You start out among villages, woodland edges and small fields. But slowly the city creeps in: more streets, more traffic, more concrete. It’s an easy day with some gentle ups and downs. A few hills up, a few down, and in the end you descend slightly more than you climb. It’s almost five hours of walking, so take your time and enjoy the Camino.
This is the last stage, and you can feel it. You walk more quietly and look around more often. The stretch through the suburbs isn’t the prettiest part of the route, but every street brings you closer to Porto. Then suddenly you’re there. The Douro flows beneath you, and up the hillside the houses stack together in a sea of orange roofs.