The next morning I spoke to the server in the top floor bar/café, who had walked to Santiago in seven days … he said he would love to do it again, but over two weeks next time. Finding our way into Matosinhos town centre was easy enough, and we saw lots of pilgrims starting from the metro station. Pretty soon we were by the sea again, walking along a wide paved public promenade filled with joggers, dog walkers, childminding grandparents and pilgrims, or on wooden boardwalks.
The coastline isn’t all sandy beaches though, as we walked it turned rocky and wild, then mellowed back to beach again. We stopped for lunch at a beach bar/restaurant – they were dotted at perfect intervals and most of them even had good changing facilities for swimmers and surfers.
There were also little rest stops along the boardwalks with benches and even wooden recliners!
Now and then we walked past little fishing villages with colourful houses, huts and storage sheds, where fishermen went about their business without a glance at the strangers walking past.
The system of wooden boardwalks is almost perfect, we did come across a few places where they were dodgy, broken or missing, but that just added to the fun. I had packed my Dirty Girl gaiters to stop sand getting into my socks and shoes, but very cleverly forgot to put them on. Nanci seemed to get a lot more sand in her shoes than I did though, so I suppose it depends on how tight they are.
When we finally saw the bridge and the city of Vila do Conde after 22+ km, we were hot, dusty and tired. Checking in to the Autor hotel we were given the Fernando Pessoa room, my favourite writer! The 3 bed room was airy and comfortable, the shower spacious, there was air con, and the lovely hostess had put a jug of cold water and glasses on the table.
After a refreshing shower we went out to find a place to eat, but all the menus outside the waterfront restaurants looked the same … until someone walked past with these little bruschetta. Sold! We had a lovely meal and a lovely time at the Naval bar and restaurant – they even have rooms upstairs. I might stay there next time, if I walk the Coastal again.
Somewhere Slowly 
Your photos bring back so many beautiful memories of our walk in 2018. The only difference is there were no wooden recliners when we walked our Camino – I would have loved to sit there!
It really was every bit as pretty as we were hoping when we planned it. And it wasn’t easy to find an empty recliner, they were very popular as you can imagine