Last week I crossed the Arouca 516 Suspension Bridge and walked the Paiva Walkways in Portugal.

This had not been on my radar until a gym buddy posted on Instagram. I thought ‘that looks fun’. A few weeks later I had booked a city break in Porto with my daughter. But it was only when I started to book the tickets for the bridge that I thought ‘what have I done?’

I hadn’t appreciated that the bridge we were going to cross was the second longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world. It had been No.1 until 2022 when the Sky Bridge 721 in Czech Republic was opened. However, Arouca is higher at 175 metres compared to Sky’s 95 metres.

The next thing I noticed was the number of commentaries on the bridge not being for the faint hearted and certainly not an activity for anyone scared of heights. My daughter is scared of heights. Did I have to abandon the primary reason for going to Porto?

I spoke to her. She was up for it. I booked it.

Our first day in Porto was spent sightseeing. The cathedral, the Torre dos Clerigos, the ceramics in Sao Bento Station, crossing the Dom Luis Bridge.

The Torre dos Clerigos is a tower whose top can be reached by climbing 240 steps up a fairly narrow spiral staircase. The view from the top is fairly spectacular. Encouragingly, the height didn’t faze my daughter nor did the walk over the Dom Luis Bridge. This was looking hopeful.

One thing to mention about Porto. It’s not flat. It has some steep hills which cannot be avoided. Our hotel was about a 25 minute walk from the River Douro. Downhill. So our post dinner walk back was a little challenging. But at least we burnt off some of the Francesinha and Sangria.

The next day we were picked up at our hotel for the hour and twenty minute journey to Arouca. An opportunity to appreciate the beautiful countryside of Portugal.

At Alvarenga we met our guide, was provided with snacks, water and a waterproof poncho if we required one, and we were off.

You approach the bridge by walking through a village full of artefacts of a time gone by where a number of the residents, according to our guide, live in houses built on the proceeds of illegal tungsten mining. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the bridge where you are rewarded with its impressive sight.

Apparently, according to our guide, it can hold 3000 people but only 150 are allowed across at any one time in case someone chooses to behave stupidly (running, jumping up and down,) and create panic.

We waited about 10 minutes to set off. By this time my daughter just wanted to get it over with.

I was not nervous in the least. I had visions of taking a lot of photos and videos. But the reality was a little different.

I found looking down through the grille holes at the River Pravia crashing down the ravine 175 metres beneath my feet a little unnerving. So much so that I didn’t look down too often. I just looked in front of me, with the occasional glimpse to the side, and walked. I’d compare it to standing on the glass floor of the Empire State Building or the CNN Tower. You know it is safe but you have an overwhelming desire to step off. Not so easy on a 500 metre bridge.

My daughter just looked ahead holding both sides of the bridge as she walked. She was not enjoying the experience.

When it felt that we were approaching the end the guide informed us that we were half way across. This didn’t go down well with my daughter who was doing her best to suppress her panic. She did so successfully. We did it. It was a great experience but I’m not sure I’d want to repeat it.

The next part of our trip was walking the Paiva Walkways, a 8km construction along the River Pravia. This walkway is described in various ways ranging from medium to hard in levels of difficulty. There are about 400 steps at the beginning. All downhill. Again this can be unnerving if you are scared of heights as you are walking down a deep ravine which you can view underfoot. But once you are down it is a fairly flat 8kms of walking. And it is beautiful.

There is another short bridge across the river which the guide described as the Indiana Jones bridge as it is very similar to the rope bridge in the scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But not so long or high.

I walked over it. My daughter declined.

As we started to approach the end of the walkway some people in our party asked the guide ‘how much longer?’ to which the guide replied ‘5 – 10 minutes’. He repeated this for the next half an hour. Some people were flagging but I felt I could have turned around and walked back. Although walking up those steps may have been challenging after 16 km. And then we were at the end enjoying a glorious lunch with a beer.

A great experience. But my daughter may not agree.

P.S. We spent the final few hours of our trip visiting Livraria Lello, described as the most beautiful bookstore in the world followed by a cruise down the Douro River and a final glass of Sangria.