Day 14 Vidago to Chaves

A magical walk. Today was one of those walks that is just the right length, taken at a gentle pace. The walk starts with a climb and one is rewarded with amazing views. Ona nearby hill there was a chapel dedicated to Saint Barbara which is renowned for its great views. I think the views I saw were good enough.

The way-marking has been great on this entire camino. This rock in the middle of nowhere had received two glued on tiles.

Waymarking still impressive

As one comes off the hill, the view of Spain came into focus.

The hills of Galicia ahead

About 7km into the journey, one arrives at the amusingly named village of Redial. There is a funny little statue over a well there. I'm sure there's a history to this. Redial provided a stone bench in the centre of the village which was a good place for a light snack.

Then shortly after Redial the route meandered through some simply gorgeous countryside.

Perfect walking

From Sao Pedro onwards, one got views of Chaves down in the valley.

Having got to the outskirts of Chaves, there was a slightly dispiriting walk alongside a busy road (the N2 again) into town. After the big Leclerc I turned left and crossed the River Lamego on a modern footbridge, rather than go to the official turning. As it happened that worked out well because there was a good view of the Roman bridge, initially built by Emperor Trajan.

The Roman bridge

Chaves is likely many a modern town. Nice historic centre with nice olde-worlde accommodation and a surrounding area of dreadfulness. The parish church is apparently well worth a visit but was closed.

Igreja Matriz de Santa Maria Maior

And strangely, next to the church some of the buildings looked abandoned or at least in very poor states of repair.

More run-down buildings

The castle however was in good nick.

The Castle at Chaves

On the Roman Bridge

I hadn't actually realised but the N2, which the camino has been following for a while, is actually a bit of a tourist attraction in itself. The N2 runs from Faro on the south coast for 739km to this roundabout in Chaves. This is marked by the little, heavily graffiti'd and stickered box on the roundabout. To be honest, it is a bit underwhelming. However the nearby pub was full of bikers so I guess some people just drive up the road end to end. Not one for me - walking along a road that far would be a bit ghastly.

Journey's End

Finding somewhere for dinner was a struggle. Walked around the town - a lot - and the restaurants either looked grim or served suckling pig which is a no-no for me. I spotted an English couple wandering around who were clearly on the same quest. Eventually I returned to the hotel to discover it had a great restaurant and got a table next to the English couple who had similarly ended their own voyage of discovery. The hotel restaurant was perfect.