PR6Soeira Route

The Caminho de Santiago, the Tuela and an old bridge

This route follows in the footsteps of pilgrims. It is not a trail that crosses the Caminho de Santiago at a single point — it walks alongside it for two stretches, one near the river beach and another between the village of Soeira and the bridge where pilgrims have always crossed the rio Tuela. Around these two stretches lie an ancient woodland, a well-preserved village and a section of river carved into rock.

It is rare to find so much within such a small area. Rarer still to be able to finish with one's feet in the water.

The Praia Fluvial da Ponte de Soeira

The route is circular and begins and ends at the car park of the Praia Fluvial da Ponte de Soeira, beside the EN103. The beach offers what few routes can: an easy place to leave the car, a café and restaurant on arrival, and a river waiting for those who have just finished walking. The Caminho de Santiago passes right here, and for one kilometre the route and the Caminho are one, as far as the Ponte de Santa Marinha.

The woodland

Between the EN103 and Quintela, the path passes for roughly a kilometre and a half through a very ancient stretch of woodland, of oaks and chestnut trees, with lichen-covered trunks and light filtered through the canopy. It is a passage with something mythic about it — the kind where voices are instinctively lowered.

Quintela

Quintela is a small, quiet and well-preserved village, sheltered by woodland on one side and facing the Tuela valley on the other. The route passes through it from end to end, going by the Igreja de Quintela.

The Tuela and the Ponte Velha de Soeira

It is only a few hundred metres along the banks of the Tuela, but they are the most striking of the entire route: the river runs between rocks shaped by the force of the water, wild and beautiful in equal measure. At one end of this stretch stands the Ponte Velha de Soeira, a moss-covered stone bridge, narrow in the way that bridges built for people on foot and pack animals always were. It is at the bridge that the route rejoins the Caminho de Santiago, which accompanies it as far as the village.

Soeira

Soeira lies between the old bridge and the river beach, and is the right place for a rest: there is a café and a fountain to restore one's strength, and the Igreja de São Martinho, the parish church, stands along the way. Those who feel the urge to continue have the example of the pilgrims: the Caminho carries on from there towards Santiago.