A week spent hiking - Completing the Rota Vicentina

Weekly Update

We completed the Rota Vicentina - Fisherman's Trail! 14 days of hiking, exploring, sightseeing, and wandering. This trail was incredible, all the emotions. I am grateful that the final came and went with no extremes as well, the ending was full of ease and I am so happy that a hike of this duration was injury free.

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Completing the Fisherman's Trail

This week's newsletter covers the second half of our hike on the Rota Vincentina. It has been 9 years since I attempted a hike of this duration, my last one was in Turkey where I destroyed my foot, it was a 30 day self-sufficient hike, a coastal trail as well but with the need to bring camping gear on top of general items to hike and travel for that long. So with finishing this trail I am very happy that both Emily and myself completed it without any injury or consequence. No blisters from our boots, only a couple small scrapes for me falling on my butt once, and a little worry the last two days hiking because Emily's ankle was hurting, but with some stretching and care she completed those days feeling great with it as well.

I am also glad that we rationally thought things through and put in the effort at the beginning of the hike to get luggage transported, when we realized that we had both overpacked for the journey. That it would be idiotic to try and complete the trail with all the excessive weight we had. All props go to Emily as she found the ways for us to taxi her big backpack and my extra from city to city each day. (When the official services were closed for the winter season.) We also had a little unplanned rest from rain, which I will cover shortly, and one planned rest day at the tail end of this hike. Now that we have finished the trail I would recommend those wanting to attempt it to have flexibility for rest days, more than the one we planned, not so much for the rest itself but for so you can take time and enjoy some of the cities and beaches along the coast. There are a couple places I really want to go back and spend some time in. We luckily planned our rest day in a really cool city, Sagres, that we spend the whole day exploring and sightseeing instead of actually resting our bodies.

Of the few people we came across during this offseason hike, two that we met were doing the trail from South to North, instead of the traditional North to South direction. This is something I would advise against. We were quite surprised at how peaceful the trail itself was the past few days walking, plus ending in a more established city, with considerably better weather than the northern side of the coast made it such a perfect finish to 14 days of travel.

Our Second Week of the Hike

We left off the hike in high spirits, lighter bodies, and stoke to see more coastal beauty. Unfortunately the same day that last week's newsletter was published we ended up getting caught in rain. Lots of rain. The forecast called for some drizzles, then it increased, and overnight we could hear the downpour happening. This was on day 7 of the hike. We still had to navigate our luggage transfer for the day and with it raining we decided for ease to just take a taxi to the next leg of the trail. The Fisherman's Trail was a long day of walking back to the coast only to then cut inland again to the next city, 20+ km of hiking, where as the city itself was less than 8km away from us.

We were in the slightly big city of Aljezur, one historically claimed to have been inhabited by hunter-gatherer tribes as far back as 7,000 BC and conquered by the Moors, a Muslim North African Berber tribe sometime AD and taken back in 1249 AD by Portuguese Christians. The lore of that story is that an Arabian woman fell in love with a Christian soldier, and she betrayed her people by giving them access to the castle where they overthrew the occupying Moorish army.

For us the city was one of awe with the fact that they had a proper supermarket, roasted coffee, and our hostel had an oven to cook with. The rain came and went, we cooked an amazing meal, and I wrote last week's newsletter, and caught up on other items. We took a quick taxi to our next accommodation, rested and we felt ready to begin the following day hiking. Unfortunately that day also rained tons. So again we decided it best to taxi onward, I was worried for my electronics, and Emily did not want to risk it being slippery on the hike. Day 9 of the trail held promise, it was supposed to be rain overnight and then cloudy skies all day. We awoke to a wet ground but just wind and clouds. We sorted a luggage service for the backpack and made breakfast. Feeling antsy we set out on the trail....

The weather only warned against wind, which we were directly on the coast getting the brunt of it. The wind was some of the most extreme I have felt, and that's coming from North Dakota where the prairie is notorious for its blustery gusts. Less than 30 minutes into our slightly damp, windy hike the weather turned even worse, which we initially didn't realize how bad it was, thinking all the extra water was just spray from the ocean. As we side climbed exposed cliffs and hills before the path parted from the coast the rain increased and grew in strength. Once a little away from the coast and about 2 hours into the hike I started getting very worried, and even slightly upset at my stupidity for my electronics. We had no cell service and the clouds, wind, rain were unrelenting. I had a bit of panic hiking because my whole life was strapped to my back, which was increasingly getting more and more wet. My mind was spiraling with thoughts of damaged gear which I had no way of recouping if something happened, so then could not afford to continue onward.

