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What’s Next?

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The Rota Vicentina and Camino Portuguese Having begun in Lagos along the southern shores of the Algrave 12 days and more than 200 km ago, we have now reached the end of the Rota Vicentina in Sao Torpes.  While completing this trail and exploring the Vicentina coast feels great and has been an amazing experience we are still very much at the beginning of our hike along the length of Portugal.   At the conclusion of the Rota Vicentina we are now set to make our way from Proto Covo to Lisbon along uninspiring roadways and byways to connect with the Camino Portuguese.  From Lisbon we will venture along the central route to Porto where we will move to the Coastal and Espiritual variants to Santiago de Compostella and eventually onward to Fisterra Spain. Given that we have already trekked the Camino Portuguese Central in 2019 this year we are setting out to simply enjoy it rather than blog about it from Lisbon to Porto.  However once we reach Porto and begin our pilgrimage along the Coast
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Tips and Advice for the Rota Vicentina Fisherman’s Trail

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Tips and Advice for the Fisherman’s Trail Having now hiked almost two weeks from Lagos to Sao Torpes on the Rota Vicentina we have a few thoughts and pieces of advice that come to mind that we thought would be helpful to pass along if you are interested in this trail.   First off, the Fisherman’s Trail follows the rugged Atlantic coastline over an uneven surface – as such, while beautiful, the pathway can be challenging both for the constant climbing and descending as well as in being exposed to the warm temperatures.   Second, I am not sure whether the Portuguese just have not discovered or simply have a distain for switchbacks however it seems that the sections of their paths which do go up and downhill take the most direct route rather than zig-zagging over the terrain. The inevitable result is that some sections of the trail are nearly vertical and are heavily eroded – making for tough progress on several stages of the hike.  Third, each official stage begins in a town and ends in
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Some Beach, Somewhere : Reflecting on the Rota Vicentina

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  “Some beach, somewhere There's nowhere to go when you got all day to get there”                                                                            Blake Shelton – Some Beach Having completed the Rota Vicentina’s Fisherman’s Trail from Lagos to Sao Torpes neither of us wants to leave southern Portugal or stop hiking.  Trails however, like all good things invariably come to an end. The Rota Vicentina has been a wonderful experience which has involved trekking through beautiful landscapes, filled with astonishing flora and fauna as well as great birding opportunities.  In addition we have toured historical forts, visited welcoming towns and been able to explore the rugged coastlines of southern Portugal.  In short the Rota Vicentina has been amazing! With that said however, there is no denying that - in sections – it was a tougher trail than one might expect.  For any number of reasons 20-25 km on a sandy beach or trail can be oddly exhausting, especially with a heavy backp
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Final Day on the Fisherman’s Trail : Vila Nova de Milfontes to Sao Torpes

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Final day on the Rota Vicentina Today’s stage on the Rota Vicentina was listed as hard in the guidebook, and after overhearing several southbound hikers after their first day on the trail last night, we feared it would live up its reputation.  The distance from Vila Nova de Milfontes to Porto Covo is approximately 20 km, which if we cover before noon would give us the chance to trek the addition 10 km to Sao Torpes and the end of the Fisherman’s Trail.  While we did not expect any technical difficulties on the trail we nonetheless figured that 4-6 hours of walking up and down dunes, along soft beaches and in deep sand would be tiring.   We were awake early ready to set out shortly afterward.  A quick Google search revealed that most of the cafes in Vila Nova de Milfontes were either closed today or not open for several hours.  Admittedly there was one bar claiming to be open at 7 AM but neither of us was up to walking across town to see if this was actually the case.  As such we once
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