A lot of steps for 30 minutes on the beach

The Fishermen’s trail: Odeceixe to Aljezur

In Odeceixe I saw a familiar face in my hostel. Remember the Belgian guy I met on my second day on the Rota Vicentina? I’d taken 2 rest days now and he’d caught up with me again. So from all the people at the breakfast table, him and I were the only ones still continuing the walk. It’s very popular for people to finish hiking in Odeceixe and make the Fishermen’s trail a long weekend excursion. I noticed it throughout the day. The only other hikers I saw were two women, whom I crossed paths with several times.

I started on the historical route, since I’d done the first part of the coastal route on my rest day. Close to Odeceixe I found a few people working on the land. Everything was still done by hand, no heavy machinery. A woman put down her spade to look at me. I waved: “Ola”. The woman asked me something in Portuguese and I let her know I didn’t understand. “Aljezur?”, she tried again. Aaaa yes, that’s where I’m going. She wished me a safe trip and I continued with a smile.

The road wasn’t super interesting, but I enjoyed having solid ground underneath my feet. No more tiring sand paths. Therefore my pace was a lot faster and today I was on a roll. Before I knew it I arrived in Rogil, where I sat down for a drink at a corner café. I wanted to have lunch on the beach and it was already 12.30H, so after half an hour it was time to move on. Unfortunately the road didn’t get prettier after Rogil. I shared the road with a bunch of cars, all leaving a trail of dust behind. The taste of dust didn’t make the experience any better.

When I went to the beach the landscape became more interesting. The path playfully zigzagged past some abandoned buildings. But the closer I came to the beach, the more sand entered my shoes again. I must say it was worth it. I chose to do this extra loop so I would see some beaches. Through some pine forest I arrived at the coast, but it was still 500 meter until the closest beach. I had to follow a tiny path and pushed my way through the vegetation. A loooong staircase went down to a rocky beach. I kept going down and the thought of going back up already made me tired.

The beach was big and there were only a few people. It was easy to find a nice spot to relax and enjoy my lunch. I walked towards the rocks near the ocean and saw lots of shellfish and little crabs. I was glad I decided to come out here and see the beach, but realized I’d done a lot of steps just to get here. But there was another beach about 2 km away, so I dragged myself back up the stairs, which was much easier than I’d expected, pushed the bushes aside and trudged through the sand. The next beach, Praia da Amoreira, was a lot more popular, especially with surfers. It was busy and even the café was open.

The next kilometers were hard again. It was hot, I had to climb and there was no wind at all. I wasn’t having so much fun anymore. I passed a campground and some houses. A dog walked parellel to me on the other side of a fence. He had a rock or something and dropped it through the fence. His hopeful eyes were staring at me. When I kept going he picked up the rock again and dropped it a bit further away. The poor thing just wanted a buddy to play with.

Just before Aljezur the road went down and down and down. I was still sweating like crazy and was happy when I reached the first houses. The path was going uphill again, but at least the houses provided some much needed shade. My hostel was average, but that night I had one of the best meals on the trail. I went to Pont’ a Pé, right across from the hostel, and had lamb stew with sweet potatoes. For desert I had a traditional sweet potato cake. Then two little jars were brought out. I thought one was liquor and one was water. So I drank the ‘water’, but it turned out to be liquor as well! Hilarious. I forgot all about the 26 km I had walked.