The Fishermen’s Trail, Southwest Portugal - Day 8 - Carrapateira to Vila do Bispo

Описание: The Fishermen’s Trail, Southwest Portugal - Day 8 - Carrapateira to Vila do Bispo

Today's walk is shorter at 9.5 miles, but with more elevation than on previous days. We were hoping for some more fine beach walking too.

The very busy buffet breakfast was served from 7.45am, with everyone sitting at communal tables, or outside, with the bread arriving at 8am. There was a nice choice, with fruit salad, ham, cheese, bread etc. It cost €2.00 to make your own sandwich for lunch, and chocolates for sale.

We left at 9.05 am, going along the main road through town, very soon turning right by a sign, following a relatively easy track, arriving at Sitio do Forno restaurant (9.30am). Don't miss the boardwalk to the right, down to a viewing platform, passing ruins of an Islamic Seasonal fishing village. This dates from the 12th and 13th century, with at least 15 dwellings, a drying terrace for the fish, ovens, and would have been used in the milder seasons of the year. It may also have been used as an observatory for whaling. The views from the promontory are amazing, both north and south, we saw seals in the ocean too.

After 2 miles/one hour of easy road walking, we arrived at Armado beach. There were lots of camper vans parked, a free toilet and a couple of cafes. It was very busy, maybe as it was the weekend. Continuing along a path at the back of the beach we turned right, then followed a steep slope up to Engineers Point (10.30am), again with stunning views. We took some time to rest in the shade of the deserted building.

Descending, we walked along the beach (11.05am), then up a chasm with a well-defined un-marked path. There was discussion at this point whether we were going the correct way or not. We continued up a very steep slope (4 miles). We finally arrived at a car park, where 2 different routes converge, (11.35am), we were not really sure if this is where we should have arrived. We took the path to the right, heading steeply down again, to the stunning Mirouco beach, before ascending once more. We sat on a promontory for lunch (12.15pm), watching the fishermen perched on the edge of the rocks, wondering if they ever fall in!!!, before the final descent and ascent of the day.

Continuing along a track heading inland through a flat shadeless scrub, following signs (1.20pm). An extension to the walk could be followed to the right passing Barriga and Cordoama beaches, but we ignored it on account of the heat. We reached a main road at (1.50pm) then followed the red and yellow signs down the side of the road, before arriving in the very quiet town of Carrapteira. We checked in at hotel Mira de Sagres (2.30pm), with an indoor pool, before having a drink in the main square, which has another walk information board.

This was a much harder day than we had imagined, some of the uphill sections were fairly tricky with loose rock and sand. Quite a few walkers used walking poles to help. The views however more than made up for it. This section overlaps with other routes, so pay attention to the signs.

As there were 11 of us, we had booked dinner in the restaurant Ribeira do Poco in advance. It was a good menu, with delicious food and great service. There is a very large band new Lidl on the outskirts of town.

Distance 9.5 Miles (15km)

Duration of Walk 5.3 Hours

Average Pace 34 Min/Mile

Steps 31082

Elevation Gained 1055 feet (320m)

Websites used

booking.com Hotel Mira Sagres

http://www.ribeiradopoco.com/ Dinner