Fisherman's Trail Oct-Nov 2022

We had a few hours of in-transit time at the uninspiring Sete Rios train station (Lisbon) but it was pouring rain, so we hung around the platform with periodic visits to the Lidl supermarket below. We took the 13:30 bus from Sete Rios to Vila Nova de Milafontes and moved into the "By the C House" for for the night. The key was literally under the mat; it was a simple apartment though the bed wasn't all that comfortable. We did a small load of laundry in the unit so that we could start the trail with clean clothes. We bought groceries at the Silva Supermercado and had a look around the town & sea front. Vila Nova is a pleasant holiday town and it would be a good choice for a "zero day", except we were not in need of rest.

Vila Nova to Almograve. We had a gentle start to the trail, beginning with a boat transfer across the Rio Mira (5 Euros each) rather than a three kilomtre road walk to start. The scenery improved through the day on the 12km walk from Vila Nova to Almograve (with 100m of ascent). We had brought home-made sand gaiters along and didn't really need them for this section, and we later discarded them. The first section of Porto Covo-Vila Nova is the only truly sandy section.

We stayed in the comfortable Almograve Beach Hostel and that allowed us to make connections with some of the other thru-hikers. We found Almograve town to be uninspiring. It was a quiet Sunday with Indian farm workers wandering about on their day off. We had beer and chips and then walked down to the town beach where Sheila attempted to go swimming (too much oceanic pull). The limited restaurant options began dinner service after 7:30pm, so we picked up a few items and the mini-mercado and made dinner in the hostel kitchen. We had a good chat with some of the other through-hikers staying at the hostel. We ordered breakfast for the following morning.

Almograve to Zambujeira. We had breakfast at 7:00am at the hostel and it included enough bread and filling to make sandwiches. We thought that we might be able to avoid the rain that was forecast for later in the day. However, we had about an hour of light drizzle to start the day but it cleared off in the afternoon. Day 2 was a longer 21km walk with some road walking and impressive scenery in and around the lighthouse. We took a short-cut just past the lighthouse which added some spice to the day. We stopped in at a popular restaurant at Entrada da Barca (A Barca Tranquitanas) and had a couple of seafood soups. We had already eaten our sandwiches so we weren't too hungry, but that would have been a good place to have eaten a full lunch.

There was more road walking beyond Entrada da Barca but the scenery improved as we approached Zambujeira. When we were reserving accommodation, we weren't overwhelmed by the options so we stayed at a slightly upmarket boutique hotel in Zambujeira that featured a rooftop pool. Zambujeira has a large beach and a plaza that overlooks the sea. We ended up eating at a mediocre Indian restaurant that for some reason received rave on-line reviews.

Zambujeira to Odeceixe Day 3 for us (Zambujeira to Odeceixe) was our favourite section (19km, 200m ascent) except for the 4+km road walk to finish. Breakfast at our fancy hotel didn't start till 8:30am, so we went for a morning wander and then returned for an excellent breakfast. Once under way, it was almost non-stop views. There was a short inland section towards the beginning that skirted a Mozambican farm complete with ostriches. The remainder of the walk had an impressive coastline and a higher concentration of storks than earlier sections.

The trudge into Odeceixe along the Rio Seixe seemed to go on forever, however the town had a pleasant central square. We stayed at the comfortable Sudoeste Guesthouse and did another automated check-in. In this case, the key was in the door of our room. We wandered over to the town grocery store and with its limited selection, we managed to cobble together something for the next day's breakfast and lunch. We had dinner in the main square and watched a James Bond movie in our room (TV movies in Portugal were often in English with Portuguese sub-titles).

Odeceixe to Aljezur. We walked from Odeceixe to Rogil (15km, 130m ascent) and then we caught a bus to Aljezur so as to avoid another 8km of road walking. We made an early start so that we would catch the bus and walked 3km on paths and road out to Odeceize Beach. The coastal section thereafter was wonderful however it was relatively short and we shifted to inland road walking to reach Rogil. We had about an hour wait for the bus that dropped us off in central Aljezur. We had booked an apartment in Aljezur for two nights and we were early for the 2:30pm check-in, but we had the key code and when we arrived, it was ready for us. The apartment was at the foot of the castle (4 minutes walk), so that we could retreat in the event of an invasion.

