Europe 2023

I was pleasantly surprised to see this group of donkeys and goats greet  me at the top of the hill. As soon as the lead donkey saw i had nothing to feed him, he saw to it the rest of the group continued their way up the hill

This was along the path out in the middle of this beautiful natural coast line. 

This is suppose to be a destination spot to see. I saw some more hippies on this beach

This beach is where I found hippies! I walked thru this parking lot and was shocked to see with my puritanical eyes, a fully nude young woman. If ypu zoom in, the far white van has her sitting on the pavement. I couldnt very well take a photo of her passing by

As I turned the corner at Cabo S. Vicenta, i noticed the waves disappeared. Obviously a lot of this has to do with the direction of the swell and the associated seasonality. 

I walked most of this stretch the following day, about 11.5miles. This pic is looking back at Sagres. The town itself is rather dispersed and spread out small coastal town. Lots of surfing related outfits. As a Portuguese woman told me, the beaches are rocky up thru to Lagos. Toward Spain, they are much more sandy

In a way, the lighthouse truly feels like the end of the route. Technically, the route continues eastward toward Lagos. Yes, there are beautiful stretches. But its different as well as to be written in this blog

And what would the Fishermans Way be without the fisherman?

This is the final day walking the Atlantic coast, to Cabo Sao Vicente. Appropriately, the Fishermans Way and Historical Way (to be walked later), are  part of Rota Vicenta. Off in the distance is the light house for Cabo S. Vicenta

This dude was probably his friend, harvesting sea urchins from the rocks when the tide is out

I was so happy I found a way down to the bea ch!  Looking back toward mntn I was...

I got to the edge of this mntn overlooking the ocean and saw this motor bike carcas. I thought someone abandoned this thing years ago. But there was a newish bag of sorts next to it. I took a photo and then proceeded to contemplate how I was going to get down to the beach. My Gaiagps app suggested there was a trail directly down off the cliff. I looked at the deer trail and said to myself, "I am too old and unstable for this". Finally, I made my way back up to the top where the motorbike is, and a Poetuguese guy my age standing in a wet suit is there looking kind of annoyed...like i discovered his stash. I asked in shitty Portuguese "Is it possible tp get down to the beach". The guy pointed and escorted me to the path to get down, totally doable!

I took an exrra day in Vila do Obispo to do an 8 mile hike to the beach

And the furthest southwest corner of Europe. Check out the ocean spreading out to the left twd the Med Sea!

16km to the next town going south. I got tired walking with my 25pound pack going up and down steep sand dunes. 

In the middle of nowhere

Cool piece of art in Carrapatiera

This town was nearly abandoned by Portuguese moving out thru the years. So an effort was put forth to revitalize this town. Several restaurants and places to holiday rent. It takes some effort to drive inland to get to it. I had to walk the road out to the main highway. Once on the highway, i was told back at the hostel that I could easily hitchike. No one gave me a ride for a half an hour, until some Indian dude did. And he was an Uber driver!

This dog was resting on the road. I almost stumbled over him as he kind of blended in with the dust

Only solar power and water trucked in with occassional wells. Most of these places are living illegally with no permits

In my way to Pedralva, the route went inland. Many people are living off grid there, almost all foreigners

There are many scrub oak trees along the way. Almost every oak has had its bark stripped for making corks for wine. So the trunks of the trees are generally dark from no bark.

The high mountain mark in the distance is Monchique. It is a destination for spring water and I am told, the last cheap area to buy in Algarve