Samieira mills trail

The trail goes up the Freiría river, also called the Rego dos Muíños or Rego dos Frailes, and passes 23 mills. It is an easy walk through riverside woodland and one of the walking routes recommended by the Poio council (Concello).

The route

It starts from Praza de Alfredo Romay Besada, in San Xoán de Poio, beside the Muíño de Cubo de Abaixo, and goes upriver always hugging the bank. It is 5.5 km round trip, low difficulty, along an earth track with many wooden walkways that get past the slopes and cross the stream. The woodland is ash, birch, hazel, willow and oak, and along the way there are rest areas with tables and benches. Allow about two hours without rushing, stopping at the mills.

The name Rego dos Frailes has its legend: according to tradition, at the river's source, at the place called O Busto, a nobleman who became a friar built a monastery of which nothing remains. The trail was a Blue Trail (Sendero Azul) in 2025, the distinction from the Environmental and Consumer Education Association (ADEAC), and Turismo de Poio has the information panel and a PDF leaflet to download.

When and with whom

You can do it all year. The path is earth and runs beside the river, so in the rain it can be muddy: wear shoes with grip. It is a good trail with children, because of the distance, the walkways and the mills, and with a dog on a lead. With a pushchair, better one with large wheels, because the surface is earth.

If you still have energy

The Laño path, 1.2 km and also a Blue Trail, starts from the Covelo jetty and follows the Samieira coast between small coves and oak woods, past the beaches of Covelo, O Caeiro and Laño, to the Laño viewpoint, with views over the Pontevedra estuary. You park beside the church of Samieira or at the entrance to Covelo harbour. At Covelo is the rural hotel A Maquía, on the shore of the estuary.

Also in San Xoán de Poio, the Freixa trail, 1.8 km round trip, starts from the A Seca sports area and in under a kilometre passes nine mills, seven of them restored; the Muíño de Arriba keeps all its machinery. It begins beside the Parque da Memoria, designed by the Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

To round off the day, the Poio monastery, also in San Xoán de Poio, and the Combarro old town.