Day 8 – Sagres to Villa de Bispo (26.1 km) – Wednesday 27.03.24
After a hearty breakfast, I set off in very windy weather. My first destination today is the lighthouse at Cabo de Sant Vicente, which is the most south-eastern point of mainland Europe.
After leaving the city, I passed the old fortress of Sagres. Since it was still closed, I didn’t stop and continued walking along the steep coast.
Because of the really strong wind, which meant I often had to be careful not to get blown over, the waves on the sea were particularly high today. It was interesting to watch the big waves hitting the coast with full force. In some places the water was thrown over the edge of the rocks, which looked really fascinating.
I’m not really making much progress today, but that’s mainly because I keep stopping and taking pictures of the high waves, even though they look much less spectacular in the pictures than they do in reality. Perhaps this natural spectacle will come across better on video.
Some time later I reach the famous lighthouse, which stands right by the sea. Since the lighthouse is also a popular motif among tourists, cars and buses full of people keep arriving. So it is quite busy and after a few pictures, I leave the place again and continue my journey along the coast.
As I walk through the landscape today, I keep coming across hikers. So at least I was no longer the only hiker on this path, even though everyone was going in the other direction.
Shortly before 12 I take my lunch break in a quiet spot, eat a sandwich and enjoy the great view of the sea in front of me.
After the break, we soon head further into the hinterland on wider paths and away from the coast. But here is one last look back.
Afterwards I continued the journey on the wider paths.
When I arrived in Vila de Bispo, I sat down in a snack bar and ate a burger. I looked for accommodation in the town. The prices were pretty high, though, and I considered camping in a tent despite the forecast rain. I quickly asked a group of hikers sitting at a table next to me whether there was a suitable place to put up a tent a little further away that would be somewhat protected despite the strong wind. They said there was a small forest about 5 km away, which was a good option for me. It was only 4 p.m., so I could easily walk for another hour before setting up camp.
I quickly bought food for the evening at the Lidl next door and set off to leave the town with a full water tank. I actually followed the path for more than 5 km through meadows and forests before I found a suitable place for my tent.
A little off the path I found a good spot on the edge of a forest. The trees were a little further apart there and there was still room for my tent. I quickly noticed that there was an old fireplace a few meters away, which led me to conclude that others had already camped there in their tents.
After I had set up my tent, I cooked my dinner and just as I had finished eating, it started to rain. I quickly disappeared into my tent and used the remaining hours of the day to read. When it was dark and I no longer felt like reading, I simply fell asleep early.
Day 9 – Villa de Bispo to Arrifana (32 km) – Thursday 28.03.2024
The night in the tent was a bit restless, but overall it was OK. Despite heavy rain showers, I was dry and the trees around me protected me well from the strong gusts of wind. In the morning, I took down my tent and set off again.
Since the next town was a few kilometers away, there were no other people around and so I walked through the hilly landscapes all by myself. The Green Mountains looked very beautiful and were a nice change from the sea. The landscape looked a bit mystical, especially because of the low-hanging clouds. Then it started to rain, which made the whole thing even more interesting.
After a few kilometers, I came across the sea again. When the sun broke through the clouds behind me and it quickly became really warm, I sat down on one of the rocks right by the side of the path and made myself my morning coffee with the best view.
After enjoying the hot drink for a while, I packed everything up again and continued walking. It was up and down again a lot. Sometimes I was standing on the cliffs at the very top, sometimes I found myself somehow in the bushes at the very bottom. Since the official path would have taken me a little further back most of the time, I walked smaller unofficial paths directly along the cliffs. This meant that I was able to go up and down more often and so I had soon completed the first 500 meters of elevation of the day, even though I hadn’t been walking for very long.
At around 10 o’clock I met the first groups of hikers coming towards me from the other direction. I met quite a few of these groups on a beach, but after that the number quickly decreased. Apparently everyone had started at around 9 and so I had caught them all at once.
After another climb I passed an old Islamic fishing village, of which only the ruins were visible.
