometers of forest tracks and small hamlets. The Minho countryside opens: vineyards trained on granite posts, old stone cruzeiros at every crossroads, chapels with their doors propped open for the passing pilgrim. By the final kilometers your body is arguing with you. Then the Lima river appears and you cross the medieval bridge into Ponte de Lima — a town older than Portugal itself. The Romans called this river Lethes, the river of forgetting. They refused to cross it. You cross it without hesitation.
What pilgrims often meet here
- Hitting the wall around kilometer 22, then walking through it
- The temptation to stop in Vitorino dos Piães and cut the day short
- Arriving in Ponte de Lima in the late afternoon light on the medieval bridge
- A long rest by the Lima river with other pilgrims
What in your life have you been refusing to cross, the way the Romans refused to cross the Lethes?
The ground
The longest day of the Central Way. Some pilgrims split it by overnighting in Vitorino dos Piães or Balugães. Carry extra water — villages are spaced further apart than earlier stages.
- At 33 km, this is the longest day on the Central Camino Portugués. Many pilgrims underestimate it. Consider splitting at Vitorino dos Piães (about halfway).
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Barcelos depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
Pilgrim doesn't carry the Camino Portugués as a route yet. You can still walk it with the app in Wander mode, speaking what arises and keeping it on your phone.