Day 5 – Armacao de Pera to Portimao (24 km) – Sunday April 24, 2024
I hadn’t really slept that well. Dogs were constantly being heard somewhere and there seemed to be a road not too far away. Nevertheless, my alarm went off at 6 a.m. so that I could take down my tent in the early hours of the morning. With all my things in my backpack, I set off into the city.
After just a few minutes I reached the very quiet streets. Hardly anyone was out and about that early in the morning and unfortunately all the shops and cafés were still closed. Since I had already used up the last of my water and couldn’t find water anywhere else, I just continued running without it.
After a short detour to the beach, I went straight back up to the higher cliffs and there I followed smaller paths through the landscape. I later left the coast and continued the hike further north.
Luckily, I passed a supermarket that was supposed to open soon. So I sat down in front of it on an available chair and waited until the supermarket finally opened its doors. Then I bought some water and a few other things and set off again.
We continued on a country road with very little traffic. I then took my breakfast break at a suitable place, where I ate a sandwich and drank a coffee.
The path then took me through meadows and orchards for a long time. Many different fruits were planted and I even got to see a few animals.
Here is another tree that is apparently used for cork harvesting.
In between I passed another larger golf course, which is noticeably common in this area.
After a few more kilometers I reached Feragundo and was back at the sea. Since I was already pretty exhausted, I went to a restaurant and wanted to eat grilled sardines, but again that wasn’t possible (why aren’t there grilled sardines anywhere?!?). Apparently they didn’t have any left so I switched to a delicious pizza.
After strengthening myself, I continue my journey for a few more kilometers. I continued on to Portimao, where I took a room. There I wrote on my blog and rested for the rest of the day.
Day 6 – Portimao to Luz (33.3 km) – Monday March 25, 2024
Since I didn’t really eat anything last night, I really took advantage of the breakfast buffet. I kept getting something to eat and so I didn’t get off until late again today.
I left the city along the road and actually wanted to continue following the Ecovia. I managed this quite well in the first few kilometers.
After that, the marking wanted to lead me along a busy road for a long time. I quickly turned around and headed for an alternative route.
Here, too, I continued along the road for a short time before I was able to turn off shortly after an airport and continue my journey in a foothill of the sea. I liked the landscape here much better and so I happily walked around the area. We walked along smaller paths again and I was able to watch some shell collectors at work.
On one of the rivers I used the existing railway bridge to get to the other side. Beforehand, of course, I had double-checked to make sure there wasn’t a train coming from either direction.
Then we continued along small paths through the beautiful landscape.
After a while I turned back to follow the tracks again. Here too I use a railway bridge to cross over to a river. This time there was even a strip for pedestrians, but I didn’t trust it because of the metal that was clearly rusted through in places.
Some time later I met the Ecovia again and followed it again from then on. When I arrived at the sea, I took a short break and watched the water sports enthusiasts in front of me as they struggled with the strong wind that kept changing direction. They kept ending up in the water, but overall it was very interesting to watch.
Soon afterwards I moved to a beautiful sandy beach, which I followed for some time. Due to the strong wind that was now blowing, the waves were very high and it was really interesting to watch them. Since the strong wind also blew the sand around and it really whipped my legs and wasn’t particularly pleasant, I soon switched back to one of the existing wooden walkways behind the dunes. I then followed these to Lago.
Once there, I walked around the harbor and then on to the old town.
There I looked at the church on the way and the fortress next to it. Afterwards I walked further south to take a closer look at the cap just outside the city.
When I arrived at the cape, I marveled at the beautiful rocks on the coast and looked at the lighthouse. Since there were always buses with tourists arriving here, there was a lot going on, so I didn’t stay long.
In addition to the impressive coast with its beautiful rock formations, I also immediately noticed the new path markings, which symbolized to me that I was now traveling on the well-known fishing path. From now on I will follow this further and further north over the next few days.
Afterwards we continued on small paths where I met fewer people. It went up and down again and the nature here was really beautiful. I really enjoyed running here when the weather was still relatively good.