From there I also had a great view back at the route I had already completed.
This was the last viewpoint by the sea for now. We continued inland to Carrapateira. There I bought a Coke in a shop and took a 5-minute break. For many people, that would have been the end of the stage. But since it was only just after 11 a.m. and I wasn’t exhausted yet, I wanted to get to the next town. To do that I had to cover another 21 km, but that should be doable.
So I left the place again and went straight to a beach. There the path led for about a kilometer over the sand directly along the water and then took me back to the higher rocks.
From above the sea looked even more impressive.
Here is another picture of me.
After a while, I continued inland again and walked through hilly landscapes with lots of bushes and fields. Although it wasn’t a spectacle, I really liked the quiet landscape. I would have loved to just pitch my tent somewhere here. But since it was supposed to rain heavily again today, I decided I would rather stay in accommodation.
On the way to the next town, I passed a stone beach before a final climb followed by a descent.
In Arrifana, the houses were somehow very widely spread out and there was always a lot of space between the individual properties. So I had to walk a while to get to my accommodation. Unfortunately, I was exactly 10 minutes too slow. Because just before I got to the house, it started to rain heavily and when I got there, I was completely soaked. The woman at the reception just had to smile when she saw me like that.
As it had become quite cold towards the end of the day and I was still suffering from the water, I was even more pleased when I discovered that there was a bathtub. I quickly filled the tub with warm water and laid down in it to relax.
In the evening I went to eat at a nearby restaurant. It looked like almost all the tourists in the area were there, but that might also have been because everything else nearby was closed.
After dinner I returned to my room and soon went to sleep after a long day.
Day 10 – Arrifana to Aljezur (17.8 km) – Friday 29.03.2024
Since breakfast was not served until 8:30 today, I decided to sleep in. When I arrived at the breakfast room, I realized that all the tables were already occupied. Luckily, there were still tables outside, so I had breakfast on the terrace in the sunshine.
I didn’t really get going until just before 10, but that wasn’t a problem today, as I had only planned a very short route of 17 km. Combining two stages, as I had always done before, was not an option this time, as it would have been almost 40 km, which I didn’t want to put myself through today.
So I set off quite relaxed in the best weather. I soon left the town behind me and then walked for a while through a green landscape with lots of trees and bushes.
After about 5 km I arrived back at the sea and went straight through a very beautiful area. For a long time the path led me along the rocks and I could see the sea and the coast far into the distance.
Since I wasn’t in a hurry today, I took lots of breaks to take a closer look at the nature. I even saw a few storks that were apparently wintering here.
Even though I walked along the top most of the way today, I did have to go down to a sandy beach. Due to the heavy rain last night, a road that was supposed to take me to the other side was completely flooded.
I quickly took off my hiking boots and walked through the water, which was about ankle-deep. Given the warm temperatures that had now prevailed, this was a pleasant way to cool down. On the other side, I dried my feet, put my hiking boots back on and walked up to the rocks in front of me again, which I then followed for a few more kilometers.
Here is a quick look back.
In the meantime, a younger woman came up to me and said that she had taken a picture of me while I was standing on a cliff. She sent it to me quickly and so I even have a picture of myself from further away 😉
Soon the path along the coast ended for me. At one last point I saw the immense power of the water once again and then the path turned off to follow a river, which I would eventually cross.
From here we continued along a road, which fortunately was not too busy.
After a while the sky became increasingly overcast and instead of a blue sky I was soon walking in the rain again. At least the path then turned off the road and went through very quiet landscapes.
Here my right leg slowly started to hurt, which was not a good sign. In order not to put too much strain on it, I crept through the area at a snail’s pace until I reached the end of the stage.
In Aljezur I looked for accommodation. Since most places were either still closed or fully booked, but I didn’t want to keep walking with the pain, I booked a small holiday apartment for that night.
Later I did a quick shop in the supermarket, which was also open here on Good Friday, and prepared myself a small dinner. After that I tried to rest my legs and hoped that they would be better by tomorrow.
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