Rota Vincentina The Fisherman’s Trail - February 28, 2026 ~ Day 7 Arrifana to Carrapateira

Daily Information  Planned Distance:        23.7 kms Actual Distance:          20.9 kms  Actual Elevation G/L:       268 m (357) m         Cumulative Information  Actual Distance:           148.9 kms  Actual Elevation G/L:       1,519 m (1,537) m  Stage Description - Stingy Nomads Highlights & Challenges "Highlights Praia do Canal, a small beach at 2 km/1,2 mi with beautiful views from the cliffs. Green hills, vineyards, and flowers for most of the day. Many cork oaks along the road. The tree is Portugal’s national tree, we did see them before on the route but not as many as here. Praia da Bordeira is a long sandy beach about 2 km/1,2 mi before Carrapateira. It’s one of our favorite beaches on the Fishermen’s Trail. Challenges A couple of quite steep ascents and descents, and no shade to hide on a hot and sunny day" Another very pleasant and relatively easy 21km walking day. Very quiet in that we met only 2 hikers going our way on varied walking surfaces. Temperatures in the 16+C range with some strong North winds in the 50+ kms requiring tight Tilley hat strap on! The last 2 kms along the Bordeira beach was the best beach walk yet and what a finish was in store for us both 😉!!! Last evening the seafood tasting of Portugal continued. I asked for a recommendation from our server in the seafood section and the clear answer was tuna steak. Well what an incredible meal that was! On one plate are more vegetables than what I have had in a week..and for the first time…no word of a lie…I took the dessert plunge! This morning started with an impressive spread at our Hotel with many choices. As you can tell from the following picture I had a tough time deciding 😊.

We left our hotel and made our way on a succession on inland roads over the next many kms. Very peaceful walking all the way.

Then we came the first water crossing which as it turns out was a fairly modest affair.

Thanks to the hiker who pointed to the best crossing spot!

Now if you look carefully you will see socks. Under the socks are my HOKA Speedgoats as in I went. Based on my UK Coast to Coast walk simply best to get all wet…shoes dry walking…socks dry overnight and to date no blisters.

Leonard on the other hand meticulously removed his footwear… put his sandals crossing…then reversed the process to continue walking post crossing.

Just after the crossing I briefly exchanged « where are you from? » greeting with a fellow walker. She was  from Italy and had used the same stream crossing process as Leonard.

A little later I heard footsteps rapidly catching up to me…I then met Julia from New Zealand. She slowed down and we chatted for a few kms. An Engineering major who worked in the Royal Navy Julia is currently based in the UK where her partner is studying. She is between jobs so is off exploring. In Julia’s words « may as well do it while I am young and have the time » Well said!

Of course this was the perfect opportunity for me to launch into my New Zealand story…middle daughter Jeanne who spent 7.5 months in New Zealand at 19…where Jeanne bungee jumped from the highest available jump, tandem sky dived, whitewater raftes and my favourite zorbing which is rolling down a hill in a clear rubber/plastic ball with water! Julia thought that was pretty neat.

Julia researches « dangerous animals » before going on a hike…I am NOT making this up! She saw a one meter snake on day 1 and believes it was a venemous one…but it’s bite would not kill you. Holy!

Julia crossed the water stream shoes and all.

So that got me thinking an even 50/50 split of the rather small 4 person sample size…keep or remove shoes. It would be interesting to both have a much larger sample and even better have some a psychologist provide analysis of folks who choose either!

On second thought maybe it’s best not to pursue this given I went charging in shoes and all 😂

Before we knew it Leonard and I were at the 2km spectacular Bordeira beach. We were unsure of the crossing given high tide conditions but all was good. A great walking experience!

A treat was watching a few wind kite surfers doing their stuff. Wow one of them went really really high in the air after riding a wave.

We did have to execute a «little » maneuver around a rocky outcrop on the beach. This is a photo once past the spot. Essentially we had to time our scamper between the outcrop and the receding wave to keep walking on the beach. Had we miscalculated it wouldn’t have been much…maybe  the soles of our shoes would have been covered in water.

Finally we were at the end of Bordeira beach and there it was the Bordeira stream…at high tide 😢. We knew this challenge was coming…latest feedback below the knee crossing…no discernable water current.

 

In I went shoes and all with my poles for balance. At first over the shoes…then creeping up to the knees…then  HEY over the knee…hmmm and finally as I came out you would have thought I « peed » myself! Yes just below the waist area! It dried later!

Leonard took a video which I am hoping will remain on the blog for viewing (Blogger sometimes strips videos out). Unfortunately my video of Leonard is a total dud!

The video of this moment 😊

Tomorrow a short 16 km day to Vila do Bispo. Given there may not be much to report I may well include some something a little different that was sent to me. Just for fun!

