Dry Spell

Posted bynickletjogPosted inDiary

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 5: Saturday 30 May 2026 – PONTE de LIMA to RUBIÃES (19 [+5] kilometres)

With new Camino friend Jenny, at the summit of Portela Grande, the high point of my Camino Portugués trek

The weather forecast hereabouts for the last week, and for a few days looking forward, has been wall-to-wall sunshine, diurnal maximum temperatures of around 30 degrees, light winds, and a 0% chance of rain. But up here in the hills things are not quite so straightforward, and this morning brought mist, gloom, and even a little intermittent drizzle. This was all rather a relief, as today’s section of the Camino Portugués was largely on off-road paths and included a prolonged rocky climb up to our high point, the Portela Grande, at just under 400 metres of elevation. We were grateful for the cooler conditions, and despite the climb, we made it over the col and into the greenery of the Minho Valley to arrive at Rubiães village in the early afternoon.

Progress ever northward . . .
. . . on the Camino path from Ponte de Lima to Rubiães
What a difference a day makes: mist over the Rio Lima . . .
. . . as I headed across the ancient footbridge in the early morning
The murky view upstream . . .
. . . then out across the fields . . .
. . . along a stream-bed . . .
. . . and back into the vineyards
A quiet path into the woods . . .
. . . then a dirt track through the vines . . .
. . . to the des res of Arcozelo village
A pop-up ‘beg, steal or borrow’ stall
For a few hundred metres the Camino runs under the four-lane A-3 Motorway . . .
. . . before reaching the ‘last chance’ café in Revolta, for brunch
The climb begins . . .
. . . past a lemon grove . . .
. . . and the tiny chapel at Labruja . . .
. . . and into the hills
Halfway up, and a pause to layer-up . . .
. . . before the final climb
One of a number of remembrance cairns . . .
. . . along the rocky path . . .
. . . to the top of Portela Grande
Another watershed crossed as we descended into the Rio Minho catchment . . .
. . . back to the vineyards . . .
. . . the farmsteads . . .
. . . and the villages . . .
. . . to our resting place, now in the afternoon sunshine, in the hamlet of Rubiães

I hope that this post reaches you Ok – up here in the hills I have had some connectivity issues, and so I will leave further comment until I reach urbanity again tomorrow afternoon when, all being well, I will have crossed the border into Spain.

Trumpets and hydrangeas

My Blog heading today, ‘Dry Spell’, is taken from the title of a Kacey Musgraves song, although I am not sure that she was referring to the weather in her lyrics! The number was released just a couple of months ago as the lead single from the US singer-songwriter’s ’Middle of Nowhere’ album, and has been described by critics as ‘boldly hilarious and self-aware’, as well as ‘a playful confession of boredom’ – but the tongue-in-cheek lyrics and carefree melody and light arrangement sounds good to my ears.

Finding a screen for the Champions League final proved challenging – but Owen, Connor and I were not to be denied and, after another trek, we secured prime seats in an otherwise disinterested bar!

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