Stage Ponte de Lima to Valença do Minho

At some 34 kilometres and more than a thousand metres of cumulative ascent, this stage merges the two days that Gronze lists separately —Ponte de Lima to Rubiães and Rubiães to Tui— and stops in Valença do Minho, on the Portuguese bank of the river. It is the usual way of compressing the Central Portuguese Way when the pilgrim has few days available, and also the hardest on the itinerary: it concentrates the route's only serious climb and a very long, if flat, second half.

The departure from Ponte de Lima follows the riverside, leaving behind the medieval bridge and the tower of the Cadeia Velha, among orchards and poplar groves beside the Lima. The terrain stays comfortable as far as Arcozelo and Cabaços, where the Way turns inland and begins to rise. From Codeçal the ascent to Alto da Portela Grande de Labruja begins: a little over four kilometres of continuous climb on stony track and loose stone paths, among oaks and eucalyptus, up to almost four hundred metres. It is the high point of the whole Portuguese Way and should be taken calmly, bearing in mind that beyond Codeçal there are no services until the descent.

The drop into the Rubiães valley is technical at first, with stretches of old paved roadway, and eases on reaching the Romanesque church of São Pedro de Rubiães, beside which a Roman milestone of the Via XIX is preserved. Rubiães is the natural midpoint of the day and the place to recover strength before the second half.

From there the Way becomes easier going and more inhabited. It crosses São Bento da Porta Aberta, Pecene and Fontoura, alternating asphalt tracks with lanes between vinho verde vineyards, and crosses the Coura valley on paths lined with wayside crosses and chapels. The final kilometres run through peri-urban surroundings, passing Cerdal and Arão, until the silhouette of the fortress appears ahead.

The entry into Valença do Minho is made along the flank of the bastioned enclosure, one of the best preserved fortified complexes in Portugal, raised from the seventeenth century onwards to watch over the border. Inside the walls, a maze of cobbled streets gathers the church of Santa Maria dos Anjos, the chapel of Bom Jesus and a dense network of shops and restaurants. From the ramparts the Minho is dominated and, on the far side, the cathedral of Tui: the pilgrim sleeps in Portugal with Galicia already in sight.