Day 3: Barcelos to Cossourado (Balugães)

An aggressive approach to this stage would be to walk from Barcelos to Ponte de Lima. That would be about 34km (21+mi) over two climbs. The following day would include a really big climb. I decided to break the next stage into two days - especially after learning about Casas do Rio in Cossourado (near Balugães).

Our Day 3 began with a nice walk out of Barcelos through an interesting variety of paths and scenery.

After about six miles, we began a climb that ended at the village of Aborim.

We found Café 2000

and enjoyed another meal of water and ham and cheese sandwiches.

The climb was just hard enough to make lunch very timely.

Day 3 continued through good paths ...

... until we found Casas do Rio.

Today's distance was our shortest, but we encountered a lot of cobblestones along with our first hotter day. It was a good idea to have a nice break as we were getting our "Camino legs."

Today:
Distance:    17.1km / 10.7mi
Walk time:  3:20
Stop time:   1:03
Avg. pace:  11:42/km / 18:41/mi
Ascent:       917 ft
Descent:     844 ft
Weather was sunny and warmer with a high of about 30C (86F)

Progress:
Distance:    60.2km / 37.6mi
Walk time:  11:32
Avg. pace:  11:33/km / 18:29/mi
Ascent:       2311 ft
Descent:     2315 ft