El Camino Portuguese Ponte de Lima to Penece

El Camino Portuguese 

Ponte de Lima to Fenece

I couldn't resist taking yet another photo of some pillar boxes in Ponte de Lima. It had taken nearly an hour to get from my golf hotel on the outskirts of the city and back into the centre of the city at the end of the old bridge. I was waiting just in case Oxana and David came past. It wasn't an agreed rendezvous but I waited just on the off chance but at 8.30am and I hadn't seen them, I set off across the old bridge.

Before I left the city, I had a little time to view  some of the other sights of the city. The Torre de Sao Paulo, part of the original defensive structures of the city although much of them have been lost.

The decorative azulejos tile picture on the side of the tower.

And just below the azulejos picture are some recordings of flood river levels and even the1987 level was above my head and the top two markers would have made the old bridge impassable. 

I had a last look down the street for Oxana and David so I set off.

I passed a fish farm and the last chance to buy supplies for the net 15 kilometres.

I was making my way up the Labruja Valley and the river of the same name. It was picturesque but there is a motorway not far away and the ugly structure must have  ruined this houses view up the valley.

It was a long struggle up a steep hill, climbing up to an elevation of 450 metres, a climb of more than 400 metres. En route, I passed Cruz dos Franceses also known as Cruz dos Mortos where invading Napoleonic French troops were ambushed by soldiers, local militia and residents of Labruja just below the summit of the hill as the French were advancing on Lisbon in 1809 during the Peninsula Wars 1808 - 1814. 

Near the summit, there were a whole lot of trees with plastic bags attached to their trunks. These were to collect the resin from the trees. Traditionally the collectors would have been metal or pottery but modern practice uses plastic bags to collect the resin.

A close up of the removal of the bark to get the resin to flow and to ne collected in the plastic bag.

There were alleged stunning views from the top of the mountain but the weather conditions weren't that good when I reached the top.

There was an art installation near the summit but it left me cold. There was a plaque but it was only in Portuguese and whilst I could translate some of it, even if it had all been in English, I would still have had a low opinion of the structure.

There were further views from the summit but the weather was still against those that wanted a spectacular view as described in the guidebook.

 A view of the Roman road covered by vines to provide shelter from the sun.

Just a view of the path, its rough stone surface and she of the countryside through which it crosses.

The photo didn't turn out how I wanted but it was going to be titled..."Does the route go right?" On the concrete pylon on the far left with the scallop shell are two yellow arrows, on a stone to the left of the concrete electricity pylon is another yellow arrow, on the pylon is another arrow and to the right on the wall is yet another arrow, and not to mention just out of shot but can be seen from just a metre stepping back is another concrete electricity pylon with a yellow arrow.