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Stage 4 · Portugués Central
Ponte de Lima → Rubiães
Over the Portela da Labruja
A short stage, but with the most serious climb of the whole Portuguese Way: 17.9 kilometres with 560 metres of ascent and 390 of descent. The difficulty counts as low because it is short, but the Portela da Labruja deserves respect. You leave Ponte de Lima across the medieval bridge and the route stays flat for a good while, through Arcozelo and the valley of the river Labruja, among vines, maize fields and villages, on a slope that grows steadily clearer.
Past Codeçal the real climb begins: a steep path of stone and earth between pines and granite boulders that gains the Portela da Labruja, at about 400 metres, in little more than two kilometres. At the top there is a stone cross and a view from one valley to the next. This is the section to climb fresh and unhurried, with water, because there is nothing on the slope.
The descent is gentler and longer, on tracks and stretches of old paved road between Águalonga and Cabanas, down to Rubiães, a small parish with the Romanesque church of São Pedro and a Roman milestone beside it. There is little here: the albergue, somewhere to have dinner, and silence.
Tips
Have a good breakfast in Ponte de Lima and fill your bottle: after the last bars before the climb the supplies end until well past the Portela.
Climb the Labruja in the cool of the early hours. It is not long, but it is steep and stony, and with the sun overhead it feels endless.
Poles if you carry them: they help on the climb and, on the descent over loose track and stone, they save your knees.
Rubiães has little for dinner or shopping: if you arrive late or out of season, carry something in your pack just in case.
In the rain the stone of the Portela da Labruja is slippery both going up and coming down: tread carefully.
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What's there today
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Tips from people who walked it
The things that do not expire: where the fountain actually is, which bar opens at six, where not to go in the rain.
None here yet. If you have just walked this stage, you know something tomorrow’s pilgrim does not.
Emergencies
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Say where you are I am walking the Camino Portugués, on the stage from Ponte de Lima to Rubiães.
- Farmácia Cerqueira Pharmacy km 0,0
- Farmácia da Misericórdia Pharmacy km 0,0
- Clínica de Ponte de Lima Health centre km 0,0
- Farmácia Brito Pharmacy km 0,0
- Farmácia São João Pharmacy km 0,1
- Farmácia Sousa Pharmacy km 16,8
The map
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What to see on this stage 12
- Igreja da Misericórdia de Ponte de Lima Church km 0,0
- Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Anjos Church km 0,0
- Igreja da Misericórdia de Ponte de Lima Church km 0,0
- Capela da Senhora da Penha de França Church km 0,0
- Capela das Pereiras Church km 0,1
- Capela de Santo António Church km 0,4
- Igreja de Santa Marinha de Arcozelo Church km 3,2
- Capela de Nossa Senhora das Neves Church km 8,5
- Capela Church km 9,7
- Igreja Matriz de Labruja Church km 9,7
- Capela de São Roque Church km 17,0
- Igreja de São Pedro de Rubiães Church km 17,8