Connecting the Rota Vicentina to the Fishermen’s trail

In 23 km from Vale Seco to Cercal on the Rota Vicentina

I woke up in Vale Seco, looked at my watch, and then turned around again. There was no reason to leave very early, so I took my book and enjoyed the warmth of my bed a little longer. When I finally left, the owners’ dog seemed to want to join me. Luckily he turned around after I’d walked all the way around the property where I’d been staying. I followed the road past a few more houses until I hit the main road. I had to follow the asphalt for a few hundred meters before turning back onto a country road. Today was a day of farms and animals.

I already passed some huge meadows with cows and a pickup truck where a man was resting. I heard the bells of the cows and sheep in the distance. Then I passed through a gate onto a long dirt road. After a while a pickup truck approached. It must have been the farmer. He was not at all in a hurry and slowed down to a stop. A huge smile greeted me. “Bom dia!”, he said. “Bom dia”, I returned. He was speaking Portugese, I was speaking English, but with some hand gestures I think I made myself understood. He asked if I was walking the Rota Vicentina. “Yes”, I confirmed, “And what a great day to do it”, I added while holding my hands towards the sky and looking around me. The farmer laughed and said something like “media hora, café”. I would reach a café in half an hour. Nice. He wished me a good walk and I thanked him. Then he calmly continued along the road.

I ran into some cows. They were walking towards a group of more cows. I approached them slowly and some ran away in fear. Some smaller ones were shaking heavily out of fear for this human that was disturbing their peace. But three big ladies stood right in the middle of the path, just staring at me. As I continued I saw two black pigs running down the hill and some goats on top of it. Then I hit a dead end. My trail continued, but I couldn’t find an exit gate. I ended up shoving my bag underneath the electric fence, which was a bit higher here. Then I crawled through the dirt myself. A prickly bush got stuck into my arm. My skirt was dusty. But at least there were no goat droppings sticking to my skin.

In Vale das Éguas I indeed found a café. Two even! After a quick pitstop I kept going and ran into a man from Belgium who was walking in the other direction and would then continue to the coast from Santiago do Cacém. Then I had to follow another asphalt road before coming to Ribeira de Campilhas. A dam was creating a beautiful lake and I crossed a bridge with the lake on one side and a picturesque landscape on the other. Today it was like walking through one of Van Gogh’s paintings at times. The ones he painted when he was in the Provence in France. The rolling hills with dry, yellow brown fields, here and there some trees or a house, the blue sky above it. It all just fit.

In Cercal I found a town under construction. They were repairing several roads, building new houses and my hotel was under renovation. As I checked in the young receptionist assured me the top floor was fine. They’d put all the guests as far away from the noise as they possibly could. In the evening I found a tiny restaurant, run by some pretty old people. I gestured that I wanted to eat something. With my limited understanding of Portuguese I told them them I wanted something with meat. The lady proposed something and I just nodded. I ended up with a huge meal and the lady kept checking in on me asking “Bom?” It was very ‘bom’. What I didn’t eat I got to take away with me and I left super satisfied.

Connecting the Rota Vicentina with the Fishermen’s trail between Cercal and Porto Covo

It’s a short day between Cercal and Porto Covo. I was glad I started with my guidebook because the signage for the trail connecting to the coast was only clear from the edge of town. It started out with some hills that had some houses and farms spread out over them. I looked over my shoulder and said goodbye to Cercal and then I entered a eucalypt forest. I took a deep breath. Damn, it smelled so good! The day was passing as quickly as the landscape changed. I took a long dirt road towards a big farm. They had animals but there was also a sign saying ‘yoga’. I had to pass through a gate and then noticed two dogs. They spotted me and ran at me, barking loudly. I turned around, ran to the gate and got myself to the other side. Now what?! There I was on the one side, the barking dogs on the other. We stood there for a while until one dog crawled underneath the gate. Of course he could do that! He just sniffed me, stopped barking and that was it. I continued and the dogs left me alone.

The farm was very pretty. There were a lot of small paths and the vegetation was very varied. After every little hill and around every corner I found a new beautiful scene. I’m not even sure when I left the farm, but suddenly I saw the sea. It was still very far away, but I was coming closer. Some parts weren’t so interesting after this, since I had to walk on the side of some big but quiet roads. What was interesting was seeing the houses. Some were gorgeous, with big gardens with swimming pools. Some were huge! When I passed between some houses I heard a dog barking at the other side of a huge property. As he came running towards me, which took a long time, I scanned the fence. It seemed to be fine and I kept walking as the dog barked.

After this I was going towards the coast, passing some smaller towns and settlements. I passed a café and opted to powerwalk towards the coast. It was the right choice. Just before Porto Covo I found some wooden walkways leading to a big platform. I took my lunch from my bag and sat there, feeling the sun on my skin, the wind in my hair, listening to the waves crashing into the coast and looking out over the ocean with the big ships heading to the harbor of Sines. It was beautiful! The only other people I saw were a couple of fishermen. This was the life! I was very satisfied when I reached my hostel in Porto Covo after a few hours lying at the deck.