Rota Vicentina – day 2

Almograve – cliff above Praia da Amália

Saturday, 23rd December 2023

31,12 km – total 66,95 km

The ocean didn’t take us! And my watch even says I had a peaceful sleep, so I must have come to terms with the possibility of death. The temperature dropped to 4°C, and we really don’t want to get up in this cold. At 7:10 AM, we finally get out of our sleeping bags and immediately start packing. Almograve is just a kilometer away, so we’ll eat there. Backpacks are packed, and we’re just brushing our teeth when the first tourists pass by us. Both of them have bare legs. I feel cold just looking at them.

When we arrive in Almograve, the sun is just rising. To our surprise, the shop has been open since 6 AM and they’re making coffee. Behind the counter, they have a proper espresso machine, and the sales lady goes to make it for us. Along with two pastel de nata and a croissant, all for 4.1€. We drink and eat standing at a table outside.

The next village is 8 km away, so we don’t buy anything more. The temperature stays around 5°C. We walk briskly along a paved road and then switch to the cliffs. The sand makes the path a bit difficult, but the views are spectacular.

After 7 km, we return to a paved road and take a short break. I need to change clothes, brush my hair, and put on sunscreen.

The sun is pleasantly warm now, with a light breeze. There are big waves, and when the wind blows them, rainbows form in the spray.

We pass through fields and see some pigs as we enter the village. There’s a café right at the beginning, so we have another coffee and another pastel de nata. We take the opportunity to dry the outer layer of our tent. Then we go to a store again. We buy bread, ham, cheese, mustard, and sardine pâté. In the center of the village, there’s a table with benches, so we set up there, eat, dry everything, and change into shorts. Jozef realizes he’s lost his spoon—again. He lost the last one in France. I even asked him this morning where it was, as I hadn’t washed it. He assured me it was with the dishes. I hope someone finds it and it serves them well. It seems there’s a community of Indians here. We meet a lot of them, and there’s a smell of Indian food in the air. We head towards Zambujeira do Mar. It’s already half-past eleven, and it’s over 13 kilometers away. We need to hurry if we want to make it in time for lunch. First, we head towards the lighthouse, and from there, there should be a bike path all the way. There’s still some sand, but much less than on the trail, so we’re not sinking in as much.

In the direct sunlight, it’s 25°C. Three kilometers before the town, we refill our water and I switch to sandals, as we’re mostly walking along the asphalt. We reach the town at 2 PM. It looks like quite a touristy place. There are lots of Nepalese people here. It’s funny how they’re bundled up in coats and hats, while we arrive in shorts, and I’m wearing sandals with bare feet. We look for a place to eat. Everything seems pretty fancy, but we eventually find a restaurant, café, and newsstand all in one. For 9€, I get a menu: a hamburger with fries (a smaller one), a drink, and coffee. I’m quite satisfied with the choice. Afterward, we go to a Nepalese shop to buy beer and fill up our water bottle in the square. We drink the beer right away, sitting on the steps leading to the beach. I write my blog while Jozef reads the news.

We don’t have a specific destination for today. We still have 1.5 hours of sunlight, full water bottles, so we’ll just stop wherever we end up. Toward the end, the path starts going uphill. There are some really beautiful beaches lined with high cliffs. We’re not in a hurry anymore.

We find a suitable spot for the tent in the forest, but we still have an hour of daylight, so we continue. We pass an animal enclosure with goats, deer, and an ostrich.

Then the path turns into a muddy mess. It keeps going up and down. I even start sweating at this point, right at the end of the day. Now that we need a spot to camp, we can’t find one. The sun is setting, and beyond here, there are already farms and roads. Finally, we find a decent place. There are tire tracks here, but hopefully, no one will drive over us. We’re up on a cliff, safe from the waves, but we can still hear them.

We set up the tent, and I go to do some quick washing, using just half a liter of water. Then I write blog about previous and edit some photos. Dinner is pea soup from a packet with added lentils. Jozef laughs at me for preparing an energy bar for the night in case I get cold, but it really helps. When I eat, my body digests and generates heat. A car shows up, but it doesn’t seem to be interested in us. After a moment of stress thinking someone might kick us out, I go back to writing. I continue the blog until 10 PM, while Jozef has been asleep for an hour.