Lisbon & hiking - Start of the Fisherman's Trail

Weekly Update

A flight from the Azores, saying bye to Emily, navigating Lisbon, a couple nights in a beach town, and the start of the Fisherman's Trail. This newsletter covers two weeks of adventures, the first is my time in Lisbon - where I finalized the design of Capture Adventure, to make it live, and the second week is the Fisherman's Trail - day in, day out hiking!

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Lisbon + Porto Covo

Sore feet and tired eyes are what today begins with. The past 6 days have been full on hiking - which is the point by signing up to hike the Rota Vincetina Fisherman's Trail. Overall though it's been a big two weeks since arriving to Portugal from the Azores.

Landing in Lisbon was supposed to be streamlined, since our flight from São Miguel was less than 4 hours long, but we ran into issues with both airports being understaffed. On the takeoff there was no bus scheduled to transport passengers from the gate to the airplane so we were delayed and once landing our airplane had no gate scheduled so we had to wait for one. Then the baggage was delayed by a significant amount of time, because lack of ground staff to handle all the incoming flights. Even easy flights are not always streamlined.

The plan was once we arrived to Lisbon Emily would be going directly from the airport to her yoga training course, she was meeting fellow students in the airport and sharing a taxi to where she would be spending the week training. Since we were delayed so long, half the students had left in one taxi and the rest unfortunately had to wait for her. She was not only meeting the fellow student at the airport she also scheduled a luggage pickup service to take her extra belongings that were not needed for the training and our upcoming hike. This Portuguese service would store her belongings in town and she would get them once we arrive back to Lisbon.

My day was less stressful, I had nowhere specific to be except to arrive to my hostel and fill my stomach with food. I waited to make sure Emily had everything taken care of and said goodbye to her and the group. Navigating from the Lisbon airport to the city center was quite a breeze - there is a subway station and city buses that leave frequently so I popped onto the metro and enjoyed a nice train ride to the heart of Lisbon. The only issue I found was picking the correct direction off the train that had an elevator for my rolling suitcase, since I didn't want to lug it up the stairs of the subway.

I spent 4 nights in the same hostel in Lisbon. Placing myself in one spot was needed from the week of travel in the Azores, so it was nice to be in a singular hostel for that many days, but also it was a busy hostel. Not one full of travelers but full of workers and people moving to Lisbon. I have stayed in hostels that were like this before, where people stay in dorms and have a full-time job in town. They either use the accommodation as temporary housing while they look for a place to live or as more permanent housing for savings with the budget rates. Of the 4 beds in my room 2 had individuals that moved to town and are working, and then there was myself and one traveler (an older man from Germany visiting the city). Out of the whole hostel I saw less than a handful of travelers during my stay but there were dozens of people immigrating to Portugal staying. With the language barrier I was only able to have small conversations with a few people but those interactions were quite impactful.

Most of the people were from Senegal, which they made their journey from Africa to Spain and then to Portugal. Everyone spoke their local language and also French - so between English and some Portuguese the translation was tough. The atmosphere was always loud and busy, with dozens of men gathering before they set out for the day and in the evening, but it was a nice energy. It seemed like they were all getting to know one another and excited for where they were. I appreciate this aspect of traveling. Being able to meet people, hear stories, and witness the pure joy they exhibit. I don't know what type of difficult journey this group of people had experienced to reach Portugal, but they were beyond grateful to be in this city.

That appreciation shows happiness has so many depths and meaning to everyone. Even my dorm mate, who was a computer developer from Brazil and had moved to Portugal a couple months ago, was so happy to be living a different life than one at home. The food, the streets, the atmosphere it was all unique and vibrant to him. It is easy to become set in what our view of life is like that experiencing these reminders, that life is a gift and that there is so much to be grateful, are reasons why I enjoy traveling.

Since I knew I would be back to Lisbon with Emily later in our trip I put my head down and spent these days and nights working. I did zero sightseeing, I only walked down the street to get food a the local grocery store. I caught up on a few projects and expanded on some of the details here on Capture Adventure.

Sooner than I expected but also just the right amount of days before I became too antsy, it was time to make the couple hour journey to Porto Covo. I used the same luggage service that Emily did, stashed my excess items with them and walked to the central bus station in Lisbon. Emily's yoga training was 7 days long and once she finished that we would start the Fisherman's Trail, which meant I had 2 more nights before her and I would be meeting back up. I decided to spend those last two nights in Porto Covo, a small surfing village that is located as the first stop on the trail. Once I arrived to my hostel I felt so at home. The small cobbled streets held camper vans and beaches dotted the landscape. Unfortunately since it is winter time most everything was still closed up leaving a vacant air around the city. There was a small store for groceries and two restaurants, somewhat open and that was all. Which just means I have a reason to come back in the summertime and fully experience the town's vibrancy. My hostel had the most amazing breakfast, and was considerably more quiet than the one in Lisbon. With rainy weather I just chilled on my computer working. I was glad for the rain over those two days because to me it meant clear skies once we started hiking.