A few additional photos from the day…

Leonard getting ready to cross

An action shot!

Rota Vincentina The Fisherman’s Trail - February 27, 2026 ~ Day 6 Aljezur to Arrifana

Daily Information  Planned Distance:        19.5 kms Actual Distance:          21.4 kms  Actual Elevation G/L:       424 m (340) m         Cumulative Information  Actual Distance:               128.0 kms  Actual Elevation G/L:       1,251 m (1,180) m  Stage Description - Stingy Nomads Highlights & Challenges "Highlights Praia de Monte Clerigo – a beautiful beach with a couple of restaurants and cafes On the coastal route stunning views from the cliffs, rugged coastline, and several pristine beaches Praia da Arrifana Challenges In the beginning, a couple of steep ascents and descents On the coastal route 4 km/2,4 mi of walking on the sand" Overall an relatively easy (early meaningful elevation gains) 21.4 km day…slightly cooler temperatures 😊…mixture again of road and coastal walking. Leonard indicated (I was walking ahead) that he had a tumble however it thankfully happened in the sand dunes. Highlights for me were food and the fisherperson (male/female?) perched on the towering cliffs. Last night I had a chance to taste another Portuguese seafood delicacy Red Mullet! For those who thirst for a little new knowledge 😉 The RED MULLET is a small, reddish fish with three longitudinal yellow bands. It is found in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, where it dwells on the bottom of the sea down to 100 m. It forms schools and feeds on crustaceans and small molluscs and fish. It spawns in late winter to early summer, the juveniles remaining in the water column, moving down to the bottom when they reach adulthood. It is fished with trawls and gillnets. The two barbs under the red mullet’s chin are sensory organs that it uses to grope the bottom and find food. Supper was delicious!!! Upon arrival in Praia de Arrifina I had a superb Octopus 🐙 salad. This may well be the best Portuguese food tasting yet! Octopus Salad This morning started off with a generous breakfast offering (included in the price) at the Hotel Vincentina. They were well organized and prompt. I left fully charged for the morning as we made our way out of Aljezur. Just past this bridge we met Horst (Austria) who informed us that he was leaving a day early. His reason « yesterday I felt the Camino spirit was no longer going to be there…so I will spend 3 days in Lisbon ». Somewhat perplexing as I thought it was well known that the Fisherman’s Trail is more a nature walk than a Camino walk. We exchanged particulars…Horst reiterated that free popcorn awaits should I visit his movie theatre in Grein Austria 😊. Sorry to see Horst leave…he was good company. Breaking news…totally unrelated to the Fisherman’s Trail…John (Irish walking friend on the Kerry Way) informed me that an arrest has been made in the grisly Michael Gaine murder. I commented on this in my Kerry Way blogposts. Essentially John’s 2025 theory was bang on! Never a doubt in my mind that John…a former Police inspector and Academy trainor was right. While John professes to have had zilch involvement in the criminal investigation…I wonder 🤔 Leonard had done his homework and at a critical walking juncture pointed out that the Stingy Nomad GPX tracks were actually following the Historical route and not the Fishermen’s Trail. The advantages of the Fisherman’s Trail was a nice section of coastal beaches ahead, bypassing some elevation gains/losses. The disadvantage was 4-5 kms of pretty tedious road walking. I was hesitating however I accepted Leonard’s recommendation and on balance it definitely was the right choice. Disadvantage  Advantages  However the highlight for me was to see the fisherperson perched on the towering cliffs in the distance. I had seen this scene in researching the walk and feel fortunate to have witnessed it. Again my photos don’t do this justice…I have no idea how they can catch fish form such a height…how they can remain there in the wind…how they don’t freak out!!! Well that’s a wrap for the day…tomorrow ~ 25 kms await us to Carrapateira.  Well…late breaking news. Leonard indicated there are route discrepancies between Stingy Nomad, the official Rota Vincentina guide book  and Outdoor Active GPX files.  The conclusion is that Stingy Nomads GPX tracks are the Historical way and NOT the Fishermen’s Way. I then went on the Rota Vincentina website and downloaded the correct Fishermen’s Way tracks in Wikilocs. It seems we may have a few less kms to walk than 25. We know at Bordeira beach near Carrapateira that there are two possible issues 1) Bordeira Beach if the seas are very rough and at high tide and 2) Bordeira stream due to runoff. I posted on Facebook questions regarding current conditions and received a positive response that all should be good. Leonard and I will assess the situation and make the right call once we get there. If no go we will backtrack a km or so and take a circular route to circumvent this area. TBD. A few other photos from the day. Residual water from the 5 Atlantic storms  I think a Citroen. My father in law owned a few of these! And finally a couple of very dangerous stream crossings 😉