Colos

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough, and mostly you will need it for resting. Colos is a small village with one parish church and no museum, so a stroll round it does not take long. What matters more is what comes next: at 26.3 kilometres, the stage to Cercal do Alentejo is the longest of the whole way, across hamlets with no reliable supplies. Use the afternoon for your feet, water and provisions, and go to bed early.

Colos in Ninja numbers

• 50.5 kilometres is what you have walked since Castro Verde, according to Camino Ninja, with 85.0 still ahead of you to Santiago do Cacém. After this evening you will have done a good third, but you still have not seen the sea.
• 26.3 kilometres is the length of the stage to Cercal do Alentejo, more than any other on the Via Atlântico.
• Fewer than ten people per square kilometre lived in the freguesia of Colos at the 2011 census, around a thousand on more than a hundred square kilometres. The silence here is not your imagination.
• 1924 is the year Brito Pais, a son of the village, flew to Macau. A long-distance pioneer came from this village without a pilgrim bed.

Arriving: through the montado

From Garvão it is 17.6 kilometres, according to Camino Ninja. Right at the start you pass the little station of Funcheira, where the trains between Lisbon and the Algarve stop, then the way leads through cork-oak montado and pastures via Santa Luzia. A good five kilometres before Colos, Vale de Santiago lies just off the path, a village name that suits this way. Then you are in Colos.

Colos lies on the Caminho Central Via Atlântico, which branches off the Caminho Português Central do Sul at Castro Verde and rejoins it at Santiago do Cacém. No other Camino routes pass through the village.

In brief: a municipality that no longer is one

Colos is an old vila and used to be the seat of its own municipality, a concelho. It lost that status in 1836, and since 1855 it has belonged to the municipality of Odemira in the district of Beja. Today the freguesia covers a good hundred square kilometres and had around a thousand inhabitants at the 2011 census.

Since 1999 Colos has had a coat of arms: three green hills on silver, topped by the red cross of the Order of Santiago, the knights of the apostle. You are walking to St James, and the village where you sleep tonight has put him on its coat of arms.

Around 24 June, Colos celebrates the Feira de São João, with crafts, regional products, farm machinery and Cante Alentejano. In the evening people traditionally jump over the St John's bonfire.

Quiet and small: what to see

There is not much to tick off, and that is fine. Two places are worth it, one in the village, one on the way tomorrow.

• Igreja Matriz Nossa Senhora da Assunção: Colos's parish church is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and belongs to the diocese of Beja. The municipality of Odemira calls the religious heritage of Colos worth seeing, but we found out nothing more about the building's history or furnishings. We also did not find opening or Mass times; check in the afternoon whether the door is open.
• Ermida da Senhora das Neves: The chapel stands by the hamlet of Ribeira do Seissal, which you reach tomorrow after 13.1 kilometres. The municipality of Odemira calls it a place not to be missed and praises the wide view over the transition from the uplands to the plain of the Alentejo. A good spot for the first long break of the long stage.

Honestly

• No pilgrim bed in the village. There is no pilgrim hostel and, in our database, no other accommodation in Colos either. In the surrounding area there are country houses for rural tourism, at normal room prices. Book ahead and ask straight away how to get there from the path.
• The next stage is the longest. 26.3 kilometres to Cercal do Alentejo, across small hamlets with no reliable supplies. Take water and food for the whole day.
• Do not count on shopping in Colos. We could not reliably find out whether or when a shop is open here. So buy your supplies beforehand.
• In summer the interior is hot. In nearby Beja the average July high is 33.5 degrees. Between June and September it is best to set off in the dark.

Ninja tips

• Take your first big break at Senhora das Neves. After a good 13 kilometres you have almost done half of the long stage, and the chapel offers a view.
• Funcheira is your emergency exit. The station lies 15.6 kilometres before Colos right on the way, and the trains between Lisbon and the Algarve stop there. If you need to rearrange your stages or want to get off, plan from there.
• Plan the long stage as a whole day. At 26.3 kilometres, count on breaks and seven hours rather than five, and set off early enough that the midday heat does not catch you in open country.
• Come in June. If your way takes you through Colos around 24 June, you may catch the Feira de São João with Cante and the St John's bonfire.

Onward: the long stage to Cercal

The next stage is 26.3 kilometres long. After 13.1 kilometres you reach Ribeira do Seissal de Cima with the Ermida da Senhora das Neves, then it goes via Aldeia do Cano (18.3), Marmeleiro (20.5) and Portela do Salgadinho (23.5) into the hill country of Cercal do Alentejo. It is not steep, but from the heights on the Camino Ninja map the total comes to a good 260 metres up and just as much down, with the highest point, a good 200 metres, after about 9 kilometres.

What awaits you tomorrow

Cercal do Alentejo, a small village in the hill country whose best-known story is about thirst: at the Bica Santa, Mary is said to have given thirsty shepherd children water from a stone. After 26.3 kilometres you will understand.

Deep dive: The cross over the hills

A short read, in case you want to learn more about Colos. About two minutes' reading.

Where you stand

Colos lies in the middle of the montado, the open woodland of cork oaks, between pastures. Around a thousand people lived in the whole freguesia in 2011, spread over more than a hundred square kilometres. Fewer than ten people to a square kilometre: that is the silence you have been walking through since Ourique.

An old municipal seat

Colos was not always as small as it looks today. It was a vila and the seat of its own municipality. In 1836, when Portugal reorganised its administration and abolished many small municipalities, Colos lost this rank too. Since 1855 it has belonged to Odemira. It has kept the rank of vila, as the mural crown with four towers above its coat of arms shows.

The cross on the coat of arms

When Colos received its coat of arms in 1999, it put three green hills on a silver field and above them the red cross of the Order of Santiago. In the Middle Ages the knights of the Apostle James held large parts of southern Portugal, from Santiago do Cacém, where your way ends, to Castro Verde, where it began. The cross over the hills recalls that. For you it is a small sign at the edge of the path: even here, where hardly a pilgrim passes, the apostle is no stranger.

A son of the village in the air

Brito Pais, one of the pioneers of Portuguese aviation, came from Colos. In 1924 he flew from Portugal to Macau. A long-distance man, then, from a village where the longest stage of your way begins today.

What Colos gives you

Colos asks nothing of you but rest. An evening with no programme, a full water supply, an early alarm. Tomorrow you walk the longest day of this way, and somewhere over the hills a chapel with a view is waiting.