ponte de Lima steep climb

[patriciaapp]

Hi,
My husband and I are planning our second camino for next year. We plan on walking from Porto to Santiago. We would like to do the first day or so costal and then join the internal route. We are really unsure as to whether we could do the section Ponte de Lima to San Pedro de Rubiaes as it seems a very steep climb. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative route please.

thank you

 

[Former member 22438]

It is a steep climb on an off road trail over de Labruja mountain from Ponte de Lima to Rubiaēs.
There are only alternatives going by taxi or bus.

An idea is to follow the coast from Porto all away to Caminha and from there to Valença do Minho or Tui. Here is the reconnection to the central Portuguese route to O Porriño.

Or take the ferry in Caminha to A Guarda and walk on to Vigo where is the reconnection to the central Portuguese route to Recondela and on to Santiago.

Doing this you avoid the Labruja mountain.

Depending on the weather it is doable . We climbed the Labruja mountain with nice dry weather.

And we did worser climbs on the ruta Variante Espiritual


By the way I think you mix up some names of places.

You walk from Porto to São Pedro de Rates And from Ponte de Lima to Rubiaēs


Bom caminho

 

[patriciaapp]

It is a steep climb on an off road trail over de Labruja mountain from Ponte de Lima to Rubiaēs.
There are only alternatives going by taxi or bus.

An idea is to follow the coast from Porto all away to Caminha and from there to Valença do Minho or Tui. Here is the reconnection to the central Portuguese route to O Porriño.

Or take the ferry in Caminha to A Guarda and walk on to Vigo where is the reconnection to the central Portuguese route to Recondela and on to Santiago.

Doing this you avoid the Labruja mountain.

Depending on the weather it is doable . We climbed the Labruja mountain with nice dry weather.

And we did worser climbs on the ruta Variante Espiritual


By the way I think you mix up some names of places.

You walk from Porto to São Pedro de Rates And from Ponte de Lima to Rubiaēs


Bom caminho

Hi Albertinho,
Thank you for your reply. Yes I did mean the section from Ponte de Lima to Rubiaēs. I think we will probably take a bus/ taxi to Rubiaēs. we hadn't thought of that option.
kind regards

 

[annakappa]

Going over Labruja mountain is steep. We did it in the rain. It was slippery and, in fact, I needed help, because I had my right arm in a plaster cast, pack on my back and so could only use one pole in my left hand. ( I'm right handed)!
Climbing up from Combarro and then down to Armentiers was much more challenging though, because it went on for hours - and by then the temperature had soared!

 

[amorfati1]

Hi,
My husband and I are planning our second camino for next year. We plan on walking from Porto to Santiago. We would like to do the first day or so costal and then join the internal route. We are really unsure as to whether we could do the section Ponte de Lima to San Pedro de Rubiaes as it seems a very steep climb. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative route please.

thank you

in May 2014 it has been rainy for many days, and my 'teutonic turbo team' advance crew did the climb a day prior - and sent me an e-mail w/ the advise to take a taxi. and if those kind chaps (marathon runners and military men) were huffing and puffing up the hill and advising a taxi, i was happy to oblige. and had the kind ladies at the tourist info (in the old jail tower i believe) call a taxi which I shared w/ 3 other equally drenched peregrinos... just until top of the hill... and onwards from there 'a piedi'

and - as my local landlady told me: no bus to Rubiaes from ponte de lima - or rather: one would have to take a bus to Valenca and from the catch a bus to Rubiaes. ahem....
bom caminho.

 

[RobThePilgrim]

I walked the CP in July and was suffering bad tendonitis from pushing it too much my first few days. I took a taxi from P. deLima to Rubiaes to avoid the climb. A couple I had met told me I made the right choice and they sent me a photo. The terrain would have ended my Camino. I made up the km in detours along the way.

 

[Former member 22438]

I walked the CP in July and was suffering bad tendonitis from pushing it too much my first few days. I took a taxi from P. deLima to Rubiaes to avoid the climb. A couple I had met told me I made the right choice and they sent me a photo. The terrain would have ended my Camino. I made up the km in detours along the way.

View attachment 20546

"Happy "memories !

 

[KentuckyJay]

I walked the CP in July and was suffering bad tendonitis from pushing it too much my first few days. I took a taxi from P. deLima to Rubiaes to avoid the climb. A couple I had met told me I made the right choice and they sent me a photo. The terrain would have ended my Camino. I made up the km in detours along the way.

View attachment 20546

Personally I would rather walk fewer miles on such an interesting looking mountain trail than many more miles along roads and streets. But that is just me.

 

[annakappa]

Personally I would rather walk fewer miles on such an interesting looking mountain trail than many more miles along roads and streets. But that is just me.

First of all, it wasn't too long. It was a very interesting, lovely walk....but difficult, especially for me, due to my "situation" - not to mention age. I think that you are probably a lot younger than me! However, I did it!

 

[KentuckyJay]

First of all, it wasn't too long. It was a very interesting, lovely walk....but difficult, especially for me, due to my "situation" - not to mention age. I think that you are probably a lot younger than me! However, I did it!

