Rio Alto to Antas 21km
Rio Alto to Antas 21km with an additional about 5km wandering back and forth.
A Good Start
How pleasurable it is to wake up all cosy and warm under a sleeping bag, in a little room not much bigger than a double bed with the rumble of the sea in the background. Soon we left the campground through a couple of large, long, round cement pipes forming a tunnel through to the beach. Any excuse to use my headlamp!

Alone on the Beach
Apart from the seagulls, we had the beach to ourselves. Being low tide we quickly put a number of kilometers under our belt. A high tide would have made it difficult if not impossible to walk along the beach.

Beautiful pebbles smoothed and rounded by the action of the sea added interest to the white sand.

Later the sand ran out. Walking on a pebble beach is difficult. So we traversed farm tracks back and forth behind the dunes.

Effects of Global Warming
At least twenty houses close to the dunes were in danger of being undermined. Large sand bags, piles of rocks and a rock wall were used in different places in an attempt to protect buildings.

There was nowhere for fishermen to leave their boats. Tractors with trailers are used for launching.

Locals Relationship with the Sea
Now we’re seeing the close relationship people have wth the sea. Seaweed is harvested, dried and stored for use as fertilizer with potatoes, cabbages and other veggies.


Senda Litoral
There are three routes from Porto to Santiago. Historically people walked the Central route. Today it is the most common route to take. Then there’s the coastal route. That is more or less along the coast, but as we soon found out has lots of road walking. Purists would say that the route we’re taking is not a Camino. It’s called a senda litoral, – a path in the intertidal zone. We’re alone again, but every day we are closer to Santiago. About 200km to go.
Kindness of Strangers
I have to tell you what’s just happened. The lady who checked us in only charged us for a single room (there’s a double bed). She then personally did our washing for us, bringing it back folded and refusing payment. Even our hankies were ironed! I’m so overcome by the kindnesses shown to us.
What is the Food Like?
A quick note about the food. The novelty of pastries for breakfast quickly wears off and we’ve learnt to ask for ‘um sande com fiambre e queix’ (a ham and cheese sandwich). Coffee with milk can be a ‘galao’- like a latte in a glass. Or – what we prefer a ‘café meyor delight’ (phonetically) in a larger cup. Locals drink sweet espresso.
We can usually get bits and bobs for lunch from the Mini Mercados, but since Porto we haven’t seen the little rounds of cheese we enjoyed so much.

Dinner is usually a prato do dia (plate of the day). You choose between fish and meat and there’s often a mixed salad (lettuce, tomato and onion) to go with it. Always served with chips and often rice too. Hopefully you like fried egg on your steak as it’s standard fare. Of course there are local delicacies. Bacalau is perhaps best tried and then left alone. Suckling pig is another delicacy that we prefer to avoid. Then there’s the Franceshina. A bit like a triple decker sandwich doused in a cheese sauce.
We are hanging out for veggies!
PS in case you were wondering, the last two kilometers were back to dangerous road walking!
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