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Week one of the Rota Vicentina

The Fisherman's Trail, this is an official historical walking route of Portugal and one of two major trails this side of Portugal, the sister trail is called the Historical Trail - which parallels the Fishermans but more inland visiting all the small towns, soaking up history. Our trail followed the coast so it is more nature, a longer distance and open to the elements.

From Porto Covo I met Emily on the bus and together we had a 30 minute journey to the city of Sines. This is a port hub and also the official start of the hiking trail. We disembarked from the bus and wandered around town, grabbing coffee and lunch before checking into our accommodation for the night. (Now that I am officially done with 6 days of the hike, looking back to our preparations that night and before, we did not truly expect what this hike entailed. We definitely had high thoughts on our abilities and set out with overtly full backpacks.)

At roughly 230 kilometers in length, 143 miles this trail is no joke. I have only attempted one trail longer than this and after my experience this past week I am remembering why its not only just the hike itself but the energy spent at the beginning and end of each day that makes long distance hiking difficult. You have the distance of the hiking trail, but being self supported also means you have to get yourself to your accommodation each day, you have to get to food and water as well - meals, groceries, laundry, snacks, bathrooms, sightseeing, everything extra adds steps to your day.

That being said, I brought too many things. Not only do I have all my camera gear but I also have my laptop, other items to work, and extra clothing. Work during the hike and travel after it were on my mind when starting the trail. We have almost two weeks after the trail is done in southern Portugal planned for sightseeing and travel. Same with Emily, she had all her week of yoga gear and things for after the hike, plus extra stuff that she gained during her training, like a 70 page manual, now on her person for the Fisherman's Trail. Sitting here a week into the hike I see that we should have separated the hike to be its own adventure. The yoga before and our travels after should have also been their own things but we were trying to make the most out of locations, time, and money. We should have less gear for the hike itself and structured our travels just to be this hike. Walking 10+ hours a day for multiple days wears a body down on its own, add in the weight of packs and it is physically demanding.

By day 4 we decided that we needed to hire a bag transportation service to take some of our extra items in order to safely and enthusiastically compete the Rota Vicentina. Dropping the unnecessary items have helped Emily greatly the past couple days hiking and me somewhat, the heaviest items I had I am still carrying on my person, like my laptop and camera lenses. But it is noticeable to not have the weight of my extra clothing, toiletries, chargers and those miscellaneous items. My pack is sitting at heavy but not overburdened now. Emily is being very helpful by carry both of our water for the day and food. Up until last night we thought we had everything situated for this luggage transfer but right now we are going to have to pivot and find new drivers each day to pick up and drop off. Shouldn't be too hard, just another step to do before we set out in the morning. This downside is due to the fact that it is still low season for the trail and just like Porto Covo, most small towns are sleepy right now. I should note there is an official luggage system that transports luggage for the whole trail, dropping it off each day, but they do not operate in December and January. So we just missed them starting back up where things would be streamlined.

As for the hike itself! WOW the coast of Portugal is beyond stunning. Not only are the jagged cliffs and ocean swept vistas exceeding my expectations, how varied the landscape can turn in such a compact space is crazy fast. One second you are hiking on a lush cliffside the next you are in a deep red desert which then transitions to a pine forest. The only constant is that when you hit the ocean you feel the wind and are lost in the horizon of the sea.

Each nature filled day also hints at history and shows depth to the local way of life here on the Portuguese coast. The trail is aptly named, for most of the people we have come upon are fisherman casting away into the ocean. I really appreciate that the hike has strolled through various farm fields, which is land reminiscent of home, but on a smaller more intimate farming scale.

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Final Thoughts

Aside from continually sandy boots and wind blown cheeks our only other negatives of the hike thus far are one day of rain and a couple days of dense vegetation full of pollen stuffing up our sinuses. One week down so stay tuned for next week's newsletter of the hike, where we will get around the tip of Portugal and down into the southern end. I think the landscape and weather will change with us going around the tip. The map shows some serious up and down elevation changes on the hike but we have officially done the longest distance days of the trail!

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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