Wednesday Walk - Crossing over the Onda River, Lavra - Portugal

Last week, for the Feast of Corpus Christi, I traveled to northern Portugal, specifically to Lavra, a town with a long fishing tradition located in the municipality of Matosinhos.

Since I had some free time the day before the celebration, I walked from my friends’ house to the coast and on to Angeiras Beach.

This beach has a long history, not only in economic terms—since it provides many jobs (though far fewer today than 50 years ago)—but also because of everything it generates in the surrounding area.

It’s an area with low-lying houses, which are mainly used by fishermen to store their traps and some of the gear they use for fishing, but also as a place of refuge and rest when sea conditions aren’t so favorable and force them to stay on land.

Lavra is also located on the Old Portuguese Route of the Camino de Santiago. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the Camino de Santiago, or if you’ve ever undertaken that journey.

I had the opportunity to do it in 2022, and it was a very enriching experience on a personal level. At that time, I started the journey a little closer to the Spanish border, specifically in Viana do Castelo, which took me just under 200 km to Santiago de Compostela.

Since this stretch of the coastline is part of the Camino route, the city council has invested in pedestrian infrastructure that makes the journey much more pleasant, safe, and picturesque. This allows us to take in the local beauty as we pass through Lavra.

Since I only had a little over half an hour, I started at Angeiras Sul beach, crossed over to Angeiras Norte, and walked along the footbridge at the mouth of the Onda River, ending up very close to Labruge beach.

On this short walk, I was able to observe many details and photograph some of them. Essentially, when I decide to go for short walks, I rarely have specific goals in mind; I just let myself go and discover what comes my way along the path.