I soon got my first look at the small town of Luz, where I wanted to spend the night today. While the sun was still shining on the city, I could already see the first rain falling further back.
I quickly climbed down from the high cliff, reserved a place in an accommodation and made my way there.
Since I was given the wrong room at reception and was then allowed to stay there, I got a large room with a terrace for €30.
A few minutes away I grabbed dinner from a kebab and then ate it on my terrace while it rained in front of me. Then I went to sleep soon after a long day.
Day 7 – Luz to Sagres (33.3 km) – 03/26/2024
I had a quick breakfast on the terrace and then set off again.
I left the city via the first street and then walked along small paths directly along the coast.
While I initially wore long trousers, I soon switched to shorts as it was quite warm in the morning sun. But as it turned out less than 10 minutes later, that wasn’t a particularly good move. At first it started to rain quite heavily and then there was actually hail. The little grains of ice were literally tearing at my legs and I was really happy when it stopped again a few minutes later.
Otherwise the weather changed quickly again and again today. As soon as I put the sweater on, the sun came out and I was able to change back to the shirt, only to do the same thing again a few minutes later. At least the nature remained beautiful throughout and so it was really fun despite the changeable weather.
I soon reached the small but very beautiful town of Burgau. Many small streets and chic houses decorate the place and I would have liked to have stayed here longer. But since I had just set off and didn’t want to take a break straight away, I quickly continued walking.
After that the weather got significantly better and the sunshine continued to increase. So in this beautiful weather I walked along the cliffs and had a good view of the water most of the time.
In between, I kept passing old ruins that made clear the importance of these places in history.
People back then probably enjoyed nature as much as I did.
Shortly before I was due to reach Salema, the sky became quite cloudy again. So I quickly walked into the city and sat down in the first café I could find. I stayed there for a few minutes until the dark clouds moved away again.
Afterwards it continued again in beautiful weather and I ran up and down along the coast.
At some point I took a short turn and left the official fishing path for a short time. After hiking along the cliffs all day, I wanted a bit of a change and walked directly along a sandy beach.
I continued climbing the rocks to the next beach. Since there is no real path leading here, there was no one to be found except me, so I had the whole beach to myself.
I decided to take my lunch break here and enjoy the time on my private beach. After all, you don’t have a beach all to yourself every day.
First I ate a snack and watched the waves for a while. Then I took a nap in the warm sun.
After the long break, I first checked whether I could possibly continue along the water to the next beach, as a path from there should lead up to the cliffs again. After a few minutes of climbing on the rock, it became too tricky for me and I ran back to a point from where I could safely return to the Fischerweg.
The fishing path then led me further into the hinterland, where I saw the beautiful green hills of Portugal.
After the short detour, we went back to the coast and went up and down again. Most of the time the path took me along the top, but every now and then I was allowed to descend to small beaches.
When I had just arrived at one of these beaches, another rain shower started and I was glad that there was shelter there. While I waited for the rain clouds to pass, I chatted with an older hiker who was also hiking the Fischerweg.
As soon as it stopped raining, I set off again because I still had a few kilometers to go and didn’t want to spend the night in a tent in this bad weather.
So I walked another 10 km up and down the coast.
I didn’t meet any people here anymore and was completely alone. If it hadn’t been so stormy and I’d still had enough water, my tent would have landed somewhere in this area.
So I kept walking through the very muddy area and at some point both my shoes and my legs were full of mud.
Shortly before half past seven I saw the town of Sarges for the first time and thus my destination for today.
Since the next rain clouds were already visible in the background, I quickly ran further into the city.
When I checked into a room, I first took a soothing shower and then treated myself to a Sagres beer, which comes from the city here.
Having reached the city of Sagres, I have now hiked through Portugal from east to west in just under a week, and tomorrow morning I will go a few hundred meters further to the west. But I was still happy that, in addition to Switzerland, France and Spain, I had now completely hiked through Portugal, another country in one direction.
From now on I will no longer be traveling towards the west, but increasingly towards the north. There will be more about this in my next blog article.
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