We walked over to the Intermarche supermarket via the castle and old town and stocked up for our stay. We had cannelloni for dinner and watched Netflix in the comfortable house with an orange fridge.

Monte Clérigo and Arrifana. The two sections of Aljezur to Arrifana and then to Carrapateira looked like a lot of road walking, so we chose to stay two days at Aljezur and make use of local buses to focus on the coastal walking aspects. On Day 5, we walked the coastal section west of Aljezur (13km, 200m ascent) without packs using a bus at each end of the hike. Although our full packs were relatively light (7 or 8 kilos), it was nicer walking without them. We got off the local bus before Monte Clérigo and wandered over to where fishermen had their lines over the cliffs and surf came up high. Monte Clérigo was a cute little village and the coastline south of it was also beautiful.

For some reason, we followed the official route inland for a number of kilometres (we might have tried walking the informal coastal trails) to reach Arrifana. It is a big surf scene (easy to moderate waves) that attracted the most tourists we had seen along the coast. We hung out watching the surfers from the viewpoint and then waited for our return bus, that was a half hour late. It brought us back to behind the Intermarche in Aljezur.

Aljezur to Carrapateira. We caught a late morning bus (10:50am) out of Aljezur and got off in the middle of nowhere (Chaubouco). We walked a couple of kilometres on road to rejoin the official route, and then a couple further kilometres on a sandy track to reach the coast. At one point, the sun came out and it was quite warm for walking . It was worth the effort and we dropped off the official route down to the long beach. It was partly foggy and there were noticeably more people out. At the south end of the beach, we wandered along the scenic headland before heading for our lodging in Carrapateira (16km with 130m ascent). We had a compact but comfortable self-catering place and we stocked up from the supermarket a kilometre away in the centre of sleepy Carrapateira.

Carrapateira to Vila da Bispo and bus to Lagos. On our last (seventh) day we had another 16kmwalk (with 340m ascent) from Carrapateira to Vila da Bispo. We started early and didn't think that we would catch the mid-day bus. Once we reached the coast, it was another impressive section, followed by a road walk to Vila da Bispo. We took a couple of short-cuts that added to the stunning coastal section. Along the way, we walked with a woman from Galicia (Spain) who we had seen off and on the entire walk. The east-bound bus stop at Vila da Bispo was ambiguous and with the advice of the cashier at the gas station, we found the correct bus stop on Ribeira do Poço and we had a short wait before the bus to Lagos arrived. In Lagos (pronounced Lagoosh), we collected the keys to our central apartment and we had lunch downtown. Our apartment seemed to be too good to be true for 57 Euros a night, but it worked out well for us, including catching up on laundry. Once we had dropped our packs off at our accommodation, it was off to the Lidl and Pingo Doce supermarkets for a couple of days' provisions. We were quite full from lunch, so we had a big salad for dinner. We had caught onto the Portuguese white wines and found a nice vino verdhe for 1.80 Euros. We had favourable impressions of Lagos.

Lagos. After the one week walk, we had a few days in Lagos. On the first morning, we walked from our apartment along the coast to Ponta da Piedade (11km return). There were all kinds of little small scenic beaches to admire. It was quiet at first, but got busier by late morning. After chilling in the apartment, we walked over to the nearby Santiago Antonio church that is part of a museum. We had roast chicken for dinner.

Lagos. On our second day in Lagos, we weren't sure what to do, so we walked to Porto Mós Beach and returned via the cliffs, south of Lagos (10km return). We were back for lunch at the apartment. I was having problems with data on my Portuguese SIM card, so I dropped in to a Vodafone store and the helpful woman pointed out that I should turn the VPN off when not using WIFI's and that sorted out the problem. We had Netflix and HBO Max and that evening, we watched the enjoyable "Meet Joe Black" for the first time.

Lagos to Lisbon. I popped into the local bakery first thing for fresh bread. It was my second such visit and the server corrected my Portuguese pronunciation again. I never figured out. After breakfast, we walked over to the bus terminal. Rain was in the forecast for our afternoon in Lisbon.