Thankfully due to a wrong turn, a sort of help materialized. We saw a maker for the sister trail, the Historical Way, the one that runs between cities versus on the coast, and decided that this shorter route would get us to our end quicker. We set out down a flooded gravel road only to have gone 10 minutes before noticing it wanted to take us inland back the way we had come. We turned around and headed back to the coast unsure of what to do. It was then that we spotted a small covering under a newly built bit of property. The house looked closed up for the winter so we scrambled to shelter underneath, thankful for the cover from the downpour. I had just a touch of cell service and managed to look up the forecast. What was supposed to be wind and clouds now said hours more of heavy rain. I was so scared and upset with myself for even setting off on the trail that day. Realizing the danger to my electronics and difference between being rained on a little versus getting drenched via wind and downpours while attempting to walk for 10 hours. We had two options really, wait and see, and if things did not improve backtrack to where we came from, knowing it was only a 2 hour walk instead of 5-6 hours we had ahead of us. Or if it did clear up continue onward.

We waited and waited, and although the rain did not cease initially the forecast kept saying that it would clear up around 1 pm. Thanks to the weather gods, it did. About an hour and a half later we got our first flash of blue sky. The wind stayed but the clouds opened a little and we made the decision to proceed forward. We hiked as fast as we ever did on the trail, fingers crossed it would hold out. Thankfully we made it to our destination without any more precipitation soaking us. (Which another worry of mine was hypothermia, if the sun started setting and it was still raining that would be a big issue. It was 49 degrees outside, plus wind, plus being soaked is a bad combination, but we had hours of daylight and that extreme never happened.)

Since I am typing this on my laptop, my electronics ended up being okay from the storm, Emily gave me her backpack's rain cover, but this was a new lesson at safety moving forward. That there is more at stake aside from lack of physical comfort being cold and wet.

The next day hiking was our last on the Eastern side of the coast and it marked the old final end to the trail before being extended a couple years ago. We breathed in clear skies and our eyes were in shock at some of the fishing spots that locals attempted. We dipped around the tip of the coast, dotted by lighthouses, and situated ourselves in the city of Sagres. That city I mentioned at the top, where we had actually planned a rest day. Our accommodation went from a creepy room in some dude's house to a two level empty guesthouse that was all ours. The perfect place for spreading out and having a day to reset. We found a great cafe, grocery store, and enjoyed all the sights that this historic town held. There was a cool fort that we wandered for sunset, some odd wind cenotes, and loads of camper vehicles around.

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Sagres sent us south for the last 3 days hiking. With the change in direction the landscape changed as well, temperature jumped, wind dropped, and the sun expanded. Hiking became easier, the endless sand was became hard packed earth, rocks, developed walking paths full of retirees, and wooden boardwalks. One long hiking day and two shorter ones rewarded us with a slower pace to enjoy this new style of natural beauty.

For me those last 3 days hiking are the perfect vacation trail days for visiting travelers who wanted to do a nice nature hike, while also experiencing developed cities, and picturesque beaches. I could see myself coming back to do just this portion of the trail again. As I sit in Lagos right now my mind is still full of the sights we experienced yesterday upon finishing the hike. We rose and dipped through short, steep bluffs, being granted views and touch soft sandy shores.

Having the end 2 days be on the shorter side, we finally did soak up in some sun, stopping at a couple beaches to watch the surfers and hear the waves while resting our feet in the sand. The heat surprised us with the shift of coastal direction, after being soaked and cold for a few days we welcomed it as well. (Today is going to be more of that once I have caught up a little on work.) We have 2 more nights in Lagos before heading to Faro for 3 then it's on to the capital city of Lisbon for a couple to wrap up our Portugal experience!

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Final Thoughts

The Rota Vicentina was a pivotal life experience. I learned a lot about hiking, travel, work, and what type of balance is needed between them. I also gained confidence in my body's health, I have hiked a lot the past year but doing something this long, with all the gear I had, I am thankful that my foot and leg held up to the test. Also that 14 days is a long time to set aside. Both Emily and I feel a sense of relief that we now have more freedom to our day. I loved the challenge of hiking but we definitely noticed that it consumed our whole life, day and night. Waking up every day having to do hike all day long left us with little else. If I wasn't in transition with travel, work, and such I would have been a little less stressed each morning but that in-itself was growth too.

I saw such a verity of people on the trail, of all ages, which made me happy seeing the accomplishment in others too. I would not change this experience, we did the best we could, and made some healthy decisions along the way. Very grateful for it all.

See you on the next adventure - Sheridan

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Sheridan C. Chasing horizons and capturing untamed beauty. Let's embark on rugged journeys together!

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