We started the day at 8 am with a 15 minute €20 taxi ride up the coast to Zambujeira do Mar where we had a lovely breakfast at the Por do Sol cafe. Fortunately, the rain stopped just before we departed in the cab 🙂
After breakfast, we started on The Fishermans Trail all be it the final section. After some confusion, we finally found the trail on the other side of a huge empty car park. This place must be heaving in the summer with the vast car parks and large number of hotels/b&b etc
The trail is delightful with splendid views and very hilly, constantly dropping down to sea level and then straight back up. Very reminiscent for me of my walk on the South West Coast Path in Cornwall. However, one huge difference is the sand! how does all the sand get on top of the cliffs? was my constant thought.
Once again the trail was virtually devoid of people even though it was sunny today.
The last 4km into Odeceixe was a bit disappointing as it’s along on a flat surfaced road, at least it had no cars on it.
The trail itself was a fine end to our short walking holiday of just over 80 miles and 7,260 feet of ascent.
Today’s photos are here and Strava is here
Here’s my little spreadsheet:-
| Trip to Portugal | Km | 128.5 | 2.2 | ||||||
| Miles | 80.3 | 7261.0 | |||||||
| Day | Date | From | To | Walk Days | Miles fromStrava | Elevation (ft) | min/mile | % Gradient | Hotel |
| Saturday | 11 Mar 2017 | Cambridge | Sagres | Mareta View | |||||
| Sunday | 12 Mar 2017 | Sagres | Vila do Bispo | 1 | 14.4 | 1319 | 21.37 | 3.47% | Pure Flor de Esteva |
| Monday | 13 Mar 2017 | Vila do Bispo | Carrapateira | 2 | 14.3 | 964 | 19.3 | 2.55% | Carrapateira Guest House |
| Tuesday | 14 Mar 2017 | Carrapateira | Arrifana | 3 | 15.4 | 1746 | 19.34 | 4.29% | Arrifana Destination Hostel |
| Wednesday | 15 Mar 2017 | Arrifana | Aljezur | 4 | 12.6 | 1361 | 21.3 | 4.09% | Amazigh Hostel |
| Thursday | 16 Mar 2017 | Aljezur | Odeceixe | 5 | 11.5 | 444 | 18.57 | 1.46% | Hospedaria Firmino Bernardino |
| Friday | 17 Mar 2017 | Zambujeira do Mar to Odeceixe | Odeceixe | 6 | 12.1 | 1427 | 22.1 | 4.47% | Hospedaria Firmino Bernardino |
Loved today’s walk with the amazing views and sounds of the sea … sunny weather too 🙂
The sand gets there in the wind you are on the Atlantic coast.
i think Portugal is a hidden treasure. We visited the northern part l\st year and loved the remoteness and unspoilt nature of the place……..once we got over that the shops were closed at 70’s UK times. I saw 3 cyclists the whole time on the rural roads. I’d deffinately go back……but i do like a drop of Porto so i might me a little biased x
Yes we have enjoyed the remotness the lovely scenery and the wild flowers but was not as warm as we thought and maybe march is just a month too early ….
Gosh! That flew by quickly. Hopefully we’ll find ourselves in Portugal sometime in the next year or so, and we’ll make sure to sample a bit of the coastal walking.
Yes, it was only a short break 🙁
Bertie would love it down here, he would have lots of friends to snuggle up with!
I’m sure you two would love the walking too 🙂