Thursday 24 September 2026 – Although the forecast temperature wasn’t that high – 27° – we decided to make a really early start anyway, as this would get us the 19km or so to Ponte de Lima with time to spare to allow for some Things To Do. Accordingly we found ourselves outside Casas do Rio, breakfasted and ready to walk at – yup – 0625.
This means that we had the chance to create lots of glorious dawn images which I can now smugly share with you (we did wonder if the particularly intense colours might be a result of the smoke from the fire I mentioned yesterday, which is still apparently active, although does not seem to be getting worse…)
We were reminded before too long of the task in front of us
and we enjoyed watching the countryside come awake as we walked along.
Although it was, frankly, a bit chilly, the white covering of the fields is not frost. It’s a lime-based dressing intended to reduce the acidity of the soil after the (largely corn or maize) crops had been harvested.
The whole day had an even stronger Camino vibe to it than yesterday; plenty of other pilgrims (including this lady,
who had gone for the Camino branding big time), plenty of pilgrim-related statuary,
some nice waymarking,
coffee stops at comfortable intervals (including this one, which was full of locals having their breakfast caffeine injection),
pilgrim-related items by the wayside,
and, towards Ponte de Lima, the (allegedly) only open Santiago Chapel on the Caminho Português,
with, outside it, a lovely azulejo
about, and I quote, “D. Teresa passing trought Correlha, Ponte de Lima, on pilgrimage…”. Shame about the typo, but she was the mother of the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, so it is actually a matter of both pith and moment that she undertook the Caminho.
Although it was definitely chilly to start with, the weather was a delight for almost all of the walk, and we saw some appealing scenes along the way.
The medieval Ponte da Senhora das Neves
An unsual sight on the Caminhos – given a choice of directions, the correct one is downhill, for a change
An astonishing profusion of sweet chestnut windfalls lining a long stretch of road
A very pleasant walk, then, right up to within a kilometre of Ponte de Lima; we took a diversionary turn for a couple of important items, which extended the walk somewhat. The first thing we had to do was to address a serious issue: the impending lack of Earl Grey tea. Courtesy of the lovely Jessica, we still had some of Twinings Finest Earl Grey, but we could see a time when we wouldn’t. Knowing that her supply came from the Auchan at Coimbra, Jane had carefully researched Auchans en route and there’s one on the outskirts of Ponte de Lima, so we diverted – up hill and down dale – for about a quarter of an hour.
The best laid plans….. Not only did they not stock any Twinings, they didn’t have any Earl Grey at all!
We personfully swallowed our disappointment, and started to head off to the other Thing To Do when I spotted that there was a large Continente nearby. Continente, you’ll remember, was the source of our first emergency transfusion of Earl Grey, so we approached this one with hope in our hearts and – some success! Not Twinings, but Liptons; not perfect, but perfectly decent.
So now we only had one more task, which was to visit another Bordalo II which Jane had found out about. Another ten minutes took us to it, and…
my goodness! What a thing!
It’s a shame that fencing didn’t allow an entirely unrestricted view, but it’s an impressive sight, and well worth the detour.
Ten more minutes got us to our hotel, the InLima Hotel and Spa. We were early and our room wouldn’t be available for a couple of hours, so we left our backpacks at the hotel and walked the short distance to the river bank, where I got my first view of the bridge that gives the town its name.
We walked along towards the bridge and took lunch at one of the many restaurants that border the river. Then we went for a walk. Obviously.
There are a couple of sculptures by the river bank – local folk traditions
and a celebration of agricultural life.
The Torre de San Paolo is part of the original defensive walls of the city, here displaying a banner for a festival which we’ve just missed.
It also sports an azulejo
depicting the Legend of Cabração, a misunderstanding by Afonso Henrique’s troops who mistook a cloud of dust for oncoming enemy troops when actually it was caused by a herd of goats. Beside the azulejo is a more sober thing
flood markings, showing the level of flooding in the river and the year it happened.
We reached the bridge
and walked across it. From the bridge, one can see a couple of odd things, on left and right banks:
On one bank, a line of metal Roman soldiers stands at attention as if waiting to be called.
Across the river on the opposite bank, a statue depicts General Decimus Junius Brutus astride his horse, facing his troops. These commemorate the 138 BC legend telling of how the General convinced his terrified legionaries to cross the Lima River, which they feared was the mythical River Lethe (the river of forgetfulness), by riding his horse across to the opposite bank safely. He then called out to his men individually by their first names to prove that his memory was completely intact, giving them the courage to cross. This legend is also commemorated by an azulejo on one of the town buildings.
The church on the other side of the bridge is the church of Santo Antonio.
Beside the church are various items of religious and Camino-y pith and moment, not the least of which is this bust of St. James himself.
Inside the church is (yet) another Eucharistic Throne;
we keep coming across them, despite their alleged banning by the Papacy.
Back over in the town, there are two churches of note. The Misericordia church was hosting the build up to a funeral, so we couldn’t look in, but the parish church
with its very elaborate portal
was open.
In the square by the church is a statue of a bull.
This honours the famous local Vaca das Cordas tradition, an open-air running of the bull that dates back to 1646 and takes place annually on the eve of Corpus Christi.
By the time we’d lunched and obviously walked, it was 3pm so we could get into our hotel room. The walk back took us along the Avenida dos Platanos,
a very pleasant stretch of riverside walk flanked by (Jane counted them) 88 glorious old London Plane trees, mostly planted in 1901 (we noticed a couple of young trees, obviously replacements). While Jane relaxed, I took the drone back to the bridge and whizzed it up for a couple of photos and a video.
The light was right for a couple of pictures of the town from the bridge, too – it’s an attractive place.
Jane had heard that the bridge was illuminated at night, so after dark we walked out to take a look. Indeed it was, although we both think that it should be possible to do a better job somehow.
We also noted that the parish church was lit up like a Christmas tree, presumably for the Feiras Novas just past.
10/10 for effort, but lower marks for artistic merit, we think. The plane trees looked good, though.
So, that was Ponte de Lima, a handsome town at the end of a good day’s walking. On the morrow, we plan to head back to the Coastal trail for the final days to the Spanish border and on to Santiago. I’ll regale you with all that in due course.
