Auburnfive, may daughter and I just returned from walking from Porto in late May, arriving in SdC in early June. We started by taking the metro to Matoshinos, then crossing the river from there and hiking along the coast to Vilo do Conde, which was a wonderful day and great start to our Camino. The newly opened municipal alburgue, Santa Clara, in VdC is great. We followed the aquaduct route from there through Beiriz without any issues (though we did stop for direction assistance a few times), staying in Rates, (which not only has a great alburgue, but probably the coolest sello/stamp that we collected anywhere!) and from there to Barcelos. We used the 2016
Brierley, which we found very helpful, particularly the maps. For the most part, the way seemed very well marked. I became fascinated with how many quirky and interesting places there can be for a waymarking Camino shell symbol or arrow.
There was one sort of tricky part, as I recall. In the
Brierley, one the alternative route through Beiriz, the directions say to go right and then immediately left opposite a school, after passing a cafe on Rua Bouco, and reaching Rua Central. The directions then say: "continue to follow this track..." What seemed odd was that after having mostly been on boardwalk or cobbled roads, you are on a dirt or pebbled track/steambed. That track appears to be merely a farm turn row, but it isn't. Unless flooded, which it was when we were there, it is a footpath between fields. You may have to leave the track, as we did because the track itself was a small stream of water due to the rain the previous day and earlier in the morning, and walk along the edges of the bordering fields. It leads between fields, and then connects to a gravel road that climbs up through a beautiful eucalyptus forest. At the T junction with another road, at the top your climb, you can go across the road through the woods (there are a few waymarks on that path - and it's the one we took), or turn and follow the road into SPdRates. I think my daughter's GPS mapping on her Samsung Galaxy 5 was a big help in that particular spot, and we might have been pretty confused without that aid. But it was the only piece of our entire Camino that made me ever wonder if we were "off the beaten path." We weren't. And it was a nice lesson, early on our Camino, in faith and trust in your preparation, in the adventure, and in, after using your best judgements and instinct, letting it happen and allowing yourself to be guided.
You shouldn't have a problem, otherwise, that a quick question of a friendly local won't resolve.
