On the fishermen’s trail from Vila do Bispo to Sagres
I was walking on a dirt road and noticed an extraordinary number of snails surrounding me. They were everywhere; on the plants, on poles of power lines, on fences and rocks. Occasionally a car drove by, slowing down so they wouldn’t leave me in a cloud of dust. At a crossing a young couple sat in front of a big motorhome enjoying their morning coffee from a folding beach chair. Then I heard bells coming my way. A herd of cows was coming my way to cross the street. I slowed down so I wouldn’t be in the middle of it. I heard the whistles of the shepherd, who was guiding his three dogs to keep the cattle together. It was like seeing a well rehearsed show. The trained dogs replied to every signal and the shepherd could calmly walk beside his animals.
When the peace returned I noticed I could see the ocean on my left and right. I had entered a land tongue that was slowly getting smaller. In front of me to the left lay Sagres, my destination of the day, but I would walk all the way around to get there. At times I even got a glimpse of the lighthouse at Cape St. Vincent. I’d read that today was a pretty hard day and that it involved descending down a ladder. Therefore I felt a bit nervous when I came to the crossroads where the Rota Vicentina and the Fishermen’s trail take different routes towards the cape. I didn’t hesitate for long and took the coastal trail.
When I imagine descending down a ladder, I imagine a long, iron, vertical thing. I also imagined it would be somewhere on the side of a cliff face, to get down a few of meters. When I saw the feared ladder I was so amused I couldn’t stop laughing. Ok, it wasn’t as sturdy as I’d imagined and one rung was broken, but it was far from scary. I found a wooden ladder, 6 rungs high, that stood at an angle against the rock. There were no scary drops nearby and it wasn’t even necessary to face backwards to descent.
I ended up at a popular surf spot, Praia do Telheiro. The surfers have to go down a steep path to reach the small beach. The coast around it was beautiful and I kept walking close to the cliffs, enjoying the view along the way. My small path kept getting wider. There were so many stones it was like I was walking on a river bed. I had to focus on placing my feet and when I looked up I saw I was close to the Cabo São Vicente. When I arrived I heard Dutch, German and Spanish. I was back in the tourist zone.
There is an expensive café and a lighthouse you can’t enter. The place wasn’t that special, but I sat down to appreciate I had walked 12 days to reach this point. I enjoyed my sandwiches and thought of what I’d accomplished. There were only 2 more days to go, heading East this time.
Sagres was still 7 kilometers away and even though there was a busy asphalt road, the trail mostly walked over the rocky ground beside it, as close to the water as was possible. I passed the small fortress of Santo António de Belixe and the beautiful nude beach of Beliche. After that it wasn’t so spectacular until reaching Sagres. I passed behind a military area and the last part through Sagres was along a busy road to my hostel.
This walking day felt different. Perhaps it was because I’d reached the South and it sort of felt like an end to my trip. Perhaps it was because of the landscape that just didn’t seem so vast or remote. The main thing was that I’d reached my original destination. Original, because in the meantime I’d decided to keep walking until Lagos. There were about 43 kilometers left to go.
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