I'll be 70 in December?

 

[annakappa]

I'll be 70 in December?

Younger than me!

 

[KatWanderlust]

I may be the minority here but I just loved this climb!*

It was a bit slippery after some rain, however it was a gorgeous forest with great views and a nice change from the road and village vistas prior to this. It's a long climb though so a good level of fitness helps, go nice and slow (or take the taxi option!)


*note, I've earned the nickname "Mountain Goat" as I love a good uphill, but you should see me on the downhill.... slower than a turtle

 

[Kiwi-family]

We too did this in the wet (a day after Annakappa).....but to be honest, we giggled along. There had been all this talk about a dreadful climb and it turned out to be smaller than anything where we live! In fact, it made for our first favourite day from Porto. Finally there was some interesting trail instead of cobblestones. There was more than a few kilometres between villages. It goes down as one of our best days. So I think it depends what you are used to.
In case it's of interest to you.....we stopped that night with Geof at Quinta Estrada Romana (Pacos). It is THE most well appointed albergue we came across (including double beds and quiet reflective spaces for dorm dwellers). He should have a reputation to rival Casa de Fernanda. He's completely different personality-wise....but a real character in his own right. It's a night you would not forget. And the showers are divine after the (probably) hard climb. And a local lass cooks dinner. And there's an expansive breakfast. And he does your washing (although we insisted on hanging it up ourselves!) And it's all donativo.

Contact details if you want (you can book):
+351 251 837 333

Otherwise you'll just stumble upon it - it's right on the caminho.

From there it's a short hop to Valenca and Tui (especially good if you want to spend a day looking about). That was our plan, but we'd met some great people and ended up walking on to O Porinno to stick with them.

Hope this wasn't too unhelpful!

 

[annakappa]

Rachael, You definitely stayed in a better place than we did in Rubaies. Ours was awful ( a private house, turned into a pathetic effort to be an Albergue)!

 

[edumad]

The Quinta da estrada romana is right on the camino, but I don't think there is much warning, nonetheless it is easy to spot with the pilgrims lounging outside.
Here you can find a bit of the story of the place.
Maybe it isn't more famous because of its position. It's placed half-way between Rubiães and Tui, since so many stay in Rubiães after Labruja, the next natural stop is Valença.

 

[Kiwi-family]

The Quinta da estrada romana is right on the camino, but I don't think there is much warning, nonetheless it is easy to spot with the pilgrims lounging outside.

Quite the opposite. There are signs which keep indicating it is not far away. But the 70+ year old we were walking with eventually stopped and told us to go and find it because he didn't know how much further he could manage! But you are right, that it just suddenly appears. Look for a building that's orange at the front and stone at the back. There was no-one lounging outside when we arrived - and the driving rain meant we didn't either!

 

[SabsP]

I was lucky with the climb a week ago , it is indeed steep but I had no rain so road was not slippery. The going down bit is always harder for me.

Annakappa : I stayed at the new albergue private Ninho in Rubiaes...hope you did not mean this one? I had a good experience there.

 

[DurhamParish]

A view from the top.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

I did this climb in mid-May. It was fairly hard going because of the stony track, but not out of the question even for a 70-year old. Fortunately, the weather was good - fine and sunny. The most ridiculous thing, however, was a 4WD "extreme marathon ", with macho characters trying to get vehicles up the track and constantly getting stuck. I kept telling them it was much better on foot! They did not appreciate my advice but probably made the track even more difficult for walkers in the future.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

4WD stuck on track

 

[michelle grech]

is there an alternate route around the mountain.....maybe from the road? Planning to cycle this and from what I'm reading it looks like it is better to avoid this part by bicycle.

 

[KinkyOne]

I haven't walk that climb yet although I hope to do it next year. But I think that's not very steep or hard with 400mts elevation gain in 12,5kms. I checked the inclines on some climbs on Caminos that I've walked so far.
All three major climbs on CF are tougher: SJPdP - Col de Lapoeder (1350mts/20kms) is the toughest, with Las Herrerias - O'Cebreiro (650mts/9kms) in the second place because it's half the distance although the incline is bigger, and Rabanal - Cruz de Ferro (350mts/7kms) in third place.
On Camino de Invierno you have two ascents even steeper than all previous: Penasillas - Alto do Faro (400mts/4,5kms) and Belesar - A Devesa (350mts/3kms). The second one was a real killer for me.
On Camino Sanabres the steepest but also the shortest is the one out of Oseira (150mts/1,5kms) followed by the one out of Ourense (350mts/8kms). Similar to the later is the one from Tamicelas to Albergueria (400mts/8kms), but I've found the Ourense one tougher maybe because of mainly concrete/asphalt track. Also Lubian - A Canda isn't easy (300mts/5kms).
And the only real ascent on Camino de Madrid is the one from Cercedilla to Puerto de Fuenfria with 600mts elevation gain in 8kms.

All of the mentioned inclines are (much) steeper than the one out of Ponte de Lima