Tuesday 22 September 2026 – Long Post Alert! Fetch a drink before proceeding!

A forecast for another searingly hot day (36°C) duly materialised. This was how Accuweather reckoned the day would unfold.

A 16km walk would take us at least four hours, and that would be if we didn’t stop; but that’s not how we operate. The lovely Anabela at our accommodation had offered to put sandwiches and yoghurts in the fridge for us so that we could leave when we liked; not that we really cared for it much, but “when we liked” turned out to be 6.05am.

We had then a delightful walk in the cool for about three hours, at first with assistance from torchlight

and then as the dawn broke.

Before it did, though, we experienced the first signs of what would be a good “Camino vibe” about the whole day, as we passed the “Pilgrim’s Park” just outside Rates which had picnic tables

and a sort of informal exhibition of an amazing assortment of Camino-related items left by passing pilgrims

and also a very strong hint about our destination.

The Powers That Be were obviously taking the Caminho seriously, as for the first time we saw signposts that could genuinely help peregrinos plan their peregrination.

Even the waymarks were getting more informative.

We were overtaken by a couple of peregrinos – well, a peregrino and his peregrina daughter – and fell into conversation with them. They (Ernst and Nina) were the advance guard of a family of five South Africans, the other three of whom (Mum and two sons) were a short way behind us. So the Camino vibe notched up another click as we had the sort of “where are you from” conversations that are not uncommon among strangers walking in the same direction; and it was a very pleasant few kilometres spent in their company.

Today was like yesterday – a coffee stop materialised at just over the 5km qualifying distance, and we all stopped for coffee and torrada, which was a much-needed refuelling. We then bade them “bom caminho” and carried on our way, into the Barcelos municipal region

where the safety of peregrinos is at least mentioned to passing motorists.

I rather liked this church that we passed, the parish church of Pedra Furada,

which seemed to be designed so that maintenance of the bells didn’t require a ladder. We also passed a restaurant at a fuel station which carried a little cultural clue.

Its representation of an espigeiro shows it to be of the Galician kind – parallel-walled, rather than sloping – indicating that we’re gradually edging ever northwards in Portugal towards the Spanish border.

A few kilometres short of Barcelos is the town of Carvalhal,

where we’d planned another coffee stop. We also saw a magnificent Datura plant

(poisonous but gorgeous) and the fetching parish church.

The fact that we passed it is evidence, should you care even slightly, that we’d spurned a short detour on a winding Caminho trail for a straight road

which offered the possibility of walking at least partly shaded from the increasingly hot sun.

A pharmacy caught my attention because of its display board. All over Europe, pharmacies have flashy, flashing displays with all sorts of graphical tricks interspersing useful info such as time, temperature, opening times etc. In my experience, these have always been solely in green and black. This one, however….

Before too long we were passing through Barcelinhos.

We passed the local cemetery,

with its rather appropriate “dead end” sign, crossed under the main road past this rather fine azulejo (which at first I thought was just a mural),

and past a very slightly significant waymark;

less than 200km to go, so we are over two-thirds of our way along the Caminho! The general Camino vibe got stronger and stronger;

Jane got chatting to a chap in a doorway who proudly showed off his calves

and then we were just by the river Cávado that separates Barcelinhos and Barcelos.

From the Barcelinhos side of the river, one gets a good view of the Palace ruins (now an archaeological museum) and the mother church. You’ll get a better view later, so stick with me. The road across the bridge passes a chapel,

the Chapel of Our Lady of the Bridge, built in 1328 to provide shelter for pilgrims; stone benches and basins for washing feet can still be seen.

Upon crossing the bridge, which was built between 1325 and 1330 (a five-minute job before taking lunch, ha ha), we found ourselves besieged by cocks. Wherever we looked, there were cocks.

Barcelos’s famous Cockerel (Galo de Barcelos) comes from a medieval legend in which a pilgrim passing through the town on his way to Santiago was wrongly accused of theft and sentenced to hang. He protested his innocence, saying that a roasted cockerel on the judge’s table would crow at the moment he was hanged. As he was dangling from the the gallows, St. James supported his weight and the cockerel miraculously crowed, proving his innocence and saving him. The story became associated with Barcelos*, and the now ubiquitous brightly decorated cockerels have become a symbol of the town and, more broadly, of Portugal.

The town has leaned heavily into the symbol – a massive up-cock on their part.

We had arrived very early, around 10.45, and the temperature was not unbearable, so, in the almost certain knowledge that our hotel room wouldn’t be ready, we passed some time looking around at Things To Look At, as you do. The town hall, for example, is an imposing edifice

and the portal to the Mother Church is very fine

as is its interior,

with some lovely stained glass and azulejos.

Between the church and the Palace ruins is a cross,

the Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo (Cross of the Lord of the Rooster), generally dated to around the 16th–17th century. It’s decorated with figures relating to the, yup, cockerel legend: the pilgrim, the hanged man supported by St james, and the rooster. Tradition holds it was carved by the exonerated pilgrim himself, in gratitude to St. James (São Tiago) and the Virgin Mary, whom he credited with the miracle that saved him.

The parapet upon which the archaeological museum  stands offers a fine view back over the river to Barcelinhos

and also of a very imposing pillory.

Passing The Tower,

which is all that remains of the medieval entry gate to the town, we walked through the main shopping street, which is a handsome area,

pausing at the tourist office

for their selo, which – who’d a thunk it? – featured a cockerel.

Near our hotel is an unusually shaped church, the Igreja do Senhor Bom Jesus da Cruz de Barcelos.

(better photo coming later – possess your soul in patience, please). Inside (which we couldn’t really explore because we think there was an Adoration going on)

there is a very fine Eucharistic Throne. These things aren’t as furtive as we’d been led to believe, then. Around the curved interior are the Stations of the Cross in azulejo.

Next door to our hotel is the police station

which seems an entirely appropriate place to put another large pillory.

It was 1145 by this stage, and, as expected, our room wasn’t available at the hotel, so we passed time in an adjacent coffee bar until we were allowed in. The hotel is the intriguingly named Bagoeira. The name (astonishingly enough, nothing to do with the Jungle Book) was the name of a historic house and estate – the Casa e Quinta da Bagoeira – and the hotel’s restaurant occupies the old Quinta site. It did us a Nice Lunch, after which we relaxed a bit before going for a walk. Obviously. (We would have gone sooner, but wanted to wait for the temperature, which had reached 37°C, to drop a bit.)

For the first time in this trip, I was able legitimately to fly the drone. Frustratingly, restricted areas (military areas, airport surrounds, nature reserves) have extended all the way from Lisbon to Vila do Conde. But Barcelos is in the clear!

 

Here’s a photo of the Mother Church, as well as the Palace ruins/museum.

I also took a shot of Barcelinhos

and the rather lovely Bom Jesus church.

Whilst I was doing this, Jane went and explored more inside the Bom Jesus church, wanting specifically to take a photo of Our Lady of the (lady) Pilgrim.

She also went into The Tower, which hosts an exhibition of various items of art: Barcelos is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a Crafts and Folk Art city and is specifically known for its Figurado style. Figurado developed from Barcelo’s centuries-old ceramics tradition, and features hand-made, brightly painted figures often with a satirical, fantastical edge.

From the tower roof, she got…

a nice picture of the Bom Jesus church. Oh, and a couple of the town as well.

It has been a very good day – strong Camino vibes, beating the heat, lots of interesting things to see en route and in Barcelos. Tomorrow is promised to be another warm one, though “only” 33°C at most – and hopefully after that the temperatures will stay in the 20s. We may grant ourselves another daylight start. Stay tuned to find out.

 

 

* I hardly need remind you, because you’ve been paying attention all this time of course, that this story also hails from Santo Domingo de Calzada in Spain, which we passed through when we walked the Camino Francés three years ago, and saw the chickens in the cathedral that celebrate their version of this story.